I stare up at the statue of the Saint, no of Godrick, and my mind begins to run wild. Part of me wants to be surprised, but the other part isn’t. He was a man of nobility, of power, of wealth. For him to eventually become the the monster we see today isn’t really that surprising.

  “Men.” Madison chuckles. “Kinda wish I was a lesbian.”

  “What does that have to do with anything?” I question. Like, why would she bring that up now?

  “The moment you think some of them may be better, it’s like nope. Rich and attractive, clearly he’s evil.” Madison shakes her head as she puts her hands on her hips. I’m still not quite following her but whatever. It’s not important right now.

  “Godrick has the ability to enact his own personal justice and the only limitation to that is what he views as justice. As a man who is extremely intelligent, devout, and very philosophical, there is virtually no limit to his power. The world that exists in your time is the way it is solely because of him.” Herc shifts his gaze to the four of us who are all still gawking at the statue that stands before us. I’m guessing Prisha and Dardania had seen the statue prior to today, but I haven’t. There was no way any of us would have known one of the Arcana was the Saint.

  “Let me guess, your last will is that we kill the Saint?” Madison turns towards Herc, cocks her head to the side.

  “That is a crass way to put it, but yes.”

  “So much violence.” I lower my head towards the floor. “Why does everything lead to violence?”

  I completely understand the irony here. What feels like just five minutes ago I wanted to absolutely kill Trevor. Hell, I still very much do, and I think I probably will for a very long time. But it doesn’t change the fact that everything seems to lead to violence. Even the man who has the ability to enact his own version of justice has used it for violence rather than peace.

  “Honestly, I think people are too stupid for anything other than violence.” Prisha turns, leans against the statue and slides to the floor until she is in a seated position. “Sure we could argue that the man who sits behind me isn’t an idiot, but his actions prove the inverse to be true. For whatever intelligence he may have had, it was all lost to his ego. So rather than do what serves the people, he focused on what served himself. Granted, I don’t know in what way, but we know it was selfish. Violence very rarely occurs because all sides were being selfless. Since he was the one who held, well holds, the power we can assume he was the one who was selfish and the ensuing violence was in an attempt to stop him.”

  “But it wasn’t just the resistance who chose violence, he did as well. We don’t know the history of this time, but to round people up and cleanse them is extreme violence. It becomes increasingly difficult to use diplomacy to stop existing violence. Snuffing out the perpetrators is usually the only way to truly stop the violence, but then again you run the risk of making them a martyr. Which this man being viewed as a holy figure creates a very high likelihood of that.” Dardania slumps down next to Prisha in front of the Saint and gently bangs her head against the cement.

  “Which is why his power is described as his own sense of justice rather than justice in and of itself.” Herc adds. “Justice rarely is based in objective truth, but rather the viewpoints of those in power. When you have the power to choose what that justice looks like…”

  He didn’t need to finish that thought, the rest of it was rather obvious.

  “Though, I fear that we are to blame for him.” Herc says as he turns to face the exit, his head hung in shame. “We upset the status quo. By attempting to make a better world, we inspired the worst humanity has to offer to do the same.”

  I shove Herc. He turns to look at me, utter shock written across his face.

  “You don’t get to blame yourself for that asshat. I don’t know what you all did, but it’s not your fault that man is a megalomaniac who decided he wanted to take over the world. You can’t ever feel bad for trying to make the world a better place for people.” I pause and take a deep breath. “Even if Tabathia isn’t what we thought it was doesn’t mean that the idea of it can’t be real. If we stop trying, then we might as well just help the evil guy win. Cause quitting just means that we are letting it happen. I don’t really believe anything I said just now but I’m trying to convince myself it’s true. This whole journey has royally fucked up my mind. Tabathia and Sirius are one in the same and I don’t know how to reconcile that in my brain, but I am trying. Side note, you are way different than I last saw you.”

  Herc stares at me.

  “I don’t know how you got from one thing to the next but…” He pauses and smiles gently. “I met someone. I fell in love and he showed me that there is in fact beauty in the world. Contrary to what Godrick would have everyone believe.”

  The last time we saw Herc he was depressed, angry, and a far cry from the man that stood in front of me. I didn’t get a chance to see the journey he went on to make him this warm and soft man that stands before us, but I hope I get to experience it with him. Something happened to him that gave him hope. That made him believe they could change the world. Perhaps if I see how he changed, I can see how it can be possible.

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  Coming here to this time has me convinced that we can’t. The Order has the world convinced that these two cities are separate entities when they are in fact the same. According to Herc, Tabathia came first and eventually became the city we know today. The today that holds the seat of the Order and the literal statue of Godrick, the first Saint. I thought I had more hope than this, but apparently not. It’s gradually been waning since coming here, but I can’t be that surprised. I literally lost my last bit of family prior to this journey and only now am feeling like I have one again. I am happier yes, but not necessarily more hopeful for the future. I too hope that the journey ahead of me allows me to gain the same hope that Herc did.

