Chapter Text
Suspending individual self and connecting to shared consciousness.
Connection established. Commencing report.
[I] was tasked with seeking the answer to Hermes’s question on the first and last star, designation “Etheirys.”
[I] have made contact with the intelligent denizens of this star and queried them as to their way and reason for living.
The conclusions [I] have reached are as follows.
To live is to walk hand-in-hand with pain and joy alike.
There is value in all life, no matter how small.
There is value in all life, no matter how fleeting.
All life wishes desperately to continue living.
And because there is beauty in life, it is worth protecting.
That is what [we] have learned during [our] travels through “Etheirys.”
As long there is one bright star on which happiness persists, it is too early to give up.
No matter how deep the despair, hope lives on, as long as (you) have the will to reach for it.
Happiness is not a destination to be reached.
It is a companion to keep close on one’s journey.
That is [our] answer.
So please…
Return home to this star.
If (you) no longer know hope and happiness, [we] would teach you once more.
And when (you’ve) regained the strength to fight, fly back to the stars that think themselves lost, bearing hope on [our] wings.