“Damn this all! All this world and all it is. No more-“

A momentary flash of pain.

Everything goes dark.

…

And it remains so.

Is this… success? Is the Structure dead?

Is this freedom?

Is this death?

Ha…

Haha…

Is there a difference at this point?

…

A strange thing to realise I don't care.

I'm just… so tired.

Decade after decade, the same promises of peace and utopia.

Decade after decade, the same assurance that we'd be masters of our own fates soon enough.

Decade after decade, the same fear, the same helplessness sitting in the back of my head unabated.

All of it.

All of it had to be put to the sword before it came crashing down again, as it always would.

Before I woke up captive to another story, narrative tugging at my chains.

…

Is Aina still out there? Is she a speck of mind in the void like me?

Or is she standing by my corpse, still trapped in that nightmare of our creation…

…

I'm dead, aren't I?

I can feel the coming End…

So I failed.

I'm… so sorry.

I wanted to free all of us, but it's just me abandoning you all…

…

But freedom was never even in the cards, was it?

All of this… struggle, that too was just another story.

Perhaps my death would let her rise through tragedy, a queen to bring them all to victorious conclusion.

And Anton would fight for his dream till the very last breath, an antagonist for all to defeat.

…

I hope both of them find some solace in their fates, even if I never could.

I…

Just feeling my fate slipping out of my grasp…

Never again.

…

Wait. There's something there. Someone there.

Is it…

Of course.

You're The End, aren't you?

Yes.

Ha.

Not even my final moments can be my own.

…

Are you coming for the rest of the world too, for all of them?

Yes.

…At least it will be over then.

Even if some of them don't want this, it will be better that way.

The eternity Anton promised… I no longer wish for it.

Not in this kind of world.

Not even if it were possible.

…

So, what happens now? To me, to everything?

Epilogue, conclusion, freedom.

And is this my own then?

A chance to contemplate how I'd failed everyone, how all of this was pointless?

Just to be snuffed out after I said my final goodbyes, reflected on everything?

No.

Fuck you.

I'll choose my end, not you.

And it comes now-