Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

said Owen. “Have you given Lewis the Deathstalker ring yet?”
    “All time is same to me. It’s a poor memory that doesn’t work both ways. Haven’t forgotten about Lewis and court. Always assuming I remember where I put ring. Had it just the other day . . .”
    “Well, when you do go, turn up as Vaughn. That should be good for a laugh. Now, take this scroll and keep it safe. Give it into Lewis’s hands only, at the exact time and place I’ve just put into what passes for your mind. Oh, and one other thing. If at any time, anyone asks you who built the Madness Maze, or why, lie. Convincingly. Humanity isn’t ready for that much truth.”
    He dismissed the shape changer with a wave of his hand, and turned to Hazel.
    “And that’s it. All done. No more business left unfinished.”
    “It’s time to leave, isn’t it?” she said. “We’ve put it off long enough. We have new lives to begin.”
    “Yes,” said Owen. “We can do anything, be anything now. Why settle for just being human? We can have any shape we choose, be anything we have a mind to, limited only by our imagination, ambition, and conscience. But whoever and whatever we become, and wherever we go, we will never be parted again. I promised you . . . we’d always be together.”
    “Forever and ever,” said Hazel.
    And so they became great glowing beings, and left the place that was not a place. They undid the gateway, but left the stone corridors for the Blood Runners to someday discover. Great glowing wings sprouted from their shimmering shoulders, as they flew back into space and time again, and then further on, starting their long journey into somewhere else. Flying on vast butterfly wings, shining brighter than the stars.

THE FINAL WORDS OF THE FINAL TESTAMENT OF OWEN Deathstalker.

    Last night I dreamed I was still human, but now I have
    woken up, into something better.
    Farewell, my friends, farewell.