Epilogue: One Last Round, One Last Dance

Author's note: Hello! This is your friendly neighbourhood Dolos, here to tell you that this series is OVER. DONE. COMPLETED. FINISHED.

In any case, thanks for reading. I'm surprised to see this story reach it's finale before any of the other fanfics I've written...

Enjoy!

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I found a flower on this planet, locked away in a safe.

The marble lily reminded me of her.

I tucked it away safely in my pocket.

She does not deserve to be caged so.

It was safe with me.

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Und in jenen tagen werden die menschen den tod suchen und nitch fingen.

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I placed the flower up on the pedestal in front of Ariane. The blood red fluid shifted colour, blue, then green, then yellow, black...

I fell to one knee.

It settled back on red.

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Es ist vollendet ors geheimnis dieses gottes, wie sie es verkündigt wat ihren knechten, den propheten.

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It spread from the center outwards to edges of the vat.

I noticed parts of her arms and legs sticking out of the fluid began to glaze over with a marble white.

My vision faded as I fell to the floor, noticing the other LSTR units lying around her, beside their own pillars.

My propriorepetors indicated movement.

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7923691 cycles after the launching of the Penrose mission

Unnamed Desolate Planet

We landed on the snow covered planet.

There was nothing to see.

We had failed to find a home.

We had failed and now, the consequence. Desolation and solitude awaited us.

I looked over to the EULR unit beside me and then rested my head in my hands, looking at the floor.

"What do you think?" I asked, "How badly did I mess up?"

"Not at all," she replied, "You explored the galaxy till this ship, and your comrades," she gave a small bow, "have all reached the end of their ability. It was an honour."

I raised my head and smiled back.

"Thank you... I mean it."

She smiled, but looked sad.

"I suppose you shall be entering stasis now."

"Not yet..." I got up and made my way to the door, "I haven't set foot on the soil of a planet for far too long. Are you telling me you don't feel the same, Yuri?"

She looked confused, but nodded in agreement.

I put on a coat and dressed for the weather. Yuri insisted she was fine without any extra layers. Apparently her hardware was equipped to deal with freezing cold temperatures.

"A EULR must always be ready to keep herself ready to clean up any mess," she'd tell me. Apparently subzero conditions were included.

There was a hill ahead of us, blanketed in snow, just a bit smaller than the ship itself. I ran towards it while Yuri followed.

I rushed to the top, viewing the white landscape around me.

It was beautiful.

The snow packed on the ground, forming a mirror reflecting the sky as a red sun, which I assume was a trick of atmospheric gases, beamed down to the planet. A singular spot, about a tenth of it's size blocked the a spot in the middle, probably an eclipse of some sort.

Honestly, I felt for a second it looked like an eye...

Like it was... watching me.

My attention was diverted by a sharp yelp.

"Yuri?!" I yelled out, turning back to see what had happened to her.

"I am fine," I heard her call back, then silence.

"Yuri?" I call back again, climbing back down, concerned by her silence, "Everything okay down there?"

"Yes!" She called back again, "I'm sorry, it's... this isn't a hill!"

I was by her side by then.

A metal hatch lay beneath the surface of the snow.

Penrose

"Is this-?"

"One of our's, yes... ancient... really ancient..."

We stood there in silence for a minute.

"We should go inside."

"What?!" Yuri looked at me as if I'd lost my mind.

"What? We're running out of supplies. There won't be any food, but there must be something we can use."

I pulled at the levers, somehow managing to get it open.

Yuri jumped in first before I could even let go of the hatch.

"Hey!" I complained.

"I'm just scouting ahead before you decide to jump in and touch everything."

"I would not."

She chuckled in response and I jumped down to join her

The machinery was surprisingly functional. Every cog in it's place, yet most of the internal parts of the ship were covered in writhing flesh...⁹"I think we should leave," Yuri insisted.

"We're all going to die anyway," I replied, "if we find something here, we might be able to make it a bit further..."

She opened her mouth like she wanted to argue, but she didn't.

We went deeper.

We kept going till we opened a door and saw green.

My jaw dropped in shock while Yuri rubbed her eyes trying to understand what had happened.

"Sir?"

"I know, Yuri..." I paused, "I mean, this has to be a good sign, right?

I looked over the vast fields and noticed something in the distance. I squinted, trying to figure out what was going on.

"A house?" Yuri gasped.

"A what?! Over here?!" I exclaimed back.

"Y... yes."

I rushed over to the building and Yuri, frustrated as ever with my recklessness, rushed behind me.

I began to wonder how this managed to fit in the ship... perhaps we were below the crust in some sort I'd cavern, perhaps the sun we were seeing was a light source produced by a series of chemical reactions.

Of course, everything made sense if you thought about it enough.

The house itself was a mansion. A work of art which probably would have taken the undivided attention of at least 3 or 4 generations of masters in their crafts.

It felt almost like a sin stepping inside.

"Sir?" Yuri called out. I dont think I responded, "Sir!"

I blinked and turned to her, "What is it, Yuri?"

"We've been roaming around this house for hours and you've just been silent..."

I looked down to my hand on a door handle.

"We're at the last door... I recommend going back to the ship soon."

"After this door?" I asked back, expectantly.

"Sure, but make it quick."

I opened the door and was greeted by... something...

Marble statues in what looked like a throne room. Five of them, identical to each other except for minor differences like the chestplate, all with stilts for feet, were standing in attention. In the middle of the room, a tub of red fluid.

There were two more statues there. One, similar to the statues around them and the other... looked human. They were dancing, waltzing to the sound of marble tapping on wood with every step. Their marble clothes fluttering with every movement. Their marble skin bending and shifting with every movement.

They didn't seem to care about us being there, only their dance.

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P.S.: So... that's it, huh? I mean, I could've kept going for this chapter buuuuut that would've made the chapter drag on and the story as a whole too. As a result, executive decision, it goes to the vaults. If ya'll wanna see what could've been added, just tell me, I'll post an Epilogue II: Electric Boogaloo.

Till next time,

Quia nunc vale.