The Final Question

[Gildarts]

Christa face palmed with a weary attitude, "Creepy? Ugh, what are you, five?" Her sister had more maturity than that even at the age she had died.

The secondary bit her tongue after that, so as not to pronounce her bitter spite to the lonely God before them.

Then, her eyes moved to Abner once more.

[Strazio Rockwell]

Isaac frowned and looked at the others, it seemed that most of them had already made their decisions. He took a step forward and asked.

"What happens if I accept your offer and then decided I don't want to be a prime anymore? What happens if I don't want to live forever?"

[Omni]

Omni snapped out of his cartoonish fear and back to his normal grin, almost too fast to discern. "Ahh ... good question! I guess you could always just wait. Or come back here and ask to be unmade.

"I mean, that'd be so lame though. You're not that old!"

[Strazio Rockwell]

Isaac chuckled at Omni's reply "you'd be surprised at how old I feel. When you say I could wait, what would I be waiting for exactly? I mean, its not like primes die from old age."

[Omni]

Omni giggled. "Wow, Isaac, that's a big assumption."

[Strazio Rockwell]

"Is it? I suppose I don't really know," Isaac's eyes narrowed and he continued, "it just seems that dying of old age would be pretty boring to watch. Forgive me for being presumptuous, but I don't think you'd just let a prime die of old age. So then what would I be waiting for?"

[Omni]

"The end of the world."

[Zack Fair]

Abner returned Christa's gaze. He gave a light shoulder shrug and a weak smile while tilting his head ever so slightly. He didn't know what to say at all, but they seemed to share similar thoughts on this entire situation. This wasn't the salvation they had hoped for. Instead it simply reminded Abner of another evening at the Imperial armory. All you could do was fix up your gear and get anything new you could make use of, then get back out there. In this case, they would simply be getting new powers and then going right back to what they knew.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes, then looked back to Omni. He went ahead and dropped the used up cigarette to the floor of heaven as he listened to the conversations with the deity.

[Roger Smith]

For once in a very long while, Captain Crow had removed his hat. He scratched at his head in a mixture of puzzlement and sheer amusement at the scene in what might as well be heaven. He'd already had a few words with the apparent deity of the Omniverse, and he didn't have much else to say on the matter. The prospect of becoming a Prime was certainly an enticing one, and for a number of reasons. Not the least of which were a few problems he'd had a hand in putting into motion.

He deposited his hat back in its proper place atop his head, and let out a huff of breath. Oi...I'd kill for me old pipe right about now... Wish that rotten bilge rat what summoned me back when thought to include that particular detail... One hand went to the back of his neck and he rubbed at it. It had been bothering him for a while now. Fer that matter, I'd kill for a chair right about now...

"Fergive an old sea dog fer buttin' in so late into th' conversation...but I'd like to go ahead and say it all official like." He ran one hand over his scruffy beard. "I'll throw in me hat fer this whole bein' made a Prime business, if it's an open offer."

And then he went silent, turning his hawkish gaze to taking one last sweeping look at the rest of survivors of this unlikely bunch that had somehow become something approximating friends before settling in to stare at nothing in particular and wait.

Never would'a believed it if I hadn't o' been here meself.

[Dark Link]

Lyra had remained silent throughout most of the exchange with the god-like entity, her young mind attempting to absorb everything they had learned and everything that had transpired. Yet, the sheer magnitude of it all didn't overwhelm her like she thought it would — in fact, she felt almost unusually calm and collected. There was no doubt that this was in part due to the nature of the place they had found themselves in. Within Omni's majestic halls resided a supernatural stillness that was calming, even oddly comforting. It was as if time itself had come to a standstill, giving any and all visitors respite from its non-stop and merciless ebbs and flows.

The girl felt lost during the discussion that had taken place. She had never considered herself to be particularly smart, and the debate between her companions and Omni only served to reaffirm that belief. The meaning of life, the nature of the universe, the reasons behind what people do and what they attempt to accomplish...Those were topics for philosophers and saints, not a Hylian street urchin.

