Darkness. Total darkness. The definition of emptiness. The definition of without. The space beyond light, the realm beyond life. What’s left after. What lies past the sunshine.

That’s all that’s left.

All that’s left in the remnants of the lost world.

Deep within the void left by the hollowing, at its end, a faint blue light beacons. That light then grows, covering the darkness, enriching it once more with the reignition of life.

Blue flames spread across the blackness, gradually unraveling the sheath over death, exposing the earth below to the blinding cyan shine of the supersun above, which peers through the dispersal of clouds, able to embellish the land once again with its rays from a journey across many lightyears.

Deep cyan light shines down on the grass within the black dome as it slowly disintegrates from the growing blue flames, further empowering the outside energies to reimburse what was withered from despair with a new flame.

Several beams of light shine on the green blades of grass, and amongst the inners of the dome is a man who gleams from a particular ray of sunlight, standing by the center of the dome as blue flames come down around him, exposing the vibrant cyan sunset as the day is already reaching its resolution.

Hearing the soft sizzling of flames, the calmly closed eyes of Walker slowly open up to which his pupils dilate from an overwhelming astonishment that leaves him speechless. Beside him, Vincent’s eyes also open, perplexed by the sounds he still hears, to which he frantically glances around himself wordless.

As light returns to the field and the flames undo the black dome, Ekitai’s head swivels in confusion before setting on the beaming man, to which his yellow eyes dilate before peering closer at the being.

On her knees, Kokei stares with wide eyes which hadn’t closed, her jaw which hadn’t shut.

Tilting her head up to observe the sight in front of her, Dana’s golden face reflects the image of the man standing before her, his body held down by chains yet still on its feet.

In a gentle fizzle, the rest of the dome is uncovered, and the azureus flames disperse on their own, revealing the field once again. Beside them where the stronghold stood now lays ruins, with the majority of the fortress floored and incinerated, and the rest charred and dented. Hallways and interiors are exposed inside the remainder of the stronghold, most of which has been emptied out or charred.

Surrounding the area by the stronghold is a massive patch of dirt as the grass was burnt into nothing, although over the wide field of dirt there remains a garden with rich grass right beside the stronghold, where the seven beings remain.

Several trees in the denser region of the forest behind the patch of grass have been knocked down from the blast, although right behind the grass where the Watchdogs were placed there doesn’t appear to be any damages due to the wall the dome provided.

Among those laying and those kneeling, one being stands on his feet, pushing himself up against the arms that hold him down. He stands in front of the laying body of the Artificer and the kneeling bodies of the Alchemist and Vanguard. He stands beside the laying body of the vanquished messenger. He stands behind the kneeling bodies of both leaders.

That being stares up at the sunset through azureus parallelogram lenses, his eyes no longer flaming and now emit a calm glow. He takes a deep breath in, and releases it slowly. For the first time since the arrival at the island, there is true, genuine silence. For the first time, there is peace. For the first time, he managed to reach serenity.

“Wait…,” mutters Walker before he pulls himself to his feet and stumbles backwards in awe. All at once the hands slither back into the surface, letting go of and sliding off of Dana’s body before slipping into the ground, loosening their grips on Ekitai’s limbs and pulling themselves back into the surface, uncovering Kokei and letting her go before coiling back into the earth where they vanish completely.

As all of the hands slip off of the man standing in the light, relinquishing the tenacity on his limbs and pouring off his body it was previously covering before they all submerge into the underworld they came from, Walker stutters, “Wai-wait…that was…I-I know what that was…there’s only one person in history who did that stuff…. You’re not just some…random saboteur are you? You’re….you’re him…you’re…-”

Light shines down on Kokei, as while she’s no longer restrained, she remains on her knees, unable to move herself despite being free. Her vibrant pink eyes remain wide with dilated pupils, having uncovered the revelation as well yet unable to truly process it.

After showering in the intense sunlight, the man lowers his head and turns to face Walker, who is experiencing a breakdown that crumbles his entire world.

Walker places his hands on his head as though desperately trying to maintain clear thought, trying to process the flood of information and it's even greater tsunami of implications.

In front of him, the man merely nods his head, and softly confesses, “I am.”

Too struggling to process the epiphany, Vincent stands up to his feet and stumbles about, placing his hand on his forehead as he tries to reason how such truth could exist given the events that transpired, the life that’s been had for all this time.

