There was a transition period for Ramiel, too.
Carnage had plucked them from their lives Before, and though they had all willingly agreed to his terms, it was still far different than any of them could have anticipated. Their dark god had left out several details about the journey (the rips in time and space, the monsters, the langoliers) that, had they known, perhaps fewer of them would have gone along with. He came back a different boy – a man in a child’s body, really. He had seen his own death in the glassy eyes of Oorn, right before he managed to escape. He had seen the destruction of Beqanna, the absolute end of everything even beyond their corner of the world. He had gone to the shoreline of the afterlife, had seen his ancestors long since buried under decades of earth. When it was all over, he wondered what more was really left for him.
He felt like he had already lived a lifetime in the span of a few days.
But of course, there is always more.
The black colt grew into his body and into the ability he had gained in the afterlife. He had gone home (because even if parts of him were forever changed, there was still that same loyalty burning in his blood for king and country). His king, who was also his father, had passed the throne onto him very soon after his return. Tiphon hadn’t known that he was passing it onto a stranger. He hadn’t known that his son was not the same person (his worldview expanded and mind much the same). But Ramiel had tried to recuperate quickly, for the others’ benefit. Unlike the other four, he hadn’t had the luxury of time.
Now, standing on the same rise he had been when he accepted the crown, he thinks maybe he’s done alright. He’ll never again be that boy who saw everything in black and white, who followed the rules and broke them only begrudgingly. A kettle of vultures flies on the thermals high above him. The grey stallion tracks their motion, a thoughtful look on his face. Something’s crossed over. He wonders if the other animals have their own beaches on the Other Side. There hadn’t been any ghost rabbits or deer when he’d gone back, at least not that he’d seen. And if he hadn’t still been so weary from that last trip, Ramiel might have returned right then and there, if only to assuage his curiosity.
Movement not in the sky catches his attention. A red blur moves at the edge of the kingdom. He can see it easily enough from his high vantage point, and he decides to move in for a closer look. Weir’s love for all things flora and fauna has taken hold somewhere in his own brain, and he wonders if it’s possibly a red deer. But no, upon closer inspection, it’s clearly equine. And even nearer, he realizes he knows this horse. “Kellyn,” he digs her name out of his mind, not having to search too deeply. Their names will always be with him, he imagines. “I’m glad to see you again.” And he is. He wonders about all of them and means to see them all, too. A smile pulls at his lips, though he looks her over all the same. How has she fared since their shared adventure? Has she struggled like he had, is that why she’s here? “ What brings you to the Dale?”
r a m i e l
what a day to begin again