As he continued forward, the golden light on Shade's body grew brighter and brighter, until it spread to places even he could no longer see.
"She" whispered softly to Shade in the wind:
Have you made your preparations as well?
"Of course."
Shade narrowed his eyes and looked toward the distant depths of the forest, which had parted on its own, at the terrifying figure approaching from across from him. In his heart, he softly said:
"I am you."
"She" laughed. Though she always liked to chuckle beside Shade's ear, every laugh seemed to be Shade's favorite:
Outlander, you are me.
Shade closed his eyes.
Ding!
The Witches' lowered gazes involuntarily shifted steadily from the ground to the sky. Looking directly upward, they saw the river of stars, somehow inverted above the Tahiti of the river valley, as well as three bright moons hanging across the sky. Holy Silver radiance poured down from the largest Silver Moon. Only then did everyone realize that there seemed to be a figure within that moon.
Silver heavenly light descended, illuminating every astonished face.
Red Butterflies formed steps before the moon. The figure with its back to the Silver Moon and its face toward the world could only be seen in vague outline, but merely looking at that outline was enough to sense that it was a god—the ancient God of the Moon, returned once again to the Material World.
Shade was the one who had closed his eyes. The one who opened his eyes before the moon, having burned his sole drop of divinity, was the god walking the world. A silver robe draped over his body as he descended step by step from the staircase before the moon, yet the size of his silhouette did not change in the slightest with his