The End of Magic

-I ride alone. There is no other way.

Silence. That stretching silence which only exists when something is ending. That last instant before you turn your eyes away. Forever. That desperate gasp of an early spring warmth before the heavy armor pulls you down into the darkness of the broken icy lake. That moment of the surprise in soldier's eyes when your deadly blade stops him mid-swing in the rage of the battle.
I can feel the heaviness of that silence. Words don’t have to be said anymore. Words that are felt. Words that still made sense, even when everything else does not anymore.
You turn. I can’t look into those eyes. Those eyes that had been with me at the darkest moments of hesitance or fear. The hardened soul of an old warrior touched by the eternity of that magical glance.

-The seal is broken. They know of you. They know of this place. They are coming. You must leave. To places only your people can reach. I ride back alone. There is no other way.

You close your eyes. A tear glitters lonely under the trembling lashes. As your world trembles too, you feel it deep within. Your whole essence and everything else is connected to this place. And as the last connection between our worlds is about to be severed, I sense how hard you try to keep that hold to all that meant so much. But you know its too late now. Our hands touch.

Time stops.

*******

I ride alone.
Through the emptiness of the vast green expanse. Through the silence. I do not look back. I know what’s there. Moreover, I know what is not there anymore. But somewhere on the very edge of my consciousness, where the most sacred thoughts are safely stashed into the deepest vaults of my mind, something barely perceived but still very present, a tiny sparkle, one precious seed of hope, the very last bit of magic in the entire human universe lives - your last touch you left for me to keep forever.

-Guren níniatha n'i lû n'i a-govenitham! Galu! My heart stays with you, my Queen. Farewell!