The Unfated Wanderers Canto 40
The Unfated Wanderers collected Keeper of Lore from the inn wherein she had rested. They left Brownstump and she flew them to Twigstar. Activating the Learned Giant was the final task needed to separate the Realm of Terrors from the Living World.
The dragon circled the city and the Wanderers looked down into the plaza where the Learned Giant resided. The space was teeming with Terrors. Monsters of all sorts climbed over each other to search for prey or reach the dragon or brawl amongst themselves.
Keeper betrayed her pacifist ethics and breathed fire into the roiling mass. Restoration of the world was paramount and the two men could not face the hundreds of foes below. Oceans of fire crashed and broke upon the foul flesh. So great was the furious heat that the Terrors were swept away and nought remained of them but motes of blood and skin.
She landed in the plaza and let Vilerend and Billet climb down to the ground so that they could enter the Giant’s foot, as they did not so long ago. They ascended the leg into the chest and rediscovered the heart room. Pulling the brass heart lever, Billet Stormstone and Vilerend Skymarch said a single word in unison, “Mend.”
The Giant’s chest opened, revealing the vista of ruined Twigstar. A gem encrusted rod was lowered from the ceiling and it extended from the chest. A jagged line of brilliant white light erupted from the rod and it pierced the purple veil obscuring the natural blue sky. The Realm of Terrors grew smaller as it collapsed upon itself. Soon, only purple holes remained and even those closed like rapidly healing skin. The white light dissipated and the Giant reset its chest to be as it once was.
The Unfated Wanderers restored the world once more to the Natural Order of Things. The Realm of Terrors was unpinned. Though blighted by death, destruction, disease, famine and the wandering Terrors trapped in the Living World, the People could breathe once more. The People could hug each other and share tears of relief. The Apocalypse had ended.
Linomnount had changed. Giants had brought the People low. Settlements were ravaged. Civilization was scattered. Equerries had reshaped the land itself. As in Apocalypses of yore, the surviving People were granted a new beginning by the Children of the Gods. Would the People attempt to destroy the world as they had so many times before? Yes.
And the next Apocalypse would be waiting.