Epilogue

Brother Renard stared at the shrinking Sphere of light. He still didn't know what had happened, but seeing the saint leave could mean only one thing: Luaria had won and the dark goddess was gone.

In a way it was a shame. No more cute girls would arrive at the monastery. Or strange guys that would turn into cute girls. Nia had turned out especially cute, but she was gone now.

As the last of the light faded, he was left in total darkness. The period of darkness had only just begun, but their world could weather it, now that the goddess of darkness was gone.

He sung a small prayer and summoned a sphere of light over his palm, finding his way through the monastery and toward the prayer room.

It was lonely in the monastery. Qiin and the others had left and since they hadn’t been able to recruit any new followers, he was now alone in the huge structure.

The prayer room was much too large for him alone. Despite that, he knelt in front of Luaria’s Pillar of Light and spoke the long prayer that would protect him throughout the weeks of absolute darkness. The crystal at the top of the pillar lit up and shone a soft light that illuminated the whole room. It flickered a few times, but held stable.

He looked at his hands in Luaria’s light and wondered if they had done the right thing. They had summoned so many people, so many girls and it had taken so very long to defeat the dark goddess. Could there have been another way?

He’d never know.

After a long while in silence, he got up and swept the room. After that, he went to sleep. The next day, he prayed again to the pillar. The light kept flickering and he was still alone.

Day after day passed and he was still alone. At the end of the period of darkness, he was still alone. But the first rays of red light gave him new hope. A new hope that now everything would change.

But after two more weeks, he was still alone.

With a heavy heart, he got up and walked to the main gate of the monastery. It felt as if he was betraying the monastery as he looked at the path that led away from it. As if he was betraying his fellow monks. As if he was betraying Luaria herself. But he couldn’t stay here alone.

He finally steeled his resolve. “Good bye.” Only the stones heard his voice. He didn’t know, if he would ever come back and right now, it felt as if he was ending a chapter in his life.

Hopefully, the next chapter would be better than his last. And hopefully, Luaria would bring them back to their original world, soon.

THE END