Written by Fulgur
Illustrated by Crosschan

Chapter 26

A Lady and her Knight

Two girls were hugging each other and sobbing heavily.
"This is so stupid!" fumed Raia.
"It worked," opposed Merta. "I feel better."
"Ha! Here, you do. In the real life, your bottom would hurt for a long time afterwards - and so would mine!"
"Why are we arguing anyways?"
"It doesn't really matter," sighed Raia. "We won't get out of here."
"Zack will help us," said Merta with conviction.
And suddenly, Raia felt a soft touch on her lips.

The darkness engulfed me. I was drowning in blackness, not sure what happens, or where I am...
And then I was through, and into the light.
I stood at the edge of a road, going to infinity in both directions. Endless fields on both sides.
Nothing alive in sight.
I looked at myself. There was the armor and the sword. Both were as light as feathers.
"Merta!" I cried out.
Nothing. The world was silent.
So... where to go? Left? Right?
"Should I flip a coin?" I asked.
No answer.
"Which way to go?" I cried. "Tell me, anybody!"

The scenery changed. Merta and Raia both turned their heads towards a third person.
She looked like them, and had the same clothes, but her hair were long, and her eyes shined with light - one with soft blue, the other one with angry red.
"So this is where you were?" she asked.
Raia knew who the new arrival is.
"And what are you doing here?" she said.
"I wanted to rest," said the Queen. "I did what I was supposed to do. Now I'm... tired."
"What?" said Raia. "Just... like that?"
The Queen nodded. "You wouldn't resist so much if you knew this, I guess. I didn't know, either. Destroying one of the Ascended Ones has cost me all reserves - and he wasn't even struggling! But now..."
She smiled. "I will grow, slowly. I will rise again."
"I can't allow you to do that," said Raia. "You are too dangerous."
"You are not getting out, my dear," laughed the Queen. "I have enough energy to support this body. Long sleep, my dear, no need for food or water - or even air, since I can nurture it all I want. You and I are one. We always were."
"That was a long time ago," said Raia.
"And what about her?" The Queen waved towards Merta. "Do you care for what she wants just because she's no longer a part of you? Why should I care about you?"
"She was a mistake," said Raia.
"Was she? Or maybe she was someone you always wanted to be?"
Raia jumped. "W...What?"
"Oh yes, admit it. She is what you would grow up to be - if I never showed up. A weak, powerless girl. A pathetic girl spanked by her boyfriend."
"She is spanked because she doesn't know her limits," said Raia.
"What an excuse! Her limits are clear - she's just a human!"
"Unlike us, you mean?" Raia started to sound annoyed.
"I didn't say so!" The Queen snapped. "Why don't you go play elsewhere? I would like to talk to her."
"What? Why? She has nothing to do with this."
The Queen simply stared.
She waved her hand, and Raia was gone.

The girl appeared at the edge of the road, rather suddenly.
"Merta?" I blubbered.
She looked at me. "Guess again. Sorry."
"Raia?"
"Yes."
"Where are we?"
She smirked. "Mindscape. Inside of my mind."
"Is... is Merta here?"
Raia nodded. "She is. But the Queen wanted to have a talk with her, so she... expelled me. Here."
"I must find her," I said. "I must get her out of here."
"And what about me?"
I blinked. "What...?"
"If you get her out, what will happen to me?"
I was lost. "Well, I... I don't know..."
Raia sighed. "That's OK, really. We should find that girl. Who knows what the Queen would do to her? I..."
She hesitated.
"I really don't want you to end up unhappy."
"So?" I asked. "Which way to take?"
"You really don't know anything, do you?" sighed Raia. "You just have to decide on one way. Every way here leads where you want it to lead."

