The Never Ending Tails
Crimson Moon

The nightwas falling as it was falling on the faith of men; it was a very strange night,one that feels odd and makes one wonder if the world was coming to an end. Thefirmament was filled with light shades of red; a very strange sight caused by avery specific event, the crimson moon.

The astralbody in its full phase was hanging high in the sky with a deep shade of red, ared so strong that it gave the impression that the moon was covered in blood.The Crimson Moon was carrying the faith of the new order, it was also thetrigger Sélas Prime, the last man, needed to realize the consequences of such adevelopment.

Theeffects of Sélas’s transformation weren’t really known to the order; the onlything they were sure of was that the glitch never aged since it was firstacquired in 1969. They knew that the glitch had somehow managed to shatter hismind, but they never knew how.

At thatpoint, they needed to go on with project prime, they needed a reminder of theage of men, and what men have pushed them through; it was irrelevant if thehuman artifact was conscious or not, as long as he would be alive andmaintained as such for an indefinite amount of time.

Theythought about using the glitch himself at some point, but his grotesque andfrail appearance wasn’t showing the kind of men that really made the life ofwomen miserable through the ages. They ended up deciding that the best would beto choose someone that would be more fitting for the image, but they needed himto be obedient and docile, Somebody that would blindly jump from a cliff iftold so by the order. It is for that reason that position of Golden Knight hasbeen created; as a precaution in case the project was to be started, this way,they could have the perfect guinea pig for their little experience.

Sélas wasno longer the man he used to be; Even if the process of making him the last mandidn’t change much in his physical appearance, it changed something very deepwithin him. His mind wasn’t the same after the experience. He only realized whatwas going on after a full month. The way he got to know wasn’t trivial; itaffected him very deeply on an emotional level.

Sélas tookback his position as Golden Knight a week after the event; just enough time forthe Bio Scientists of the Order to check the success of the experiment. Theynoticed that the process changed Sélas’s DNA, adding bits of information intohis genetic code that they knew were responsible for the Glitch’s Immortality.The Bio Scientists were glad to see that the results were positive. Sélas onthe other hand was feeling grim; He hoped all along for the experiment to fail.He wasn’t a fool, and he knew what his new status would imply.

During theweek he was given to rest, his thoughts were entirely directed to Frederica, oras he used to call her when they were kids: Eri. He always liked Eri, as longas he could remember, and that faithful day, his mind was a war zone. Hestill nourished foolish hopes for him and Eri, after all, he was her Knight! Heswore an Oath to serve and protect her, and he thought that maybe, they couldbe more. After all, didn’t they have a moment of bliss? Why couldn’t they havemore of those?

He knewthat it was over, the moment he closed the door behind him to become the lastman. Even if they were to be together, he could only make her feel bad, stayingyoung forever while she would grow older. He would gladly stay by her sideuntil her last moment, and love her as he did from the first day. But shewouldn’t be happy… She would start to hate herself first, then she would hatehim… His mind was leading him in a way, while his heart was leading him in theopposite direction, leaving him torn in the middle.

After hisweek of rest, Sélas wore once again his shiny gold armor. He looked in themirror of his room at the Sigil on his chest-plate; a sleeping fox in themiddle of a sun. Sélas laughed nervously at the irony of the vision, but he wasscared more than anything. He didn’t know what would happen when his eyes wouldfall upon Eri’s. He sighed cursing destiny that have put him in such a toughspot.

Taking adeep breath, He left his quarters to go to the Silver Keep. On his way to theglass tower, he met a fellow knight of the order; Fabian Tarl. Fabian Tarl wasworking as the Paladin of the high council, and both Knights only had respectfor each other. He also met Arianna, the High Priestess of the Moon. He used totrust Arianna, he knew that she was way smarter than him or Eri, and that sheknew exactly what she was doing. He would blindly follow her into a pit withoutfear.

Sélasfinally got to the encounter he feared, Eri was at her throne room at the verycenter of the Silver keep, on the last level of the glass Tower. She wasmagnificent in her Silver Dress, and her royal paraphernalia. After a fewsteps, He faced the Queen and putting his right hand on his heart, he knelt.Showing respect, he kept his eyes on the ground.

“I am backat your service my lady; I hope my absence wasn’t too much of a bother.”

“You may rise,Golden Knight. It is a delight to see you on my side again; how are youfeeling?”

The wordswere warm, but Sélas couldn’t to put an end to his dilemma. He rose as he wasasked, and finally crossed the sight of Eri. His heart skipped a beat when thejade of her eyes took the center of his vision. Nothing has changed, or so heassumed.

A weekpassed after this first encounter during which the Golden Knight couldn’t sleepmuch. His desire to be closer to the Silver Queen was growing more and more,and he couldn’t think about anything else than kissing her, holding her in hisarms, be one with her again…

Ithappened again the last day of the week. The Golden Knight found himself alonewith the Silver Queen; she requested from him to keep her company during herevening readings. The Golden Knight felt his stress rising as much as hisdesire; he remembered the previous kiss and the passion he felt.

