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Epilogue

Janice bent over the broken little body. It was surrounded by blood. So much blood. Far more than what seemed possible to fit into the little thing.

“Eeskit,” Janice said in a solemn voice and sniffed. She knelt down and placed a hand over his eyes, sliding them down to close them. “Thank you,” she managed to say after fighting back stinging tears.

She stayed there for what felt like hours, but in all reality had been no more than a few minutes.

Kieth arrived then, coming up from the lower levels where the last battle had been fought. Angels, all righteous and all knowing, had converged on the area and were running the show just terribly enough that Kieth couldn’t stand it anymore.

He stood a respectful distance back from where Janice was kneeling, keeping quiet. He had seen just how close she had been with Eeskit even though the smell alone prevented Kieth from having any sort of conversation with the vermin. However, from what he heard, Eeskit had been a courageous one, always willing to jump into the fray for the common good. It was a very rare trait in a vermin, who were normally quite greedy and self-preserving. Made him wonder how Eeskit got to be that way. What story did that little guy have?

After a few more minutes, Kieth cleared his throat.

Janice slowly turned her head and glanced behind her to look at Kieth. She gave him a weak and unconvincing smile. “Hey.”

“Hey,” Kieth replied and took a few soft steps closer. He had to move slow. He still ached and felt drained. Magic was not free to use, it took lots of energy to use it for any duration and Kieth had pushed himself to the absolute limit. It would be a few days before he would be fully recovered.

“I was just getting ready to head back down”, Janice said and stood up, but the way she kept looking down at the lifeless body made it obvious that she didn’t want to just leave him there.

“No, it’s fine,” Kieth raised up both hands to stop her. “Gabriel is having a hard time keeping the more scholarly angels away from Malus’ half baked spell. He doesn’t want to set it off. It’ll be a few before they need us back down there.”

Janice stopped and looked back down to Eeskit. “Should be a burial. Is it selfish to think that for just this one being when I know a lot more died out there.”

Kieth shook his head. “He was your friend. As bad as it sounds, but many people die every day. However, friends don’t die every day.”

Again, Janice gave a smile, but this one was more genuine. She gave the hard stone ground a rough kick with her boot. “Shame that the ground is too hard to make a grave. I’m not even sure if vermin bury their dead.”

“They don’t,” Kieth said, but didn’t elaborate. They ate their dead unless they died of sickness. Sometimes food was scarce and so nothing was wasted.

“Maybe we have time to take him to the surface,” she offered and then realized that she had no idea where to go or how to get back to the surface.

Kieth crosses his arms and thought for a moment before he got an idea. “I could burn the body.”

Janice looked at Kieth, a brief flicker of surprise coming to her face. The thought had not even crossed her mind once. It was a good one.

“You would do that?”

Kieth shrugged. “I have enough energy to do that much.”

Janice looked down at Eeskit and then knelt. She rummaged quickly through his cloak before pulling out his prized dagger. It was a work of art with rubies and sapphires in the hilt which was of gold and platinum with a blade made of something that didn’t quite look like steel. Eeskit had gotten it well before he had become a slave and had promised to tell Janice that story. He had also promised to tell Janice how he had become a slave. So many stories not told. It made her sad again, but she pushed that away for now. Instead, she stood up and gave Kieth a nod.

Kieth walked to stand over the body. He raised up his hands over it and with a flick of his wrist, flame consumed it. With the size of the body and the intensity of the flame, it would only be a few minutes before just embers remained.

Down below, off to the side where the excitement of the room hadn’t reach, Jason sat with his legs stretched out in front of him and his most precious prize laying between them and resting against his chest asleep.

Jason ran his hands carefully through Andrew’s hair, not caring that the hair was oily and matted with hunk of months without washing. He was just glad to have Andrew back after so long. There was also another thing that had Jason’s mind occupied, he was human again.

Soft and supple pinkish hands, not paws. He had hands again and Jason was still getting used to it. Long and nimble fingers instead of the stubby things before. No long ears or muzzle, not fur, he was human again. It was all Antes, the influence that turned him into a canine. Reverting back had been a little uncomfortable, but quick enough that it had caught him off guard.

Did Jason have any effect similar on Antes? It would be impossible to tell, there was no way to communicate to anyone inside the soul stone, or so Gabriel said.

He could hear the angel’s voice booming around the room. He had taken over everything and was now organizing the scores of angels and humans that were taking apart Malus’ fortress for any kind of information he had all the while keeping prodding individuals away from the spell cauldron that was still bubbling.

They had been doing this for a few hours now that the battle was completely over, the last bits of demon resistance rooted out and destroyed after the main body had fled once their master was gone. According to Gabriel it would be another few hours before they were comfortable with opening the spell to send him and his companions back home. That was okay with Jason. Just sitting there with Anthony was all he cared about in the world right now.

“What time is it?” Anthony mumbled and stirred a little.

Jason wrapped his arms around Anthony and held him. “No idea. Impossible to tell here.” Jason said and was hit by a sense of emptiness since this was the part where Antes would tell him. He let the silence linger.

“How long have I been asleep?” Anthony asked. His voice was raspy and weak. His entire body was a shell of what it had been. So many months of being exposed to the corruption had pushed Anthony to the brink and it had only been the direct intervention of a healer angel that saved his life. But he was stable now.

