A small bit of actual story for once:
Accalyns eyes focused on the horizon. "There are mountains in the distance. Why are there mountains? There are none in the stories."
Aferyn blinked slowly at him, "Stories can be wrong. But in this case, there are mountains because you are not where you think you are."
His laugh was humourless. "Well? There's not a chance I'd see Gadtyn."
Aferyn smiled softly, almost sadly, and confirmed. "No. Not Gadtyn, but not Fjeryn either."
"There is another?"
"Of a kind." They raised their head a little, gazing beyond Accalyn and into the distance behind him. Then turned to face the mountains, then back to him. "Come, let me lead you to where you are supposed to be. Where you are needed most."
"Needed?" He exclaimed, "Have I not done enough?"
"Don't fear, the road you have travelled is in the past, and you can make, still, a kinder future."
They lifted their head and looked over towards the mountains, then closed their eyes. A soft and perfect harmony of song seemed to ring from them, clearer and more beautiful than anything he had heard before, and Accalyn found tears welling in his eyes. He looked up at them, and found himself staring only into a night sky, dark and smeared with clouds. A light rain was falling. The first pink strokes of a sunrise glowed softly behind the mountains in the distance.
"Earth." He whispered to himself, and smiled. For the first time in 20 years, he found he was at peace.
Context:
Aferyn is the eternal guardian of the Levean concept of an afterlife (Gadtyn, realm of creation; Fjeryn, realm of destruction). Neither is inherently good or bad, it just sort of depends on the kind of people you want to be around. Gadtyn is often home to artists, musicians, writers, those with great visions of kindness, the loving, the giving, the selfless, the ones that long to explore, the ones that search for knowledge, who seek to better themselves for others. Fjeryn is home to fighters, warriors, those that incited or died in battle, great leaders, the vengeful, the selfish, the ones that destroy, the ones that better themselves only. The original names "Alvea Fjeryn" and "Alvea Gadtyn" translate roughly to "Land of that which has lost (in the context of destruction)" and "Land of that which has created" respectively.
