Epilogue
The world faded back to white, and Flora opened her eyes.
They floated in a world of color and light, and yet no color could be discerned. There was an ancient echo of echoes in the air, of the great speeches of the past, and yet no words could be made out.
The dust and grime of the battle had faded from their clothes. Fortunately for the PG-pushing-13 rating of the story, the clothes themselves remained.
Richard stood up, though there was nothing to stand up on. “Where are we?” he said, and his voice fell dead with no walls or landscape to echo upon.
“The ride home,” came a voice from behind them. Despite the absence of position or direction in this universe, they all turned.
A woman stood there, hands spread apart slightly. “Sorry I was late,” she said smiling.
“You’re…you’re the Ne Ha,” said Caroline in awe.
The woman smiled. “I fail to see how a two-syllable phonetically-spelled name can still be mispronounced. It’s just Neha.” Her gaze hardened. “And before anyone says anything about me being useless, remember that I saved you all from untimely death by nuclear explosion.” Jin shifted uncomfortably.
“So,” Elaine said, “What happens now?”
“Well, I think it’s time soon to finish off the tournament,” Neha said briskly. “After that, well…”
“Caroline!” Edward exclaimed. The Avatar of Platform looked over, startled. “You were one of us, once. But now…”
“Yes…” Caroline said distantly, “I think I…remember…!”
“What was with the random romance, anyway?” Kellie said, not embarrassed at all. Edward did redden a bit.
“Eh, it had to be in there. In a story, anything can happen,” came a voice from the side. The remaining Cooportinoans turned towards it to see Jordy sitting comfortably on a patch of nothing. He turned and looked at Caroline for a long moment.
“Wrong story!” Flora screeched, and Ivy and Christine laughed, neither exactly sure why it was funny.
Liz and Sridhar looked at each other uncomfortably. “IguessthismeansParli’scomingback,” Liz said reluctantly, and Melinda grinned to hear her velocitous voice even in this unrealm.
Sridhar shrugged. “Eh, I had a good run,” he said, upbeat, “I was never one for this sort of admin stuff anyway.” He grinned and held out his hand; after a moment’s hesitation, Liz smiled back and shook it.
Gary cleared his throat. “Guess this means we’re out of here, too.” Melinda looked at him, surprised, but Neha was nodding. Gary looked at Melinda. “We’ve served our time here; now it’s time to move on and let them take our places.”
A wave of mournfulness washed over Melinda. Time to move on… She swiped at her eyes and nodded.
Neha turned and addressed Caroline. “And you, Avatar of Platform.” Caroline straightened up, her eyes a little more open than usual. “It is up to you to lead the way for the next generation of novi, and keep charge of the tournament as a whole.” Caroline stepped back, aghast, before remembering that they were in some kind of unspace and there was nowhere to step.
“And with you,” Neha continued, “Some of those who have demonstrated Speech and Debate ability, those who can serve to carry on as leaders.” Her gaze swept across the semi-forgotten mortals.
“Richard, who led a noble mission to save the one he loved.” Richard shifted a little, not entirely liking this appellation. “You have demonstrated noble leadership ability despite a defective talent. You will follow Liz as the Avatar of LD.”
Richard’s eyes widened, then he bowed his head.
“Kushal, you have demonstrated the ability to keep a group together, and the ability to put a rather unusual talent to some use. You will follow Gary as the Avatar of Impromptu, with Gordon at your side.” Kushal held back the “sweet” that came to his lips and smiled instead. Gordon looked a little less happy until he realized that this allowed him to get away with very few responsibilities
“Persia, your ability to lead has been…less demonstrated.” Persia blinked at this. “Yet your skills at interpretation are impressive. Together with Kellie at your side, you will become the Avatar of Interpretation, after Melinda.” Persia and Kellie looked at each other, then nodded. Melinda’s smile became wider and sadder.
“And finally.” Neha turned her head slightly. “Elaine, Edward, you have turned from mercenaries to leaders in a very short period of time.”
“Why were we mercenaries to begin with?” Edward muttured to Elaine. She answered him with a loud “shh!”
Neha continued. “The Avatar of Parliamentary Debate, following Sridhar and Yining…” She paused until the silence grew heavy, Andrew staggering under the weight. “Eh, figure it out for yourselves.”
The silence returned, then Jin laughed. Ivy joined in, then Kellie, and soon the whole group was laughing. Edward shook his head and grinned.
“And now, I think it’s time for us to go.” The voice had the same strong ring to it as Neha’s, but it was different. Elaine looked up to see it was Caroline, standing tall and steadfast among the Avatars, old and new, the chosen seconds a little ways behind them. A light flared in this realm of lights, and they were gone.
Fritz exhaled loudly. “So, that’s that, then?”
“What about the rest of us?” asked Vani.
“And what happened to Sam and Rana?” Andrew asked suspiciously.
“What did happen to them?” said Jordy. There was a pause.
“Beats me,” said Flora, who seemed, somehow, still to know exactly what he was talking about.
Ivy sighed. “We were all just plot points, weren’t we.” It wasn’t a question.
Jordy answered anyway. “Not really, no. Everyone deserved a mention, but some characters rose to the top anyway.”
Once more, only Flora really knew what he was talking about.
Andrew stretched. “Well, I think that’s kinda rude. I’m outta here.” He looked around, but of course there was no obvious way out.
“Looks like my talent’ll be useful one last time,” said Da Seul, resigned to the marginalized position she’d held since Chapter 14, maybe even Chapter 8. A hyperdimensional van came along meanderingly through the lights, and Andrew, Da Seul, Vani, and Fritz got in. The van trundled away, leaving Ivy, Flora, and Christine alone with Jordy.
“Why are you still here?” Flora asked, somewhat impolitely.
Ivy held up a fist. “I’ve still got Christine’s hairband!” she said, a little indignantly.
“Oh, that old plot device?” Christine laughed. “You can keep it.”
“The fabric of the story’s really coming apart, isn’t it,” Flora said quietly.
Jordy nodded, then grinned. “Then again, it is the Epilogue.”
“At long last,” Flora agreed.
“I have to ask one thing,” Christine said, looking up and out into the lighted unspace. “What was my talent? Everyone else ended up with one.”
Jordy spread his arms, realizing as he did so that it wasn’t a very good gesture here. “This.”
Three blank stares met this answer in midair.
Jordy gave in and elaborated. “The entire story, the entire plotline, was centered around you, Christine.” Christine twitched at this sentence. “All along, it was about your search, your awkward placement, and finally your ability to pull the group together and deliver a truly impassioned speech.” Christine looked unsatisfied by this explanation. “You won.”
“I what?” Christine replied, startled.
“She what?” Ivy echoed. Flora’s mouth twitched in a grin.
“You won the tournament,” Jordy repeated. “All the way. You are an amazing speaker, Christine.” He bowed his head in front of her.
“I—” Christine began, but couldn’t continue. There was nothing to say, anyway.
“I think it’s time to go,” Ivy said gently. Without any sense of motion or change in scenery, the two of them began to slowly fade out of the story.
Flora lingered behind. “There never was a plot, was there,” she stated inquisitively.
Jordy gave a sad smile. “No, not really. But it was fun while it lasted.”
Flora nodded and grinned. Jordy lifted a hand in farewell as she too faded out into the light.
CREDITS
Prime Director: Jordy R...
ESC
THE END