She had hoped that someone she was alive. She hope of that. There was no way that her clash with the Demon could end without casualties.
Beyond the last layer of ether was the last step to godhood.
She sought those who she knew. Her unchanging beauty and her power were unimportant when she is alone. She raised a hand and broke the fire. On the side was the sight of a broken down sword made from an ether forge. The Old Technology of the humans have become a second-rate after the evolution that was the ether forge.
A technology was the true conclusion of nature. If it existed before the breaking of pacts, she wondered if the world could had been saved.
Look at the savior you choose.
You could have chosen another.
She retracted her hand. She shifted her eyes to the side and saw a figure standing inside a magma. She could tell who this burned figure was. How could she not know of one of the Oldest Outrider? Waving her hand, she restored the remnants of the old man.
"I told you that you would die standing, Old Friend."
She placed her hand on his burnt face. Only a few of him remained.
"Years of service, and not once did you stray from your path. You always talk how a puny human, like you could be replace, always talking about how we are the future. Look at the future, Old Friend, is it not terrible?"
She sat cross-legged on the floor. Some of the fire still broke. She should be dead. Did she broke through her limits? Has she become something more than that?
"But why does it matter? Look at the world. None of it could be change anymore. The world burns. Those who safeguarded the world left because they saw no future in this rock. Even with all the power, the ether could create. The unification of the ether and the technology only brought chaos. Old Friend, did you see this coming? Becoming the one of the few your kind? Many had asked why we kept you, but even they saw you as someone who they could rely on. After all, you were just there too long."
Although the human enchantments made him strong enough, many of the young ones were worried about him. From the start of their life, the old outrider who had been supporting the Etherians had always been there. When there was a need for transport, repairs, and support. When they needed to get out of a hive, they would call the Old Man. Always in the background, watching the etherians, guiding the young so that they may help the world that they had inherited.
"Who else but you would come and fight against the odds? Whom else would they follow in this time of death? I guess not even you could be so fortunate to live on. Hey, did you see how I fought my best? You saw it. I know that you are not the one who should give up so easily, that's why you should have seen my best."
"Miss Valkyrie?"
"Huh?"
She looked around. Figures that came out of the ruin, though some of them burned, there was light in their eyes.
"We thought that the fire would get us, but it stopped. Old Jak told us to hide and protect the young. Have you seen him? We were sure that he was food by now. Really, Old Jak should have retired."
They looked around.
"I wonder where Old Grandpa is. He went out to lure the belua out of the bunkers. Ah-"
Their eyes stopped on the figure that stood watching the skies. The one who spoke collapsed to her knees. Some of the young ones ran towards the knees of the solidified lava. A child tapped her little knuckles on the side of the figure trapped in the lava.
"Grandpa, are you okay?"
"Old man, damn it, why didn't you listen…"
They scanned their eyes on the dead that surround him. The figures of the fallen belua, the giant wounds on his body, now that of solid molten rock, made body-shaking sobs escape out of their mouths. Some of them kneeled on the spots, and though they have the ether running on their skin. They wept in front of the old man who was human.
"Grandpa, wake up for me!"
"Old fuck, you said that you would be there for us! Fucking lying isn���t your strong point you Ghostly old fool!"
"Shit, fuck, damn it, I told you that we should have put him down before he could do this. Fucking hell, you were not young. What in the fuck were you thinking?"
Their words contradicted their faces. Beyond the world ending battle, beyond that, a human of old thought of himself as nothing more than a Ghost that supports those who were around him. He toiled silently without complaint. He looked after the young and grew old watching them become fighters.
She could not imagine how many times this old man had to watch people die in front of him. The battles he fought, unsung, unrecognized by his prowess in battle, but those who knew of the Old Human had grown old with him. When things are tough, they could rely on him.
How many times have they been save by his appearance in that corner of their eye, piloting a flyer, swooping in, and rescuing them from harm? He might not be the strongest. He might not be the mightiest or toughest. Nevertheless, he was family. That was what they needed of him.
There was no time to celebrate. The Valkyrie could not raise her spirits, but beyond this sadness, beyond the suffering, through the power that was bestowed upon her. She could feel that there was a tinge of hope as long as the people around her existed.
As long as they are alive, there was hope.
The Old Man that wanted to see the better tomorrow had probably seen burning world before his death. He saw a world where death only existed, an end that he could not fully see through.
She stood up and clenched her fist. Although she had defeated the demon, time did not still for them. She could only take the step forward, wondering, how could she hope to stand without the old human who had done the toiling.