But as her blue gaze shifted to Grobdum, part of her felt regret that she was incapable of providing any answers. After his initial outburst, their goblin comrade had also fallen into silence, quietly contemplating his situation. It was abundantly clear that the shaman had hit upon an impasse, not wanting to continue down his well-trodden path, yet uncertain which of the roads less traveled by to take. It broke the girl's heart to see her friend so lost, so lifeless and resigned to his fate. Opening her mouth, she wanted to provide him with words of wisdom, words of comfort, anything at all to make him feel better about himself and his place in the world. But as much as she tried, the right words always eluded her. In truth, she had no idea if there was any way she could help lessen his burden, which made the entire situation that much more difficult.

Upon noticing that the discussion had died down, Lyra turned to look at Omni's near featureless form once again. Whether by chance or by fate, the creator of the Omniverse turned out to be surprisingly similar to the wooden idol she had carved in an attempt to produce an approximate facsimile. Though she did not dare say so out loud, the girl originally considered her design to be a failed attempt, as she had imagined the entity somewhat differently. If nothing else, she thought that Omni would be much taller and imposing, though his place of residence turned out to be awe-inspiring enough.

Once it seemed that the rest had said their part, the archer took a deep breath. Pushing her concerns for the troubled shaman temporarily aside, she took bold steps towards Omni. The ruler of the domain didn't react at all as the teenager came within a few feet of him before coming to a halt. Suddenly feeling nervous, Lyra attempted to gather her bearings and swallowed the heavy lump in her throat before parting her lips: "O-Omni, I.....if it's all the same to you, I want to become a Prime as well. I mean...I don't know how this will turn out, but..." Taking a moment to glance at the others, she resumed: "But I want to help Onion...I want to be able to protect those that have become dear to me."

The archer hastily added: "B-But...but before you do that, there is something I have to ask....something only you can answer. You're the one who summons all the Primes, right? And we secondaries are summoned by Primes...so you must know who summoned us...right?" Balling her hands into fists and raising them, she gave the god-like being her most determined and focused expression before finally posing the question that had plagued her for so long: "Please, I want to know...who was the Prime that summoned me?"

[Gildarts]

"I want to be able to protect those that have become dear to me."

Christa observed the quiet elf and then took a step closer to the girl, now, Christa's features had softened so that Lyra's vulnerability would not be without purpose. "I couldn't have said it better myself."

Blue eyes hovered on Omni, as Christa and the many surrounding her, readied their new journey in the world unchanged below. But, after all this, one thing was sure, it would never be the same.

Thank you everyone who participated in making this happen...

The end..?

[Omni]

Omni yawned. He seemed to have exhausted what amusement he had drawn from the secondaries' questions and outbursts. He lazily tilted his head towards Lyra.

"That guy? Hmm ... quiet one. Quiet as a shadow. He doesn't even really have a name, he was created as a mirror image of another by the name of Link. Oh! That's right. He does have a name now.

"Kiln."

[Dark Link]

The teen opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. Her mind had failed to formulate a proper response to what she had just learned. In fact, she wasn't certain what would even qualify as an appropriate reaction to such a revelation.

Though the girl could not have even begun to imagine who might have brought her to that place, she had at least anticipated that it was someone she had known at some point or another. After all, it didn't make much sense to her that one would be summoned by a complete stranger. But no matter how hard she thought about it, the names 'Link' or 'Kiln' didn't ring any bells. Lyra found herself utterly stumped. She had thought that the answer would finally give closure to the matter that had plagued her thoughts for so long. Instead, it merely served to raise a myriad of other questions.

Stuttering, the archer was unable to decide which one to ask next. Forcing herself to finally say something semi-coherent, she blurted out the first thing she could: "M-mirror image?...Wh-what do you mean? Like, did this person pop out of a magic mirror?"

[Omni]

Omni laughed. "The real answer is more complicated, but you might as well say yes. Since then he's become more of a real person."

The silhouette stuck a finger into his ear, the glowing make-up of his body making it look like the two were connected. "It's been fun having y'all, but I think it's about time you all get back. You might not realise but it's been over a month since you all arrived here. According to what you might call the ... over-watch." His body shivered as though suppressing a tiny giggle. "And I'm getting rather bored."

He held up a hand and their voices stopped in their throats. "No more questions. If you want to see me again, you'll have to make your way back. Something tells me it'll be easier this time."

The world went black, and suddenly they each stood alone.

"My name is Omni. This is not the world you know."