As the two are swamped in thought, the man steps towards them before calmly explaining, “It’s noble in a sense that both of you are prepared to lay your own lives for your cause, but have you ever thought about what that exact cause is? When one group attacks the other, retaliation is bound to happen, that’s what has caused all the events in the past centuries. Revenge after revenge, fight after fight, but who actually wins? When wild type humans hunt Exhumans, Exhumans come back and cause the same casualties. When Exhumans seek to hurt other people, those people will just keep fighting back and bringing down anyone they can. It’s a cycle that just shreds both lives. Neither of you are doing anything I wanted. I didn’t seek out to exterminate the Exhumans, nor did I fight to dismantle the world. I wanted the one thing that’d stop all the suffering, for both sides to stop seeing each other as enemies. That’s all I’ve wanted. I’ve lived in this cycle of violence for a long time, and it was getting better, but then it seemed like all at once it fell apart and we went back to square one.”

He glances back and forth at the two leaders as he continues, “Either of you dying is not helping your people. By trying to bury the complex truths, you perpetuate the simplified notions that continue having each side eat each other up.”

Staring at Walker, he reveals “Trying to hide that the Watchdogs have been led by Exhumans won’t do anything but have them keep trying to start fights, which will only lead to more of them perishing.”

Facing Vincent, he imparts, “And trying to hide that Generation S hasn’t even been led by an Exhuman won’t do anything but continue the cycle that causes more Exhumans to waste their lives like this.”

Turning to gaze at both, he declares, “You’re ironically great at looking into the lives of other people, that’s all you surround yourself with. So why don’t you also take some time to look into yourself? Both of you are in the lucky positions of representing and leading the final groups of people who will take up arms against one another, which means both of you are in the lucky positions to be able to collapse those groups in a way that might bring a true end to the conflict. A true end to this multi century war. My whole life has been dedicated to trying to bring an end to that, and I’ve done my part. Now, both of you do yours.”

He then turns around and walks towards his allies while Vincent and Walker exchange glances, still unable to muster sentences after having been dealt the speech. He approaches Dana and reaches his hand out to her, to which she stares at him for several seconds before nodding and grabbing his hand. He pulls her up to her feet, allowing her tentacles that came from her back to retract once more into her body.

Dana then approaches Ekitai to help him up as well in silence as the sun beams down on them. She offers her hand, still in her golden form, which he looks up at before grabbing her hand and being pulled up to a stand. He then turns around and begins walking in the opposite direction for recollection.

Walking by the edge of the patch of grass, Ekitai manages to find his handgun lying on the ground. He sighs in relief before kneeling down and picking it up, dusting the side before standing up straight and concealing it inside the inner pockets of his overcoat.

He stares at the grass for a few seconds, his yellow eyes dwelling in his thoughts for he knew the weight of this revelation for someone else. He then pivots his head around, gazing on Kokei as the man approaches her.

After being approached, as the shadow looms over her, Kokei stares into the abyss for several moments, still on her knees. The light returns to her eyes as she then raises her head slowly, bringing her gaze up to the man before her, who looks back down through his blue lenses.

The same lenses from decades ago.

Silence is spoken between the two for several seconds as both of them have a mutual understanding. Finally, the man reaches his pale hand out to her, which gleams from the strong cyan sunlight that covers the island where the dark clouds once did.

As the pale hand lays under the light, the small fair hand grabs onto it tightly in acceptance.

Both Dana and Ekitai watch as the man pulls Kokei off the ground and to her feet. After she stumbles back and forth, she regains her balance and stands straight before looking up at the man.

Looking back, the man gently nods his head, and turns towards the two leaders before approaching them. As he moves from Kokei, both Dana and Ekitai approach her from behind, and Ekitai places his hand on her shoulder as comfort. They watch as the man approaches the two leaders, the forest still silent.

Stopping in front of both leaders who are still visibly disoriented, the man admonishes, “You should both note you’re criminals who would most definitely receive a life sentence if not worse, and you should both comprehend the weight of the lives you’ve caused to fall, both opponents and collateral.”

Both leaders lower their heads in shame, but after the reprimand, he then elucidates, “So I very well may regret this decision, but I’m letting you both go. As I said, you both have a great deal of power right now, and I’m giving you the freedom to use it. I’ve reduced your arsenals, and while I used nonlethal weapons on your volunteers I don’t advise deploying them for any similar events. I’ll say this right now, if I find either of you attempting to use this as an opportunity to continue your havoc whether it be rebuilding your forces, carrying out strikes, or anything of that sort, I will drop both of you by the planetary council and let them do as they please. But I’m not doing that right now because I have the belief that you might be able to do more good with your voice than behind bars or worse.”

