PMD: Rising Darkness Epilogue

Dear Shadow,

It's been what, like 3 months since we got separated? I don't even remember. I still don't understand why you decided to leave us right after Lugia flew off, but that was your choice, so I won't bother you with that.

Anyway, I'm sending you this letter just to let you know how things are going for us.

First of all, I guess you pretty much noticed, but Lugia's dissuasion plan worked wonders. Artemis' followers realized that their leaders have fallen, and in less than a day, all cities previously occupied and controlled by Artemis and Seth were liberated.

During these few months, everything went back to normal just about everywhere. So, our initial objective was met. We restored life as it was before. And I sure hope things will stay that way for a long time. Lugia also took back the dusk orb and buried it deep undersea near his lair to be sure no one ever gets the idea of looking for it again.

Gabite's guild is now back and fully operational once again. The guildmaster is back, and so are almost all of the guild's previous exploration teams. You should have been there when Cole reunited with his partners. It really was a touching moment. Speaking of him, he also got promoted to the guild's second hand man, taking Jake's old position, not only as a sort of reward for his involvement in what we accomplished, but also, most importantly, because Gabite knew he could trust his life with Cole by his side. But Cole still goes out on missions with his team, of course. He works very hard every single day, and I can only respect him for that.

We also created a statue just outside of the guild in honor of Lyra and her sacrifice. It's the very least we could do after everything she did for us. She's now a real role model for everyone. And the statue will ensure that she'll never be forgotten.

There's not a soul in the region who doesn't know the full story of what happened, so Cole, Elric, and myself are greeted as great heroes practically everywhere. Although, I'm more than honest when I say that we don't deserve such praising. Not only because Lyra was the one who ultimately put an end to this, but also because we should be back to our previous lives. I'm still just a member of Gabite's guild, doing my job everyday like anyone else. So I'm hoping things will change soon concerning that... Nothin' I can do about it, though. I guess I'd be doing the same thing if I were in their place…

As for me, I'm doing exactly what Lyra requested me to do before she passed away: I'm still working hard at the guild, makin' sure Team SolarQuake lives on as a good name. It's not so different from before as Elric decided to join the team. So the team is a duo, like before, with him taking Lyra's place. It's a pleasure to have him with me. Not only because he's a skilled fighter, but also because he's a great friend. And I'm sure he really enjoys exploring and helping out as much as me!

Finally, Artemis, Seth, and Jake ended up facing the worst penalty, meaning the one reserved originally for murderers... We followed Lyra's ideals and made sure that none of them were executed. Instead, they're locked up, never to be released, for obvious reasons. I can't even imagine how hard it must be for them. But I don't care at all. If anyone deserves such a horrible punishment, it's them.

To conclude this letter, I just want to say that I believe I'm finally starting to get used to the fact that Lyra's gone. It's hard, of course, but I'm not giving up on the thought of bringing her back. I managed to speak to Lugia once more before he returned to his lair and he assured me that, knowing Arceus personally, he could grant my wish, taken in account everything we did. So, while working with Elric as an exploration team, we're also doing everything we can to find out how to meet such a legend. It's a lot of work, and the thought of accomplishing such a thing is rather scary, I won't deny it. But clues are coming through every now and then. Elric and myself already made quite some progress despite the difficulty of the task. Our dream is to bring Lyra back. I can tell Elric is really motivated about it. Between you and me, I think he had a little crush on her. Just a little something I speculated from his previous reactions and how he acts now. But we'll never know for sure unless we succeed. It won't be an easy task, we're perfectly aware of that, but if it does work out, it will be worth every minute we invested doing this research. So wish us luck! I'll keep you informed.

Good luck to you, too, wherever you are. I hope we'll be able to meet up sometime soon!

~Flare