Merta turned around when the Queen came close.
"We haven't met before, right?" she asked.
The Queen nodded. "I doubt we will meet again, frankly."
"Why?"
"I rather not say..." She looked at Merta. "Tell me - what it's like, to be a human?"
"Sorry?"
"To not have any duties except those you impose on yourself," said the Queen. "To be free... I was never free. Raia wasn't. But you tasted freedom, albeit briefly."
"It leads one into trouble," murmured Merta.
"Yet, it's something very desirable for you," said the Queen.
"I guess."
"I was told," said the Queen, and to her own surprise, she found herself hesitating, "that I should know more about this world."
"Ah?"
"This is my world, in fact," she said, proudly. "All that happened here in last thousand years, everything went under my rule - even if the people didn't realize it. Or even myself. And yet... I never actually stopped to understand. The Collector was always up there, always tugging on my primary directive. Now that he's gone... I feel empty."
"You are not that evil as Raia said," smiled Merta.
"I'm neither good nor evil," was the reply. "Humans can act in ways that are contrary to the best interest of humanity - that is evil. But I'm alone, I don't have anything bigger to be a part of. Without society of your equals... good and evil are just words."
"You are a loner. Like Raia," said Merta.
"Raia is my creation. I affected her brain from birth. Her real personality was warped by my presence beyond recognition. She's too much like me, that's why she hates me so much. And that is... why I wanted to talk to you."
"Why?"
"Maybe you are her true self, Merta. Listen to me, please. I will now go to sleep, it might take a long time before I awaken. But sooner or later, the other Ascended Ones will learn about Collector's demise. They won't mourn him, not like we would, but they will be afraid. And their fear is... terrible."
"Oh..."
"When that time comes, maybe you will have to awaken me. You are still a nexus of my power."
"What if I do and you start hurting people all over?" said Merta.
"That is a choice you have to make. I decided to not influence your decision."
"But why?"
"Because I want to learn. You are truly interesting creatures. Your insights might be a valuable weapon against the Ascended Ones."
"You only ever think about destroying them?"
"That is something I can't help. But despite our minds working differently..."
Merta shook her head. "I don't know. I wouldn't be the right one to do it."

We were going for some time - I don't know how long. The landscape hasn't changed.
"Do we even move?" I asked.
"It's some stupid symbolism or something like that," said Raia. "Annoying, still..."
"Well, it's your mind. Can't you do anything?"
"Why did you come here, anyways?" she asked.
"Grace was talking about... sealing you, again. But I... I can't allow that! I love Merta! I want to be with her!"
"You want, you want - you're like a spoiled child, Zack! Did it ever occur to you that you might not be able to get whatever is your whim?"
"I'm not doing this for myself!" I cried. "Merta didn't do anything to deserve this fate!"
"While I did? I've been the slave to the Queen most of my life - and it's even worse for the fact that I didn't realize it! I hate her for this, yes - but sealing me was right thing to do at that time - and it still is, I suppose!"
"There must be a way," I repeated.
"You know what, you are the same as her," sighed Raia. "Both of you hope despite all odds..."
"And we generally win, isn't that the truth?" I asked.
"Win? You haven't defeated the Queen. She accomplished what she wanted - and we were very lucky it didn't involve much destruction this time."
"It's not just Merta," I said, quietly.
"What?"
"The Queen drained energy from lots of people," I said. "If you are sealed, what will happen to them?"
Raia paled. "I didn't know that."
"I want to see Merta. Please?"
"But I can't take you there! This is your quest! You are her..."
I nodded. "Her Knight. Yes."
I grasped the hilt of the sword, and I felt power coursing through my body.
"I don't care for this," I said. "I say that Merta is this way!"
I set away.
Right through the endless fields.

The Queen bristled. "I feel his thoughts," she said.
"Whose?"
"Your young man," she said. "That person who, you were claiming, will come and save you."
"He's coming here?" jumped Merta. "But this is..."
"You would say it's love," said the Queen.
"You wouldn't?"
"I would say that his mind became so attuned to yours, compounded by several dubious artifacts, that he could enter your mindscape."
"And that means?"
"The same thing."
"You want to fight him?"
The Queen shook her head. "No. I'm just... interested."
She waved her hand and a misty view appeared. "Yes. That boy is... very interesting."

The woman was sitting on a rock in the field of golden wheat. The stalks were rippling as waves on the sea.
She turned her face towards me.
I was shocked. "Mom!"
She was brushing her hair. "Yes, Zack?"
"What are you doing here?"
"You wanted me here," she said.
"I did?"
Raia nudged me. "Not everything that happens here must make sense," she said.
"Oh, such a rude young lady," smiled Mom. "But maybe you want some advice?"
"About what?" I asked.
"See? If you don't even know what awaits you, then you should heed my advice."
"OK, and that is?"
"Problems of tomorrow are solved yesterday," she said.
"What? What does that mean?"
"Oh, how should I know? I'm just a figment of your imagination," she said. Then she disappeared. Just the solid, wooden hairbrush was left.
Raia eyed it with some suspicion.
"Should I take it?" I asked.
"Well, you might as well. But if someone attempts to use that on me," she said, "I'll have to have a rude word with your dirty imagination."

The Queen was watching. Even Merta couldn't resist looking.
The scenery was hanging in the air.
"What did this mean?" asked Merta.
"I have no idea," said the Queen bluntly. "His subconscious mind is free here, manifesting as characters from his past. I suppose."
"And this means?"
"Just more junk, but it sounds better."
She sighed again. "I don't rule this mindscape the way I used to. Not anymore. I'm weakening rapidly."
"If he gets here, can I go?"
She nodded. "That would be for the best."

