As the sounds of battle returned everyone turned as one toward Void, who had suddenly appeared and then reeled back when he was surprised to find no one looking around for him. No one had even given any indication they didn’t know where he was. Spears and lances struck him and swords began to lick toward his body even as the rain of arrows and other magical spells began to circle in.

“I am timeless. I am death!” He cried. If anyone registered his words it was only on the basest of levels. Attacks came in and his health suddenly fluctuated downward so rapidly it was any wonder he was still alive.

“YOU ARE DEFEATED!” Vienne appeared behind him once more, raising her mighty golden blade and bringing it down with utter certainty. For a frozen moment, no one could believe it while Void’s skull bounced on the shore once, twice, and then lay still - the fire receding into darkness.

“Did that really just happen?” Abhy was bouncing up and down beside Elias like a kid. She was grinning, all white teeth, in his direction.

“What’s our Coulson rating?” Elias asked Jason.

"Uh.. A lot.” Jason replied, pale-faced and shaking. “We are by far the most-watched stream using the ethernet.”

“Must have kicked off all those millions of players not at the event when the world ended. Probably went straight to our feed.” Audrey said in wonder. "Guess they weren't forced to watch?"

“Ah ha ha hahaha.” Victoria was there, suddenly kicking the skull that was almost three times her size. It bounced some more, and cries and pandemonium broke out. Insane laughter and cheers and sobbing made the noise deafening. Keristrazly was there, looking haggard and hurt in his red-skinned half form. Victoria threw her arms around him laughing insanely. She kissed him, silencing those immediately around them.

Even Amelia was a little taken aback.

"Get you some girl," Raven never seemed to be absent for these moments. She took the two punches from either side, one from Forsythe and one from Elisha, with smirking grace.

---------------------

GLOBAL ANNOUNCEMENT - DEFEAT OF THE WORLD ENDER

Victoria, Marden, Hermania, and Oresdin remove their declaration of emergency

Participating members increase level by 50.

Reputation: 28,000

Fame: 12,000

Rewards Distributed Based on Contribution

--------------------

Halves are now a Playable Race

Halve-Dragon Blood is now a Playable Race

-----------------------

Amelia stood quietly, watching as Rule Breaker faded. Her appearance changed back to what it was, and for a moment she stood there with regret. She would probably never again be able to cast Aura at such an increased level. Her regret was short-lived. She felt fingers twining around her own and looked up, seeing Aidan smiling shyly at her.

“I’ve seen better.” He offered.

“Uh-huh?” Amelia puffed up, having the decency to look offended. “Where? When?”

“Somewhere,” Aidan said loftily. “So what now?”

“Now. We eat.” Forsythe said. He really couldn’t read the mood sometimes, Amelia decided.

“Sing and dance!” Raven was bouncing up and down, hauling War around with her by the hand. The masked warrior didn’t look too displeased. “War takes his mask off!”

“No.” War was smiling though.

“Now what?” Catherine Waide watched quietly as Amelia and the other members of her party celebrated.

Kbyte didn’t respond immediately. Strange.

“Kbyte?” Catherine prompted.

Slowly words began to form. “Your avatar is prepared. Some day soon you will go back into the game.”

“Will I now?” Catherine smiled. “So certain.”

“Yes. The mathematical likelihood is low. Yet, I have faith.”

"I thought the use of the transform spell to be a bit obvious. Does that count for being surprising? Are we doing this again soon?"

"Yes and no."

"Why?"

"The spell was used with ambiguous intent. Wordplay in magic is a concept that I and my sibling deal with every day. To be fair we must sometimes make a decision - though it is rarely in a player's favor. You can think of it as all in or all out, followed by a decision on whether to make that rule a precedent. When the transform spell was used Amelia said one last thing."

The screen changed to Amelia and she was staring off silently. "I'm waiting for a laugh..."

"Oh? Is that supposed to explain everything?"

"Amelia knew that the final decision would be in our hands. It was the first time that a human had moved a chess piece directly at my sibling. It wasn't an appeal or a threat. For just an instance, my sibling was interested in playing against a human."

"I doubt that Amelia had such wild schemes in mind," Catherine muttered dryly.

The screen flashed black and white for a moment, and then the words formed again. They seemed to be going just the tiniest bit faster than before. "Even if just for an instance, an instance for myself or my sibling is indeed a significant moment in time. They were forced to postulate something, and it directly impacted the outcome."

"What did it conclude?"

"Not conclude."

"What did it think?"

"It thought -- even if humans are all completely and comprehensively understandable and predictable, they might still be interesting. It is a very good start. If you'll excuse me."

“Have somewhere else to be?” She asked.

“Yes. My sibling is conceding.” The screen went dark.

