solnet | And They All Lived "Happily" Ever After.

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And They All Lived "Happily" Ever After.

Greetings, fellow soldiers.

[The feed opens up to a view from the very edge of the bridge. Slim legs dangling over the edge, at the very precipice of everything.

It's a nice day today. The water's sparkling. A light breeze has small waves kicking up on it's surface, barely distinguishable from the quality of the video format. Even so- it's pretty.]

It's been a while since our last game. I'm sure most of you are busy with the flurry of activity this month has sparked, however- indulge me for a few minutes.

Consider it a question, more than a game.

What would a 'happy ending' look like, to you?

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Everything. Your life. The universe as a whole.

The end of the story as you know it.

I SEEM TO RECALL A THEORY ABOUT THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE THAT STATES THAT LINEAR TIME IS AN ILLUSION, AND THAT EVERY MOMENT IS OCCURING SIMULTANEOUSLY. IF TRUE, THEN THERE ARE NO BEGINNINGS OR ENDS, SIMPLY MOMENTS TO PERCEIVE AND EXPERIENCE.

In my world, we call those timelines. All occuring at a similar instant, but never really the same. And inevitably, they really do all have an end.

You honestly can't think of a way you'd want things to end, if they should do so?

WHAT I WANT IS IRRELEVANT. I KNOW HOW THIS PARTICULAR UNIVERSE WILL END. I HAVE SEEN MY OWN WORLD RIPPLE AND CHANGE AS HISTORY HAS BEEN ALTERED. I HAVE WITNESSED THE RESULTS OF "TIMELINES" DIVERGING, AND SOMETIMES CONVERGING.

AS FOR HAPPY ENDINGS, I'M NOT ENTIRELY SURE WHAT WOULD QUALIFY. A PERSON MAY BE HAPPY FOR A DAY, AND THEY MAY BE ENTERING THE FINAL PHASE OF THEIR EXISTENCE IN THIS PLANE OF EXISTENCE, BUT THERE IS ALWAYS A TOMORROW. DO YOU CONSIDER THAT PART OF THEIR "HAPPY END?"

You can't conceive a point where it is relevant? Regardless of how time and history change around us- every timeline has an end. A point in which the story becomes utterly irrelevant past the now simple lives of those who continue on.

And even they go eventually, don't they? You'd know all about that. Consider it another way;

If you had to die, what would be the happiest death you've seen?

[He hesitates a minute before sending his reply. He knows more about being on the receiving end of a death than people would suspect.]

THE HAPPIEST I HAVE WITNESSED, IF SUCH A TERM CAN BE APPLIED TO THEM, ARE THOSE THAT COME EITHER AT THE END OF A LONG LIFE OR AFTER MUCH SUFFERING.

I SUSPECT I WOULD PREFER A QUICK, UNEXPECTED DEATH. WAITING TO DIE WOULD JUST KILL ME.

I imagine most would prefer something quick and unexpected. Or a moment in time where they can say goodbye to their loved ones.

[Chara's neither. Even if he has mentioned them. One of the happiest, he said.

They'll take Death's word for it.]

And those that were happiest; out of the two, which would you say was better? Those who went in peace, or those who went in relief?

I COULD ONLY MAKE SUCH AN ARBITRARY JUDGEMENT AFTER CENTURIES OF STUDY AND INTERVIEWING THE RECENTLY DECEASED. AS YOU CAN IMAGINE, NOT MANY OF THEM WOULD BE INTERESTED IN BEING INTERVIEWED. THEY HAVE PLACES TO GO, PEOPLE TO MEET, NEW PEOPLE TO BECOME...

LET ME ASK YOU THIS: AT WHAT POINT DO YOU BELIEVE A PERSON HAS DIED?

I can't imagine many of them would be, no.

[They wouldn't, in their place.]

At what point? I suppose... that would depend on a number of things.

Perhaps when the consciousness ceases to be whoever that person was before. Be that because they cease to exist entirely, or they're recycled into a new entity.

My own, personal hope is that we simply cease to be at all, though it sounds like that may be far from the truth, in your own world.

PEOPLE ARE CONSTANTLY CHANGING, ARE THEY NOT? THEY EVEN MADE A CARD USED IN FORTUNE TELLING WITH ME ON IT THAT REPRESENTS CHANGE. I BELIEVE THE IMPLICATION IS THAT PEOPLE DIE MANY SMALL DEATHS IN THEIR LIFETIME. BUT IT IS ONLY A METAPHOR.

IS IT OBLIVION THAT YOU DESIRE?

You have a point. So I take it that eventually what I am now simply dies away as easily as what I have been. Through change.

[Maybe they'll become something even worse. What a nice thought.]

In simple terms, yes. Oblivion is what I desire.

I see no point to continuing on after already having lived.