"This is stupid," said Raia. "Are you really sure we go in the right direction?"
I nodded. "Yes."
Another figure appeared in front of us.
"Not again," said Raia.
This was an older woman... I have seen her before...
Of course! The lady in Rego! Soot and May got into trouble with her!
"Why are you here?" I asked. "I didn't even know you that well?"
"Search me," she said. "I didn't ask for it, that's for sure."
"Do you have advice for me, too?"
"Well, yes, of course! Wear your mittens when it gets cold!"
I laughed. "Wait a minute, that's the advice my mother is supposed to give me!"
"If your mind is warped, it's not my problem," she said. "At least, this is far wiser that the advice you got from her!"
Raia stepped forward. "This is far too ridiculous," she said. "Even if this is some sort of trial, which, frankly, I don't believe to be the case, you're going all wrong about that!"
"Little Miss is an expert, I suppose," frowned the woman.
"Well, this is my mind!"
"Yours? Are you really sure?"
And she was gone.

"As far as pure heroism goes, he wouldn't get full marks," said the Queen. To her own surprise, she found herself enjoying this - a lot.
Merta smiled, too. "I remember that woman," she said. "She was terrible - but then again, May and Soot had it coming."
"Why this obsession with spankings in this world?" mused the Queen. "It wasn't as widespread before."
"I don't know... But I'm glad there are spankings, even if I get them at times," said Merta.
"Probably something to do with male desires."
Merta seemed to be in thought. "Well... partially, I guess. But it's rewarding."
"How so?"
"When I'm getting a spanking, Zack always gives me his full and undiverted attention," she smiled. "Not that it would neccessarily be a good thing..."

"I've had it!" cried Raia. "One more stupid woman with stupid advice, and I'm going to -"
"Going to what, Raia?"
Raia blinked. The third figure appeared so suddenly that she never saw her coming.
She was a smallish woman in her thirties. Brown hair, like Raia, but different eyes. Darker eyes. And dark look.
"No!" yelped Raia. "You can't be here!"
"Oh? I can't?"
"You died before his time! Zack couldn't see you before!"
"And?"
"But the two others were women he knew! I never met either of them, this can't be my imagination!"
"Who said it was yours?"
Raia gasped. "You're lying! No! This is impossible!"
"Maybe I'm an idiot here," I said, "but what does this mean?"

"Yeah!" cried Merta. "What does this mean?"
"It means," said the Queen, "that the figures he meets are not from his imagination - they come from yours."
Merta hesitated. "I met Zack's Mom. And that lady too... but how could I know Raia's mother?"
"That is because Raia was wrong about this, this whole time," said the Queen. "She never created you."
She looked directly at Merta. "You have created her."

I was speechless as Raia started to sob.
"There was something stubborn in you from the start," said the woman. "When the Queen started tugging at you, you refused to let her in. In the end... interaction between the stubborn Raia and the invasive Queen gave birth to a new person - with personality so strong that she forced the original in the deep slumber. And in the years that followed, you forgot who you are and started to think of yourself as the real Raia."
"That's a lie," whispered Raia. "I'm real!"
"Merta was here first," said the woman. "But you spent much longer time truly alive than she. You stole everything from her - her body, her mind, her memories, you even took her name. All because you were weaker than she was, and the Queen had easier time controlling you."
"But I'm the stronger one!" cried Raia.
"You are now, with your rival crippled for centuries. That's nothing to be proud of! And in the end, when you needed to escape the Queen's clutches... you set Merta out to confuse the Queen. You gave her a new name, but everything else stayed the same. And you thought up that thing about you creating her, so you could appease your conscience. If you had to destroy her afterwards, it wouldn't matter! She wasn't a real person after all! But she was much more real than you."
"So?" said Raia quietly. "What do you want me to do?"
"I have an advice for you, of course."
"Oh?"
"Be happy," said the woman simply. "That's the best advice I can offer."
And she disappeared.
In her place, Merta and the Queen stood.

Raia stared at Merta in shock. "You... you..." she was unable to say more.
Merta looked sad. "I'm not sure if that's true. I don't remember anything from before. But... I have seen that woman somewhere."
"And you?" Raia looked at the Queen.
She shrugged. "Don't ask me." She smiled a bit. "Glad to see you, Zack. If you came to kill me, you're a bit late."
She started to get transparent. "But there's one thing you should know. If this body were to die - I will die, too. And for next several years, I will be in no position to protect it."
And she was gone.

