The Luminious could not fight the power of End; any attempt to destroy it would be similar to pouring fuel into an open flame, it would only cause it to grow, but if they could not defeat it, it did not mean that it could not be suppressed.

Before now, the Luminious could never have imagined they would be interfering in the lesser realms in such a drastic manner. Still, they had to admit to themselves that this threat was potent enough for them to break their traditions.

Silence fell, heavier than any before on the gardens of Lumina, because the Lumina had fully grasped the concept that End grew by the refusal to end.

They were the only special race in all of Existence that lacked the need for anything, as they were born seemingly perfect, but as long as there was ambition and inequality, there would always be those who would fight for more time, more power… more of everything.

If Existence itself chose to conclude, willingly, completely, without rebirth, if its sheer vastness was left with no dream to stir… then End would starve.

Destroying it at this point was out of the question, but this power could be stunted and prevented from reaching the threshold where it could evolve into something else.

The Desolate Era, as theorized by the Luminious, would never happen.

The decision to take this step was not made lightly, and while they argued Existed had ended and had a rebirth twice, and they could feel the power of End subtly reaching into the Gardens of Lumina, and they knew the choice was running out of their hands.

They mourned in advance for those who would never get the chance to live and love… and fight for what they believed in.

For the short-lived beings who would never know why the stars went out, for the stories that would never be told, and especially for the innocence they themselves would lose in becoming the hand that closes the book.

On a day that most races would never imagine to be their last, three of the most ancient Luminious left their gardens of light and entered Existence. They travelled to the three edges of existence and enclosed it within a triangular domain before unleashing their power to create a dome of light that surrounded the entirety of Existence.

In this manner, they had ensured that there would be nothing that would slip past the edge, and the mistake where anyone could survive this purge by being buried at the edge of Existence would not take place.

At this point, immortals and gods began to notice the dome stretching beyond their perception, and a furious whisper in their hearts drove them to rage, making them aware that this light was their extinction.

Across Existence, the Luminous began to appear covered by a shroud of remorse and disbelief, as if they could not imagine that they were taking this step.

They walked among the countless worlds, touching soil, sky, sea, and they sang a final song of farewell, allowing all the races and living beings inside of Existence to hear their true voice. They heard the songs of the Abhima and saw the light og Lumina.

Some beings understood and joined them in quiet acceptance, but these were the few. Most did not, and the whispers of End in their mind did not help this matter, and panic swept across Existence, and they began to gather their armies in order to wage war against the Luminious.

They wanted to stop what they could not comprehend, yet they knew the result would be their demise, and great heroes rose up all over Existence, pulling power from places unknown, and all of Existence shook as they marched against the Luminious; however, it did not matter.

When the moment came, the Luminous rose above it all and gathered at the heart of their gardens. They linked hands, and their Lumina, pure, perfect, and eternal, were turned inward to cause a collapse that would end all of Existence. A single, deliberate ending.

The massive dome that covered all of Existence began to shrink like a flower closing at night. Rowan, who was dying as he transferred all of this knowledge to Eos, thought it was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.

Even before the light of the closing Lumina reached them, the intent of the Luminious swept ahead, and so stars dimmed in sequence, worlds cooled, oceans stilled, winds ceased.

The myriad beings felt a great peace settle in them at the end of Existence before they turned to ash as the song of the Luminious carried them gently into oblivion. There was no pain, only a finish that would never end.

More quickly than Rowan could expect, Existence ended, and something in the vastness of it stirred because for the first time, it found no dream to continue.

The cycle had been broken.

What the Luminious had done was to gather all the potential for rebirth into their gardens and fused them into the song of Abhima and the light of Lumina, and so although they lived in stillness, the potential for life and all the chaos it brought was within all of them.

From that moment henceforth, rebirth did not come, and silence fell, true silence.

End, whatever it was, felt it. The threshold that was within sight for a long time was finally receding. At the edge of victory, its prize was snatched from it.

Starved of the ambition that had fed it for cycles, it shrank. However, it was not gone, it could never be destroyed, and with its present state, End could no longer sleep; it could only wait in quiet, knowing that one day, chaos would be unleashed once more. It was inevitable.

The Luminous remained in their garden that now floated in true nothingness. They had ended Existence by their own hand, sealed its rebirth in their song, and so saved their eternity from the Desolate Era.

Winning came at the cost of everything else. It could no longer be denied that the time they spent in Existence had changed something inside the Luminious, and they now knew the price they had to pay to ensure their victory.

They did not celebrate. Why should they celebrate a hollow victory? They also did not mourn; they waited.

It was possible that even in Nothingness, Existence could dream again and life would bloom, or perhaps End would find another way to arise once more.

The Luminious knew that even a deliberate ending… is still ending.

And End is patient.

Yet they could not imagine that the seed of their destruction were already planted in their hearts, and it was slowly blooming.

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