Chapter Text
My name is Elyn. I am the Warrior of light.
I am one of the Scions of the Seventh Dawn and I am weary beyond reckoning.
I have faced gods and Acians. I have stood against Dragons and Darkness and watched those I loved consumed one by one.
I laid low those who murdered my love and watched them fall like matchsticks before me.
Now I am nothing.
There is no hope in me.
I am empty and I want nothing but rest.
I ask this of you, Hydaelyn, I beg you. Let me rest.
Thus should my story end.
Elyn was too late. Thordan and his knights of the Heavensward transformed themselves into a Primal, stealing the life and aether from the Ascian Lahabrea.
She fought them.
Alone.
With only the dark creations of the Allig to bear witness.
Rain and thunder. Lightning illuminates the familiar road that Ester drives almost every day. A favorite tune plays on the radio. Her husband Sam, and their daughter Violet singing along.
Lights nearly blind her as she realizes with a shock the other car is on the wrong side of the road.
At the end The Warrior of Light was left standing and all the remained of the Heavensward was dust and a fallen sword.
But Thordan’s words, dug into Elyn. "Who - what are you"
The bitter tang of Estinien’s greeting woke her from her reverie. She was glad to pass Nidhogg’s eye back to him. One less task.
Poised to leave, a conflagration of hatred boils away Estinien and Nidhogg emerges.
The world tilts as metal and metal crunch. Glass shatters and concrete grates. The World is spinning Ester into darkness. Fire seems blooms inside her, prying her apart, tearing her into pieces.
Horror consumes Elyn and the remains of her heart crumble.
A scream rips out of her, dwindling in her mouth to a strangled sob.
She falls
Her friends bid her come home, but that was never her intention.
And falls
Lord Edmont had called her hope incarnate, but she had no hope left.
And falls...
The light becomes brighter and Ester can hear a someone crying. Her voice pleading. Another softer voice comforts her.
The light, almost overwhelming resolves into a vast crystal spinning slowly. Stars and galaxies spin along, their song reaching her like the warmth of clothing just out of the dryer.
“I can’t do this anymore! It’s too much, I don’t want to fight anymore!” The weeping voice pleads
A voice like the sea, or the wind, or the sigh of snow against the window pluses around them.
“You have done well in my name, daughter and you have earned the rest you crave, but your work is yet undone.”
Ester can feel the weight of the crystal, of Hydaelyn the Mother, bearing down on her. Her feet touch something solid, and a girl, or a woman, weeps crouching on the surface caught in the sea of stars.
Echos of the girl’s pain washes though Ester. Her friends lost, or dead, all her dreams put aside to shoulder the weight of her world against the darkness. And the darkness has taken so much of what she loved from her. Worn her down until she lays here crushed by the loss of love.
“Ester, your fate is come, but this one wishes rest, and I would give it to her. Will you accept her burden?”
Ester approaches the girl kneeling down to place a hand on her shoulder.
Elyn looks up, and their eyes meet. Looking at her is almost like standing between two mirrors. She can see herself reflected unto infinity.
The girl’s ears are long and pointed, her eyes a soft grey-brown instead of Ester’s dark brown. Her skin is paler, almost white in the Mother crystal’s light and her limbs longer. And yet Ester can see herself in this other. The color of their hair, and the shape of their face.
Elyn stares back at Ester, her tears almost forgotten in awe.
The woman opens her arms and the Elyn wraps her arms around her and the woman tucks Elyn’s head beneath her chin. Breathe after shuddering breath they hold each other until they are breathing as one.
In the distance Ester can hear Sam calling to her. His voice frantic, Violet is crying and the sound of sirens and shattering glass. The squeal of metal on metal. Frantic voices echo around them.
Tears rush down Esters face, she wants to answer Sam, to tell Violet it’s ok, and she knows that she can’t. Pain wells in her chest at all the words that won’t get said.
“My Husband, and my daughter. Are they alright? Are they hurt?” Ester’s voice aches trying to hold back the tears.
Hydelean’s voice pulses around her “No harm has come to your husband or child.”
Ester nods and pulls the girl away, lifting her face so they can see each other.
“What’s your name?”
“Elyn”
“Elyn. Are you sure?”
“I’m so tired. I just want to rest.” Her voice breaks and The woman hugs the Elyn again, arms tight around each other.
Ester rocks the girls slowly side to side. “I’ve got you kiddo, you don’t have to do anything more. I’ll take over. Go rest.”
The light surges again Elyn is gone and Ester is falling.
Above her clouds roll and comets shoot past her. A city in ruins rises around her.
The End is coming.
“Hear. Feel. Think...” each word echoes though her.
And she falls
and falls
and falls
My name is Ester. I am the Warrior of Light.
I was born, I had loving parents.
I made good grades in school.
I went to college.
Got a degree.
Got married.
I Had a child.
Had a job that gave me satisfaction if not always joy.
My life was a bit dull maybe, but I was happy.
My husband and I did not share a passionate love, but a quiet one.
There was no big proposal, or flashy wedding.
We were good friends, before we were lovers, and even before we were parents.
In short I had a wonderful life.
But My story really doesn’t begin until the day I died.