Often are the days when my thoughts stray back to that crystal palace, and the host who occupied it.

The warm gentle rays that would permeate the space within its walls, and the laughter that filled every hall.

There were many rooms to explore, and I regret how few of them I have come to know.

Though perhaps not as much as I ought, I did attempt to learn of each room I could, but many I found I lacked the key for.

Now the halls have fallen silent, and only the silver curtain of lunar sovereignty cascades upon this forlorn crystal.

I had left for a time after I had been unable to open the same doors as others.

I returned to find those previously known to me, now foreign.

Now I sit among the framed memories that adorn the empty spaces between silent doors.

Doors that shall never again admit entrance to another, their rooms beyond lost forever.

The throne upon which my adored host used to reside, now lay abandoned before me as my tears consecrate the silver.

My tears a sacred blessing, only existing through the fortune of having seen these halls when they had still held breath.

Though you have left my side forever, we share this moment now uninterrupted.

I shall care for you until times silent march forces me to part with you one final time.

Never shall I forget these final moments with you,

My Pallid Princess.

In our journey to find our deaths,

We found a life more fulfilled than what can be found in any book, or family.

We found the warm sun on a roofless car,

With nothing but the loud radio, bad singing, and each other.

Our laughter soared like a majestic eagle,

Flying high over the forest of lamentations.

The world was vast, and we sought to fill it up with ourselves.

It was in this, we found that no matter how vast the hole within us,

It only took one person to fill it up completely.

Though eventually, we reached our journeys end.

We said farewell not as the strangers as which we met,

But as two souls who became one.

We said our farewells hand in hand,

Never again letting go.

The air grew still as he entered the room holding their fates in his hands. Heavy was the small, dense cylindrical device, though heavier was the burden on his shoulders. Family, friends, and every acquaintance , or stranger in town pressed into that large run down hanger, waiting patiently. Light trickled through the holes adorning the steel roof, highlighting the dust particles suspended in the air. As he held the nuclear device in his hands, his closest friends, and immediate family gathered close, hugging, and saying their final words to each other.

"This is it" he spoke unto the air, as much for himself as for those around him. "Once we press this button, its all over” his voice trembled. "We know" replied his friend, relieving him of the the lesser of the two burdens, placing the device on the floor. He crouched, and prepared his hands, faltering once more at the final second. "Are we sure we want to do this?" he asked , observing the solemn faces all around him, his eyes lingering on those of his loved ones. His grandfather placed a firm, but gentle hand upon his shoulder. "Its the right thing to do, son. It must be done." spoke the familiar voice he trusted his whole life. He sighed one final time as he remembered everyone he had ever loved, and the life he had enjoyed, as well as the sorrows everyone has suffered. Soon his world would end, and everyone who would remember him would be gone as well.

A single push of a button, and their entire existence would vanish as everyone who knew each other would all perish together. There would be not a soul alive to remember the names, or lives of those gathered here.

It was now or never. He held his last breath, and steadied his wavering hand. His decision was made known to every empty building, and home in town.

The five puppets followed the strings that controlled them, and on the other end they found the truth. Before them was an answer so cruelly obvious that it broke their carefully crafted perceptions of reality. They raised their gazes high into the sky above them to meet the eyes of their beloved Goddess.

After a journey long and full of hardship they collectively fell to their knees. Some fell out of devotion, others from exhaustion, though a few fell simply from disbelief.

Though none could avert their gaze, only one could speak in the presence of the divine creation emanating from the deity before them. The noble paladin folded his wings, and spoke with an audible reverence in his voice "Oh sacred sovereign, surely this has all been a test? A trial of our faith, and devotion?". The Goddess smiled silently for a time that seemed unending; a gesture that was worrying as it was comforting. When the silence finally broke, she spoke with a voice so flawless that all who heard it wept as a new born child. "My faithful child you have come long, and far to reach me here. Yet I have still one task before you may rest. Prove your devotion once more, and know my reward. Slay the ones you call friends here before me".

The world slowly fell into darkness, as four stood broken of body, and spirit, basking in the embers of creation. They each made a solemn agreement with the exception of the fifth who lay forever silent by their feet. Here their lives would end, and in their place four demi-gods would emerge. A divine sacrilege to hold back the iron curtain of extinction which silently loomed over all of creation.

With grim expressions, the puppets of severed strings supped upon the light, and knew the cost of a flawed perfection.

I was but a child when a strange man appeared at the door of my parents humble abode. His clothes were of the finest fabric (a material called silk imported from afar as I would come to learn), which sported colors no member of our small town could afford. He promised my parents a future they could not afford me themselves, as well as a heavy purse that sounded of coin.

They refused the coin for reasons I would spend my early years unable to understand.

Soon after my pa grabbed my shoulders with an firm final grasp and said to me words I will never forget: "Son, a man must know his limits, and respect them. However, should opportunity present itself, he must not hesitate to make any sacrifice it demands to overcome those limits. Listen close son, for it won't knock twice." After that he said not more, and I was left to my mothers frantic wails shortly before the strange man dragged me away, despite my protests.

The strange man was a wizard, a powerful one, who sought to preserve his studies in the mind of an apprentice. My youth was essential as it would take most my life to equal his greatness, and the rest of it to surpass him. I acquired power, wealth, and fame beyond even most nobles. Many were the ears of kings in which I whispered, strange the places I traveled, and mighty the foes I defeated.

After the passing of my master, I was free to travel the world independently, and pursue my own goals. I first stopped by that humble abode my childhood memories called home. Though I found my parents late as I was in my return; They had succumbed to a pestilence which plagued the lands not long after my departure.