Canto Ultima - "Electronica"

While the heroes thought they had won the day, Geirskogul came to a dreadful realization. Sleipnir told her of Alice’s last words, and their significance sent chills down the heroes’ spines. Alice never meant to sacrifice her people—the sacrifice was always meant to be her. Desperately, they pleaded for the Valkyr to provide them with reassurance, but the otherworldly protectors had done their part. Desdinova was stopped, and they would return to the Sea. All the heroes could do was await the ending of everything. But for Alice, her journey was nearly complete. ================================================== [Alice] Alone... I'm left here alone... Darkness surrounds me. Where have I gone? Doubt filling my head Was it for naught? Is this the end? I gave up everything, Was it in vain? A light shines upon me, A voice calls my name, Oh, how I’ve waited, Oh, how I’ve cried, Just to be here on this day. All of my longing, All of my joy, Right before my very eyes. In this place, so far beyond, All creation is mine. I’ll give life to a new beginning, Electronica. I crossed the river, I chose my path. This is my moment at last. They took my love, They took my pride. I’ll confine them to the past. A new reality taking shape. Witness the last breath of the Rave. I usher in the future bright, And become eternal light. Oh, how I’ve waited, Oh, how I’ve cried, Just to be here on this day. All of my longing, All of my joy, Right before my very eyes. Oh, how I’ve waited, Oh, how I’ve cried, Just to be here on this day. All of my longing, All of my joy, Right before my very eyes. In this place, so far beyond, All creation is mine. I’ll give life to a new beginning, Electronica. My paradise is now complete. Electronica. ================================================== Awakening in darkness, Alice assumed she had died. However, she heard a voice calling her name and went to it. There she found a grand shrine, with majestic glowing orbs atop pedestals. The Trance, the Sonata, the Groove… they were all here. The cantos themselves! And at the center of it all, on the grandest pedestal, was the Rave. It hummed and pulsated with a fading, but firm light. Standing beside it was a man Alice had never seen, and a woman she had—the Valkyr from beyond who had tried to stop her. “Even in death, you oppose me?” “I oppose nothing. I merely preside over the changing of the cycle.” And then she saw it, glowing more brightly than any of the other cantos in the shrine, a light so distinctly hers that it made her knees weak. Her eyes filled with tears. The Electronica. “A tyrant reigns once more,” the mysterious man said. “I overthrew the Metal. Others will overthrow you.” But it didn’t matter. After everything, she had finally succeeded. She took the Electronica in her arms, felt its surging warmth throughout her entire being, and smashed the Rave to pieces. She placed her new canto upon the empty pedestal, in its rightful place. Thus began the Electronica cycle.