He then turns away from both of them, and looks up at the bright blue sky above. He lets out a soft breath before concluding, “I’m leaving a lot of work for both of you, and I won’t hold your hand with every step, that’s for you to figure out. I just hope you both have that good inside you that I’ve been fighting to prove exists in us all. Let’s make tomorrow better than today.”

With that, he turns around and departs, leaving the two leaders to stand by each other, deploying them on their new journey. For him, he returns back to the three allies waiting for him across the grassy island in the dirt sea. Standing in front of them, he takes a glance at each of them as though checking on their statuses. He glances at Dana, then onto Kokei in the center, then to Ekitai, before lightly nodding in satisfaction.

He then faces the beautiful sunset over the horizon with deep cyan and blue hues that resonate a gentle warmth. As the sunset takes place over the island, he returns his gaze on the three allies, prepared.

He softly offers, “Well, it’s getting late it seems, we should head back. Besides, you all need enough time to pack anything you want before I return you tomorrow, I’ll give you all Pouches when we get back unless you need more room. Sounds good?”

Silent, Ekitai moves his gaze to Kokei beside him, whose head lowers upon the reminder. He was correct, the war had seemingly come to an end, at least reaching a state where she should no longer need to worry over being a target. And as she’s persistently proven, she wanted nothing more than to get back to her own house and life as soon as possible.

Everything she wanted. Everything that would make her happy.

But it didn’t.

As the man turns around as though in preparation to be transported, his sleeve is suddenly grabbed. He glances at what is gripping onto him, and to his surprise he finds that it’s Kokei who’s holding him, staring up at his eyes through pink irises that reflect the deep cyan hues of the sunset.

Her words being released sheepishly, Kokei timidly implores, “Just wondering…I know it’s your house so it’s your call if you want it cleared…but do we have to leave tomorrow? Can we just stay for…a little bit longer?”

Standing to the side with his masked face staring back, the man doesn’t respond at first. Instead, his lenses dim and vanish and the black fibers of the mask crawl outward inside the hood, uncovering his face even outside within proximity of potential enemies. Still, he unveils his face from the sudden shock, revealing his blue eyes to be wide with astonishment.

He then turns his blue gaze to Ekitai before then moving it to Dana, who gently nods her head back, understanding what he sought, and affirming him back.

Finally, he returns his gaze to Kokei, who maintains contact with him.

A soft sigh exudes from the man’s mouth before answering, “You’re all welcome to stay as long as you like,” before giving a soft, closed smile for the first time.

The man then turns back to the sunset before suggesting, “How about if there’s anything you guys need from your homes that was left behind, we can go pick them up tomorrow? Sounds good?”

Kokei nods her head and lets go of her sleeve before answering, “Sounds better.”

Dana steps between Kokei and Ekitai before several coils emerge from her back and gradually begin wrapping around the three to mobilize them together. As she contains the two of them with herself, Kokei turns back to the man before shamefully requesting, “Although…if it’s not too much to ask, I sort of have a couple questions now.”

Her body is then concealed within the tight golden barrel of coils that contain everyone but the man, who stands on his own beside them.

A soft sigh is released from the man before he lowers his head, accepting “I understand; maybe if you guys aren’t too exhausted, I can clear some things up. Starting from where it all began.”

A flash of light consumes the golden barrel before it vanishes from the island, leaving the man standing at the side. He then takes a deep breath, and looks back up at the sun. Dressed in his black pants, black jacket, and the back of his head covered in the black hood, his figure stands over the sun with trees in the far distance over the horizon.

Memories buried return to the front of his mind as he recalls an image much like the present, where the grass he stands on is replaced by a small rooftop, and the trees in the distance are replaced by distant silver skyscrapers with smooth curves, some of which project holographic billboards with a rainbow of lights beaming down on the city below.

The one constant however is the sunset, watched by the figure, the back of its head covered by a black hood and the rest of the body covered by a black cape composed of a material similar to chainmail.

Memories buried once but now called back to the surface, the image of watching over the flourishing city returns to the narrator of the past: the man known well as Meditat.