I came to Merta, and took her hand. "It's time to go to the real world," I said.
"Zack!" she breathed. The look in her eyes warmed my heart.
"Before you go..." said Raia softly, "can I have one request?"
I turned to her. "Yes?"
"I would like..." she hesitated, "a spanking."
"What?" Merta bulged her eyes. So did I.
"I know, it's stupid," said Raia. "It's just that... I was never spanked. Merta was, but not me. Recently, I started to... wonder."
"How does it feel?" I asked.
She grimaced. "I kinda know that. No, I wonder whether all this would happen if I... was raised normally. Could spankings make me grow into a normal human being?"
"No," I said. "They couldn't, not by themselves. But they could help, certainly."
"Still, I... Well..."
"Why should I spank you," I asked.
"Because I want you to. Isn't that good enough reason?"
"Once I start," I said, "you will want me to stop."
"I won't. I... I promise."
I smiled. "I'm sorry, Raia. But you can't get spanked just because you want it."
"But..."
"However, I can spank you for what you did. For taking over Merta and running away. For attempting to... destroy yourself."
She seemed uncomfortable. "Do I... deserve a spanking for that?"
"Most emphatically."
Merta looked like she wanted to say something, but then she thought better.
"Is there... a chair?"
Raia waved her hand, and one appeared. Plain wooden one. She looked a bit apprehensive.
I remembered the hairbrush my mother's apparition had. I took it out and handed to Merta. When Raia saw it, she became definitely nervous.
"Wait! But surely... this..."
She sighed. "So this is how girls feel before they get a spanking?"
"Nervous?"
Nod. "Very. Can't you just spank me and get over with it?"
Merta giggled. "That's what I always want, but it doesn't work that way. Not usually."
"You weren't spanked that much," I protested. "There should be no talk about 'usual'."
"Come on," nagged Raia.
"Raia," I told her, "Do you even know what's the purpose of a spanking?"
She nodded. "Of course I do. It has to hurt... a lot, I guess?"
I shook my head. "That's just one part of it. And I don't even think it's the most important one. You see... for little children, a spanking is an ultimate deterrent. If they are raised right, a spanking is hardly ever needed - but their parents have to be ready and spank when it's really neccessary. And the spanking doesn't have to be particularly bad: the very fact that there is a spanking can be sufficient punishment."
"What does that have in common with me?"
"Well, you are almost adult. In fact, that's an understatement - you're probably the oldest human in this world. For you, the main part of punishment is that it is a spanking. It's usually reserved for doing things that even a little kid would tell you are wrong. It's a little-girl punishment, and you are treated as a little girl throughout, your bottom is bared and smacked soundly with no regards to what you want, because you are considered not mature enough to have a say in it. So, for big girls like you, it's much more embarrassing (not to mention it hurts more!) than for kids."
"Whatever. You want to spank me, don't you?"
"Raia!" snapped Merta. "Don't..."
I silenced her with raised hand. "Yes," I said. "I really want to spank you, Raia. But I'm mature enough. I am not controlled by my desires."
"You are not fair, Raia," said Merta.
She sighed. "I know. So... what should I do?"
"Well," I said, "how about if I will sit down on this chair here, and you lie over my lap?"
She hesitated. "I'm getting second thoughts."
"Yes, but that's normal. Come on."
Under Merta's watchful eye, she slowly lowered herself.
"Do you really want this?" asked Merta. "I mean - I know him. It will hurt a lot."
"Somehow," I murmured, "I can't figure if this is flattery or not."
"Come on!" said Raia. "This is really uncomfortable!"
"It will get worse," I snapped. I grabbed the hem of her dress and dragged it upwards.
"Eeeek!"
True, she didn't expect this, but she didn't have to shriek, now did she? It was almost impossible to imagine Raia shrieking.
I chuckled.
"Oh, don't you dare laughing!" she complained. "You surprised me, that's all."
I reached for the waistband of her panties, and hesitated. Merta nodded, courtly. "Yes."
I peeled down Raia's panties. I noticed small goosebumps on her bottom and rested my hand there.
"W..wait!" stuttered Raia. "Wait a minute! You want to start right... Ouch!"
The spanks started to fall. Raia wasn't used to this treatment, and I had to use my strength a bit to prevent her from falling.
"Don't struggle that much," I said. "You asked for this."
"I know, but... Ah!"
I had a goal in mind - to make her cry even before the hairbrush would be put to good use. I didn't think it would be particularly hard - Raia didn't make this clear, but that spanking was very shocking for her.
She yelped occasionally at first. Then her yelps started to be more pronounced and there were questions like "How much more?" which I blissfully ignored. Pleads for stopping came next, likewise ignored. As her limit came closer, she started to struggle more, but I was prepared for that - and I didn't let her. When she started to sniff, I increased both force and tempo of spanks. It didn't take long after that.
She wailed, boohooed and cried, her dignity completely stripped away, and her panties tangled around her ankles. She hiccupped and howled. Her bottom was glowing red. And that's when I nodded to Merta and accepted the hairbrush from her outstretched hand.
Raia must have seen it, since her body stiffened in shock. She was too exhausted, though, to protest.
When I started spanking her with the brush, she found strength to protest anyways. She thrashed and kicked vigorously, but nothing she could do wouldn't stop the heavy brush scorching her bottom.
Only after I deemed her bottom sufficiently chastised, I stopped.
I took her in my arms, and gently stood her down. Unfortunately, her legs wouldn't support her - she sat on the ground, hard (not the best thing to do in her state), and she flipped on her stomach, crying and crying and crying.
Dress was really more appropriate for this, since otherwise her modesty would be seriously compromised.
We waited until she calmed down a bit. It only took a while.
"That was..." she spluttered, "much worse... than I thought."
"That's part of it," I replied. "Somehow, it's always worse than you think before."
"Still..."
"Yes?"
She miled sheepishly. "Thank you. I needed this for a long time."
"That you did."
"But I feel really sorry for Merta. I mean, she will get this regularly from now on..."
"I hope not!" she squealed.
"It's in the contract," shrugged Raia. "Contract of Lady and her Knight."
"That is..." I said, hesitating, "not the only contract we can live on."
"Huh?" asked Merta, but Raia smiled.
"Well, good luck to you, then," she said softly. "And good bye."
She turned around.
"Wait! Where are you going?" I asked.
"I've seen my true nature, Zack," smiled Raia sadly. "I'm nothing but a big lie. My time is over. I'm just going to disappear."
Once again, she smiled. "It was fun, knowing you. I even... enjoyed the spanking, in a way. But I would be just a bother."
I sprinted after her, but she was already gone.
I looked at Merta.
"I didn't want this," she whispered. "I didn't want it to end like that."
"And it won't!" I shouted. "We never lose hope, Merta, right? So it's time for Raia to learn the same!"
I concentrated on the sword. It tugged me in the right direction.
"Do you want to go with me?" I asked Merta.
She nodded. "I don't want to lose you again - ever! And I will need someone to help me give her a real good spanking after I catch her!"
We started in the right direction.