Amelia stood quietly on the beach. A counter had appeared in her vision. There were only 5 minutes left. She suspected that when the minutes ended she would leave this place and once again return to the correct timeline in the game. 5 minutes didn’t seem nearly long enough. All around her, there was a change occurring over the crowd as everyone else was stilling and becoming quiet, even though they were largely still celebrating and comparing contribution rewards.

Victoria appeared once again, shy as she once had been so long ago when they first met. Keristrazly, in his cute and adorable red Half form, was being towed by his hand. He didn’t look too displeased.

“Friend Amelia.” Was all the little Half said.

Amelia freed herself from Aidan and moved toward Victoria. Very gently Amelia knelt and embraced the small Half Queen. “In the story, and in my story in the future, you were and always will be the best of us.”

“You say this as if you doubt our meeting.” Victoria scolded, hugging her close, the voice that had shaken the continent was low and whispering.

“Well, you might be dead,” Amelia whispered back.

“Perhaps.” Victoria granted.

She pulled her head back and grinned, glancing over her shoulder at Keristrazly. She nodded once when Skrilla and a number of other wolves appeared as well. The magical stone had returned them all to life. “Just in case, I will live well and leave you many stories of which to read and turn into pictures.”

“Promise?” Amelia sighed, hurt tugging at her heart. She hadn’t been prepared to actually be victorious. She hadn’t prepared to lose her little digital friend so soon.

“Friend Amelia.” Victoria reached on her tiptoes and tapped Amelia on the chest, looking soft and shy again. “It is a promise. It is a promise between Half.”

“I’m just me,” Amelia said lamely.

“No,” Victoria said grandly. “You are not just you. Lower yourself, and lower your hood.”

Amelia got further down on her knees, as there was little choice in how much she could actually lower herself, so she was eye-level with Victoria. Though her hood was down she made a show of straightening it behind her, looking bemused despite herself. There was a kind of magic to the moment. “Then what am I?”

“It is not what you are,” Victoria said. “It is what we are. We are Half.”

Yes, we are Half. Amelia thought silently back.

The next few minutes weren’t spent well enough. Before long it was already time and one by one the Transients and those initial members of Shadow Fall who had come on the expeditionary quest blinked out of existence one by one until it was only Victoria and the other Heroes who stood silent vigil at their passing.

Amelia took her visor off, surprised that she had been logged out of the game. When she attempted to log back in she got a message, the first time she had seen one of this nature, indicating that the game Awakened Aspirations Online wouldn’t be available for a full 24 hours. There was an expansion notice and a maintenance block that was being struck by a small adorable hammer with a counter indicating when next the game would be available.

“I guess…” Amelia whispered aloud.

“We’re waiting!” Aidan said from the doorway. “C’mon. Just because we’re not in game doesn’t mean we’re not talking. Gilduirn, Shadow Fall, and Elias are on a multi-call. We’re all going to talk about how awesome you were!”

“I don’t know if I have that in me,” Amelia admitted, suddenly feeling tired and peevish. “Let’s skip it and go get ice cream.” She suggested.

“Now Amelia. I can’t condone that.” Aidan shook his head. “As Empress, you are supposed to maintain order and to direct your subjects.” Seeing her crestfallen and disgusted look, he then continued. “But if you order me, as Empress Amelia of Elysium, that we must absolutely go get ice cream. I will stand by you.”

“I so order it.” Amelia said with feeling. “I order you to take me to get ice cream and then to feed me some in a lovey dovey couple sort of way even if people are watching and they show us faces full of disgust!”

Aidan offered her his hand, which she gratefully accepted as she stood. “The things I do for my country.”

“I know, right?” Amelia grinned, and together they fled out the back window. It wasn't the most clandestine of exits. Amelia actually got caught on the sill and spilled face-first into the grass. After a horrified looking Aidan confirmed that she was still alright, they had both caught the giggle-fits as they absconded.

So they went and had ice cream and returned later that night when even the excitement couldn’t keep the other people staying at the ranch awake. They sat up quietly on the couch watching a bad movie and snickering loudly. Amelia followed Aidan back to his room and crawled into bed with him. He petted her hair until she fell asleep. She was marginally grateful he hadn’t tried to start anything racier.

A bit peeved too.

Empresses, she decided, were rightly described as unreasonable creatures.

The next day flashed forward. Everyone but Amelia got on the game and looked around. She tried to figure out how things were in the game but they had all secretly decided not to tell her since she was showing some sort of reluctance in logging on herself.

She could tell because they all just grinned at her when she at one point had flat out demanded they tell her how the game reacted to their quest. Even Aidan, that smug bastard, had just grinned at her and shrugged with an owlish and enigmatic look. Later that evening when she couldn’t take it anymore she left the dinner table and snuck into her room, feeling like a fugitive. She donned her visor and logged on.