Sir Terry Pratchett, RIP
I've posted this before, I know - it's from Arthur C Clarke's Astounding Days, quoting Lord Dunsany - and while it doesn't relate to the universes Pratchett created, I felt it was appropriate to repost it in his honour.
And there came upon him at last those mortal tremors that are about the end of all earthly journeys. He hastened then. And before the human destiny overtook him he saw one morning, clear where the dawn had been, the luminous rock of the bastions and glittering rampart that rose up sheer from the frontier of the Country Beyond Moon's Rising. This he saw though his eyes were dimming now with fatigue and his long sojourn on Earth; yet if he saw dimly he heard with no degree of uncertainty the trumpets that rang out from those battlements to welcome him after his sojourn, and all that followed him gave back the greeting with such cries as once haunted valleys at certain times of the moon. Upon those battlements and by the opening gates were gathered the robed Masters that had trafficked with time and dwelt awhile on Earth, and handed the mysteries on, and had walked round the back of the grave by the way that they knew, and were even beyond damnation. They raised their hands and blessed him.
And now for him, and the creatures that followed after, the gates were wide that led through the earthward rampart of the Country Beyond Moon's Rising. He limped towards it with all his magical following. He went therein, and the Golden Age was over.
And there came upon him at last those mortal tremors that are about the end of all earthly journeys. He hastened then. And before the human destiny overtook him he saw one morning, clear where the dawn had been, the luminous rock of the bastions and glittering rampart that rose up sheer from the frontier of the Country Beyond Moon's Rising. This he saw though his eyes were dimming now with fatigue and his long sojourn on Earth; yet if he saw dimly he heard with no degree of uncertainty the trumpets that rang out from those battlements to welcome him after his sojourn, and all that followed him gave back the greeting with such cries as once haunted valleys at certain times of the moon. Upon those battlements and by the opening gates were gathered the robed Masters that had trafficked with time and dwelt awhile on Earth, and handed the mysteries on, and had walked round the back of the grave by the way that they knew, and were even beyond damnation. They raised their hands and blessed him.
And now for him, and the creatures that followed after, the gates were wide that led through the earthward rampart of the Country Beyond Moon's Rising. He limped towards it with all his magical following. He went therein, and the Golden Age was over.