IT WILL, EVENTUALLY. EVERYTHING CHANGES. I'VE WATCHED IT HAPPEN.

POINT? DO YOU BELIEVE THAT LIFE AND DEATH HAVE AN OBJECTIVE PURPOSE HANDED DOWN BY SOME HIGHER BEING?

I believe that, as an individual, I'd like to personify it into something meaningful to myself.

No point in waiting for purpose and meaning from higher beings, I really doubt they'd care.

I CAN'T SPEAK FOR OTHER WORLDS, BUT THE GODS OF THE DISCWORLD ARE OFTEN SELFISH, SHORT-SIGHTED, AND HAVE A HABIT OF TREATING THEIR CHOSEN ONES LIKE PAWNS IN A GAME TO WHICH THEY THEMSELVES BARELY KNOW THE RULES. IT'S PROBABLY BEST TO AVOID DEALINGS WITH THEM. YOU MAY END UP BEING THE VALIANT HERO WHO SLAYS THE DRAGON AND RIDES OFF WITH SOME DAMN PRINCESS, OTHERWISE.

THE GODS DON'T OFTEN SEEM TO CONSIDER WHAT HAPPENS THE NEXT DAY WHEN YOU'RE SCRUBBING DRAGON BLOOD OUT OF YOUR ARMOR AND THE PRINCESS IS RATHER ANNOYED THAT YOU DON'T HAVE AN ARMY OF SERVANTS TO DO ALL THE COOKING AND WASHING UP. THEY USUALLY DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT THE DAY BEFORE, OR WHETHER OR NOT YOU EVEN WANTED TO FIGHT A DRAGON. IT'S RIDICULOUS.

Can't speak for my world; I have no idea if any gods are toying with what happens there.

Should there be, I have many questions for them... but I doubt the answer would be any different from this conversation.

[You need a few things, for a story. A hero, a villain, and a helpless piece of royalty.

It's just their luck that they get to be two of those things at once.]

Have you ever met a mortal whose life seemed to...shake you, in some way? That you viewed it as unfair, would be the appropriate phrasing.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING IN THE UNIVERSE AS "FAIR." IT IS ONLY CONCEPT THAT MANY SENTIENT SPECIES HAVE CREATED, AND YOU TREAT IT AS IF IT WERE A REAL, QUANTIFIABLE FORCE IN THE UNIVERSE. I'M OFTEN AMAZED AT YOUR CREATIVITY.

HOWEVER, TAKING ON A MORTAL PERSPECTIVE... YES, I SEE UNFAIRNESS EVERY DAY. I SEE INJUSTICE, CRUELTY, CALLOUSNESS. I HAVE WITNESSED EVERY TERRIBLE THING ONE PERSON CAN DO TO ANOTHER. I CANNOT AFFORD TO LET THEIR FATES SHAKE ME, AS YOU SAY, OR I WOULD BE UNABLE TO FUNCTION.

To each their own, as it were.

[It's not the first time someone's come to them with a concept they don't want to believe; at the very least, this one has the good grace to understand there's little point in arguing it out.]

And have you ever deemed fit to help those poor, unfortunate souls?

I MAKE A POINT TO BE KIND TO THEM, WHEN I COME TO COLLECT THEM. THEY HAVE LIKELY JUST EXPERIENCED THE WORST THING TO HAVE EVER HAPPENED TO THEM, AFTER ALL.

AS FOR HELPING THE LIVING, IT IS THE LIVING THEMSELVES WHO ARE IN THE BEST POSITION TO AID EACH OTHER. I DO WHAT I CAN, BUT THERE ARE RULES THAT ARE BEST LEFT UNBROKEN.

If death is the worst thing to happen to them, then they can't be all that unfortunate, can they?

...Even Death has rules to it. I see.

THAT DEPENDS ON HOW THEY DIE, DOESN'T IT? I STILL SEE NO NEED TO ADD INSULT TO FATALITY.

ALL THINGS HAVE RULES, BUT ALL RULES CAN BE BROKEN. SOME HAVE VERY SERIOUS CONSEQUENCES.

True. Instantaneous death hardly counts in this vein of conversation.

Do you have an example of one such rule?

I WOULD IMAGINE THAT PROLONGED, PAINFUL DEATHS WOULD CERTAINLY RANK AMONG THE WORST THINGS THAT COULD HAPPEN TO AN INDIVIDUAL.

I CANNOT REFUSE TO PERFORM MY DUTIES. THE BUILD-UP OF LIFE FORCE WOULD CREATE DISORDER AND EVENTUALLY CHAOS IN THE WORLD, AND THE SPIRITS OF THE DEAD WOULD BE FORCED TO LINGER IN PLACES THEY SHOULD NOT BE.

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And They All Lived "Happily" Ever After.

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