He lovedEri, and couldn’t live distant to her, no matter what he could think, and hefelt that she might still love him.

The Queencut her finger with a page, letting go of a small cry of pain.

“Are youhurt my lady?” He said, moving toward her.

“It’salright, just a little paper cut.” She said, nervously laughing.

The knightreached for a first aid kit as he approached the queen. He bent on his knees,and took her hand, then getting her finger towards his mouth, he sucked thedropping blood, before putting a small nearly invisible bandage on it.

“I knowwhen you’re hurt Eri, don’t act like I don’t.” He said those words withoutthinking. It was against the protocol, he shouldn’t…

“Youalways do Sélas…” The silver queen responded.

Sélasraised his head, crossing the sight of the Silver Queen, he was surprise to noticethat her face was moving toward hiss. He started moving as well. They initiatedthe kiss that they have waited for so long. It was like a firework in theGolden Knight’s mind, all those feelings. But as the Knight was exploring thekiss, the silver queen stopped it.

“Sélas weshouldn’t…” She said with deep regret in her beautiful eyes.

“I…I am sosorry my lady” Started Sélas, “I didn’t mean to offend you, I only couldn’tbear those feelings anymore, and I thought that maybe they weren’t one sided. Ipresent you my deepest apologies.”

“Don’tapologize Sélas. Your feelings are not completely one sided, but we shouldn’tgo on like this at this moment and place. We can’t let anybody know. We willhave a moment at some point, maybe the last one of those I’m afraid… But notjust now, I will let you know. Now can you please patrol around to make sure noone saw us?”

Sélas gotback on his feet, and bowed a little.

“As youwish my lady.”

Two weekspassed without the Silver Queen giving any notice to Sélas about their allegedlast moment. The Golden Knight couldn’t stand it anymore; he was burning withpassion for the queen and thought that he would be able to change her mind, toshow her that they could still be together, that they would replace a way out ofthis paradox.

He waitedfor her reading time at the end of those two weeks, and made sure no one woulddisturb, but as he was about to get into the corridor, he heard the door of theroom opening. Sélas stopped his progression, and stayed silent in the shade. Hesaw Fabian, the Bronze Knight walking out of the room, and as he got completelyout of the door’s frame, he saw a hand still holding his; the hand of theSilver Queen…

Sélasturned on his feet, and walked the other way, trying to keep his emotions incheck. He felt his mind about to explode, and walked faster, not botheringabout the people walking his way anymore.

After amoment, He found himself standing in the middle of the royal gardens; the sunwas falling, and no one was to be seen around. He stayed there; looking at thesky, until the last rays of the sun vanished, leaving the field for the CrimsonMoon. The Knight focused all his attention on the astral body, trying to replacesomething to think, anything. What he found was the Gift. In his case, the Gifttook form of Clarity.

His mindstopped turning in circles and for a second, he was completely calm. He felthis thought rearranging and being redistributed in an orderly matter.Everything finally started to make sense to him; his desires for the Silverqueen were selfish and self-centered. He understood that she couldn’t gothrough such a difficult relationship, that it will destroy her. She choseFabian because he was a more realistic choice, a choice that she would be happywith on the long term.

He feltall his emotions calming down, while his mind went faster and better than itever did. He kept looking at the Crimson Moon, and soon understood somethingbigger than his own ordeal. The faith of humanity was in danger.

He wassoon to be the very last man, but if men were to completely disappear, if onlyone gender stayed; chaos will soon ensue, and the end of humanity might beclose. He figured out a plan, and was surprise to see himself taking action toachieve it.

Sélas onlystopped when he got to the facility where he was made immortal. He cracked thesecurity code with ease, and after a few steps, he accessed a room that he hadglimpsed during his previous visit to the facility. The door was made of steeland was protected by a password system; it only took him one attempt to openit. As he expected, still no security camera; he knew that the order believedin privacy and trusted locks more than electronic eyes.

Inside, Hefound one glass pod, with a person sleeping in it. He checked the vital signs,and deducted what to do to open the pod. Even after the machine was stopped,the person inside was still unconscious. ‘Of course he would’ Sélas thought,‘the glitch shattered his mind in 1969 during the moon landing.’

Sélas puthis hand on the Glitch’s forehead, closing his eyes. He found what was wrongwith the Glitch’s mind, and in a way knew what to do to fix it. When Sélas tookhis hand off him, the glitch opened his eyes. He looked at Sélas for a momentbefore talking.

“I didn’tknow I slept for that long; 240 years! That is truly a lot. My real name isSimon, not the Glitch, just so you know, and you are the Golden Knight: Sélasprime right? Man did I miss a lot of stuff!”

Thediscourse of Simon was quite bizarre, but weirdly enough, Sélas understood it.

“We mustmove, things are going in a very wrong way, and I need your assistance.” TheGolden Knight said.

“I know, Ialso know that you know. And yes! We should definitely move out of here. But Ilike your idea!” Simon responded.

“It is theonly possible path, no more falcons or foxes, no more faith of the sun or themoon. The only thing that could work is the Eclipse…”