The Island With No Parallel

Epilogue

"May I have an audience with Her Graciousness the Courtess?"

Yunara jumped, frowning at the disturbance distracting her from her work. She clucked her tongue. "No, you may not. And will you stop calling me that?"

Manuel traced a finger under her chin and kissed her cheek. "Why not? I miss my wife."

She slapped his hand away playfully. "You're so dramatic. I've only been in here a few hours."

"You've been in here all morning!"

She shook her head, ignoring him. "Leave me alone. You're distracting me from my work. I want to be done before the banquet!"

He leaned over the desk, a hand on her chair, looking over what she'd done. "Wow, this is very impressive, Yunara. You've gotten a lot done. But you've had your head buried in your writing for too long. You're being more like my father than I do!"

She chuckled. "I'll take that as a compliment."

As she reached for her pen again, he took up her hand before she could and kissed it. "Please, may I invite you, Mrs. Suarez, to take a break and say, go swimming? The banquet's not for another few hours. We should have time."

She paused. A swim really did sound good. But she wanted to finish first.

"Maybe in a little bit," she said finally.

He kissed her wedding ring. "Very well, then."

"If..."

"If?"

"If you read over what I have so far. See what you think."

He shrugged. "Alright."

She handed him the papers that were laid before her, and as his eyes scanned over the sheets, she thought about that swim. She was waiting for the perfect opportunity to tell him. Maybe then was the right moment.

"This is really good," he said when he was finished, pulling her back from her thoughts. "You really described the whole experience well."

"Really? Is that how you remembered it, too?"

"Almost exactly. I especially like what you said here: 'As I lost consciousness, and my colleagues later told me I'd passed away, I passed through into what looked like another realm. I didn't have much time to take in my surroundings before my friends brought me back. But I saw people and Unseeables, together. Specifically, the Imanu. And from where I came, I saw something unusual. A hole that I somehow knew didn't belong there. From that hole, Dark Ones were coming through, or at least trying to. Desperately aiming to reach the realm I was in. As I was pulled back through the hole and my friends began resuscitating me, the Dark Ones were blocked from entering, the hold behind me closing.

'I believe the Dark Ones were expecting more from mines and my husband's deaths than we previously imagined. We somehow created an opening with our passing into another world I had never known to exist, and the Dark Ones desperately wanted access.

'In the battle with the Dark Lords, it seemed they assumed they would take possession of the parallel zone, as well. They were planning, I believe, and invasions of all realms, and ultimately the demise of the Ancient Ones.

'The battle we fought seemed to be taking place on more levels than we realized. Even, perhaps, involving the invasion of a possible afterlife. It makes me realize that the Unseeables have a great deal left to teach us, perhaps on even how to reach this afterlife. All I can say is our relations with the Unseeables is crucial to our restoration as a society. We must never forget how close we were to a horrible fate, and that without the Unseeables, we would have never made it to the other side of it.'"