  “I’m raring to kick some serious ass right now.” Madison says as she kicks the statue. “This jack off just… ugh.”

  Madison lets out a guttural scream as she pulls out her staff, slams into the ground and begins chanting. Moments later a crack forms that ripples from the base of her staff to the statue and cracks it completely in half. The two halves don’t separate, but it now runs the entire length from top to bottom.

  “I feel a little bit better now.” Madison sighs and she sits down next to Prisha and Dardania.

  “At least I know why there is a giant crack in the statue now.” Prisha chuckles, which doesn’t take long to turn into a full blown laugh. Dardania and Madison shortly follow suit until the three of them are hunched over one another and laughing hysterically. I can’t help but to smile at the sight of it. Things have been tough lately and this just makes it feel a little bit better.

  “Don’t forget what it’s all for.” Herc motions towards the mass of laughing people that sits before us. “Even when things are difficult, you have to remember why you’re doing it. For that.”

  He turns and looks towards the entrance and then back to the rest of us.

  “We don’t have much time, we have to go.”

  We all compose ourselves and begin making our way to the exit of the church. As we approach the stairs, the entire world begins to vibrate violently.

  “We have to hurry, it’s started.” Herc rushes down the stairs, motioning for us to follow. We all run towards the exit and into the street.

  As soon as we walk out the door we all freeze and gawk at the sight before us. The world looks like it’s folding in on itself. On either side of the city the ground has folded upwards at a ninety degree angle and moving ever closer to the center.

  “Run!” Herc screams as he begins sprinting towards the mansion.

  As we dash through the city center, the world is rapidly closing in on both sides. I look back behind us and rather than folding upwards like the other half of the city, the church has duplicated and the portion of the city behind us now hovered in a perfect reflection above the other church.

  “What the fuck!” I scream at the top of my lungs as we continue sprinting full speed towards the entrance to the mansion. My lungs and muscles start to burn from exhaustion and being pushed to their limit.

  The collapse of the city has now reached the edge of the street we are on and creeps ever closer towards the center towards us. The mansion is within sight but I don’t know if we will make it.“Boom!” Dardania screams, exploding a building that is folding up in front of us. The rubble is sent flying in every direction, and we rush through the dust hoping to make to the other side.

  Herc skids to a stop, places his hand on the ground, and a giant pillar shoots up and slams into a building before it has a chance to fold over on top of us. It grinds to a halt for a split second before the pillar crumbles to dust and the world continues folding in on itself.

  We bob and weave around the light posts and the various stalls and carts that are still firmly planted on the ground on either side of us.

  “We’re not going to make it!” Madison screams as she spins her staff, wedging it between the two roads on either side of us and lighting ripples up the street, destroying various lamp posts and buildings in our way.

  “Yes we are!” I scream. I plant my feet firmly into the ground. Okay brain, don’t think about it, just do it. I slowly shift the level of gravity surrounding us until we are all floating several inches above the ground, but we aren’t moving. Shit. I don’t know why I thought this would work. I should have changed the gravity on the world instead, not that I have enough power to do that.

  “Gust!” Dardania screams, her voice reverberates in the small confined space which is barely larger than a small alley now. A tempest forms behind us and with an obscene amount of force propels us forward towards the mansion.

  We fly through the threshold into the library and immediately come crashing down to the floor. We all quickly jump to our feet and stare out at the world on the other side of the door.

  “What is happening?” Prisha asks in between breaths.

  “The end of the world.” Herc says as he sits down on the floor and takes in several deep breaths. “The world is duplicating and splitting in two.”

  Madison and I both whip around to face on another, our mouths agape.

  “Our world is being born.” I mutter, my voice horse.

  “Yes. I don’t know to what end, but the power of the Major Arcana and the Ancients are being expelled from this world. Our final task was to ensure the power of both survived and could one day stop Godrick, which is what led to the duplication.” Herc stands up and slowly starts walking towards the door. “Now that the two of you are here, the entirety of the Major Arcana has returned.”

  “And what of the Ancients?” Prisha questions. Herc smiles.

  “Several of the Arcana are Ancients.” He shifts his gaze towards Madison and myself. “I’m sure during your journey you have come across names you recognize? Courtesy of the Ancients. Some of it is their names, others are stories they wanted to ensure were told and not forgotten, stories of this world. Your mythology deep down holds the history of this world and the magic that was born into it. No matter what Godrick does, he can’t destroy that, they made sure of it.”

  Herc takes several stops closer to the exit, he stops just inside, and turns to face us.

  “I truly hope that we come face to face again, for I long to hear your journey and to see how it all ends. Until then, I wish you luck and remind you to never give up hope, for it is the foundation of all that is good. Lastly, go destroy that fucker.”

  Herc steps backwards through the threshold and dissolves into nothingness as he gets mixed up in the apocalypse.

  Slowly the world returns to our present day, and we have rejoined Avis and Nabu. None of us move, we simply just stare at the door exiting the library where moments ago Herc stood. Moments ago where we watched him die, leaving us with his final will and testament.