“Just a few hours,” Jason said. “I don’t think we’ll be heading back home today.” He looked on as a few angels and some human scholars threw up their arms in defeat after looking at the spell cauldron for several minutes.

“I’m ok with that,” Anthony said and turned to his side to rub his face into Jason’s shirt. “Hard to imagine you as a canine for over a year. My most vivid memories were of you back home.”

“I honestly can’t recall a whole lot in good detail,” Jason admitted. “So much has happened that I want to share with you.”

“I look forward to it,” Anthony said and yawned. “Another time though. I’m still tired.”

“Go back to sleep,” Jason told him and kissed the top of his head.

A few moments later and Anthony’s breathing slowed as he fell back asleep.

Jason could feel the movements of the breathing and again, decided that a bit of a wait was alright and that everything was going to be just ok from here on out.

• 5 Years Later -

Jason snapped back to reality, the memory fading back as it was quickly taken over by applause. There were hundreds of people looking at him, many smiling, a few not. They were clapping and it took a moment for Jason to remember that he had just given a speech. He was the Valedictorian after all for his graduating class.

With a sheepish smile, Jason gave a short wave to the crowd and his eyes immediately focused on one person in the front two. Sitting right next to his mom, was Anthony. He was in a simple black and white suit, holding a polished wooden cane between his legs. He looked more proud than the beaming woman next to him and he just might be.

Not wanting to stay there too long that it became awkward, Jason stepped away from the podium and the microphone.

Five long hours later and he was changed out of his graduation gown at sitting at a local burger joint.

“Too many vegan options,” Janice said and flipped through the pages of the menu, looking for something that once lived to eat.

“Just try something,” Kieth chastised her. He was toying with his straw, only occasionally taking sips from the frothy milkshake he had ordered. “It’s not going to kill you.”

“But it will leave me hungry,” Janice countered and smiled as she found the non vegan menu near the back. “Double bacon cheeseburger. That’s more like it.”

“I’ll just stick with the vegan burger they have on the first page,” Anthony said and put his menu down.

“You need more meat on your bones,” Janice said and Anthony looked away in a bit of shame.

“Sorry,” Janice apologized.

“It’s fine. You’re right, but another day,” Anthony grinned.

Anthony never truly recovered from his ordeal. He was always a little sickly, even when he technically wasn’t. Part of being exposed to the corrupting demonic energies for so long, it wracked his body magically, instead of through disease, which perplexed doctors. He also didn’t gain weight and never had much of an appetite. Normally it would have been a tough existence, but a weight on his leg made it better.

“I think I’ll go for the avocado burger,” Jason said. “Never really had avocado, what better time than now.”

“Those are disgusting,” Janice stuck out her tongue.

“We know you hate vegetables,” Kieth smirked.

“Is it a vegetable or a fruit?” Anthony raised the question and everyone paused a moment to consider the question.

“Technically it’s the fruit of the plant,” Jason said.

“Look at Mr. Diploma here,” Anthony raised up his arms and mocked Jason. “Suddenly he had a degree in computer science and he knows all about fruit.”

“Hey,” Jason gave Anthony a playful shove. “You have a degree as well.”

Anthony grinned and returned the shove.

“You know that next week is the fifth anniversaries of us getting back to this world,” Kieth brought up and looked around to make sure no one else was listening in. It was their secret. No one would believe them anyways, but after disappearing for over a year and suddenly appearing again, there were still the occasional person who tried to pry answered from them even though the investigation was officially closed.

“Maybe we should do something,” Jason said and looked around as the others nodded.

“Why wait,” Janice said. “We’re all going back to our own homes and jobs in a few days, we’re here now.” She grabbed her drink. “To Eeskit.”

Jason lifted his drink, “to Antes.”

“To Hermes,” Kieth said.

“To everyone who sacrificed to get us here,” Anthony completed the toast. They clinked their glasses of assorted nonalcoholic drinks and took a few sips.

“Five years,” Anthony sighed.

“Went by in a flash,” Janice said.

“Maybe for you. You joined the military,” Kieth said. “I work at a dockyard. Slow ass days loading and unloading freighters.”

“I wish it went a little slower,” Anthony said and squeezed Jason’s hand. “A little longer with you is always better.”

Jason blushes at the cheesy line, but smiled back.

“Get a room,” Kieth mocked a gag.

“We already did,” Jason said and flexed his eyebrows suggestively.

“Gross,” was all that Janice said.

Jason laughed.

The next twenty minutes were spent reminiscing and ordering their food when the waiter came by. Once the food came out, they devoured it and sat around for a while longer.

“That was real good,” Janice patted her belly. “Might have to get another.”

“You don’t stop do you?” Kieth asked.

She shook her head.

“Well,” Jason said and slapped a few bills on the table. “If you two don’t mind, Anthony and I have to go. There’s still some stuff that needs to be done back at the campus before I’m actually officially graduated.”

“It’s cool,” Janice and Kieth said in unison.

“You guys have a good day, alright?” Janice called after them once they were up and heading out.

“I think that it’s going to be a great day,” Anthony said and slipped his free hand into his pocket where he felt the velvety ring box.

Jason looked over at him with a slight questioning look and Anthony dispelled any sort of thoughts with a quick kiss to the lips.