OOM: And in the end, it's love
She leaves Ed in the Ninth Precinct, in among the waters that lead down into the endless dark, into that death from which there is no return.
Only as he swims, stark white fin cutting sharply through the currents, it grows brighter instead of darker, the Sea (for Sea it is, there is no mistaking that, not for him) burning with its own radiance, as unlike the molten lava of the Lone Power as anything might possibly be.
There are voices in the water, inside that bright glow, and though Ed has never (once) before been capable of hearing the voice of the Sea, never (once) been gifted with a whale wizard’s power of song, he knows very well what lies before him, what surrounds him.
It seems the wizards were right about at least one thing, after all.
And even as he, himself, begins to catch fire, as the meaning and the purpose of this place blaze up and consume him, making him more completely himself than he has ever been-
Even then he laughs, the sound dry and terrible still, though there is a space for it in amongst the melodies that sing through the Sea, through Timeheart.
What’s loved, lives.
I take Death with me, out of Time,
"Goodbye, Ed. Love you."
And make of it a path, a birth!
And so, in his own way, does Ed--Master Shark, Destroyer, and Pale Slayer--burning bright in the waters of Timeheart, endlessly seeking out pain to end.
Only as he swims, stark white fin cutting sharply through the currents, it grows brighter instead of darker, the Sea (for Sea it is, there is no mistaking that, not for him) burning with its own radiance, as unlike the molten lava of the Lone Power as anything might possibly be.
There are voices in the water, inside that bright glow, and though Ed has never (once) before been capable of hearing the voice of the Sea, never (once) been gifted with a whale wizard’s power of song, he knows very well what lies before him, what surrounds him.
It seems the wizards were right about at least one thing, after all.
And even as he, himself, begins to catch fire, as the meaning and the purpose of this place blaze up and consume him, making him more completely himself than he has ever been-
Even then he laughs, the sound dry and terrible still, though there is a space for it in amongst the melodies that sing through the Sea, through Timeheart.
What’s loved, lives.
I take Death with me, out of Time,
"Goodbye, Ed. Love you."
And make of it a path, a birth!
And so, in his own way, does Ed--Master Shark, Destroyer, and Pale Slayer--burning bright in the waters of Timeheart, endlessly seeking out pain to end.