The place we appeared in was a forest. Not a nice forest, mind you, more like a forest from the nightmare.
Dark and damp, with twisted branches and poisonous mushrooms abode.
"Where are we?" asked Merta.
"I have no idea."
But there it was - a clearing.
And Raia.
She was calm, drawing a diagram. She was putting lines in the air, many of them, glistening in the eternal dusk of this forest.
I ran towards her, but I recoiled when I stepped in...
Sheer cold.
It seemed that the air itself has frozen into solidity. It was simply impossible to step in. Raia, submerged in her work, didn't notice me.
"Now what?" I said.
Merta put her hand into a pocket, and produced...
...a pair of mittens.
"Don't ask me how," she said. "I don't even know who is thinking up all this."
Wear your mittens when it gets cold...
I removed the armor gauntlets and took on the mittens. Strangely, they were small, child-size, but they fit me just right.
I took a deep breath...
...and passed through the wall of cold.
I felt like I passed through fire, actually, but fortunately, it wasn't too thick. Several more steps, and I was at Raia.
She looked at me.
"Why?" she asked, quietly. "Why can't you two let me alone? Haven't I suffered enough? Don't you understand - I want to disappear. I don't want to live with the knowledge of what I am."
"Because I don't want to live with the knowledge that I let you do this," I said.
She smiled and finished the drawing.
And then she was gone.

The shape was twirling and whirling. There were no words to describe it - not in mere three dimensions, since it seeped hints that it's not nearly everything that's to it.
As it was twirling, Raia appeared in various octahedral cells. She looked... differently in each.
There was Raia as a little girl. Raia the teenager. Adult Raia, looking so much as her mother. Old Raia, with grey hair and wrinkled face.
One of the octahedra contained something that must have been an unborn baby. Another one contained... nothing.
And suddenly, I knew what will happen next. What will be shown when this insane, four-dimensional roulette ends.
"Oh no!" I cried. "You won't!"
Once the teenage Raia, the Raia I knew, passed around me, I took my sword, and hit the octahderon.
With full force.
Something glowed on Raia's neck. It was Merta's teardrop amulet, who knows how that got there. She looked at me, absolutely astonished.
"You idi-" she started, and then something snapped.
And Raia was gone.

"I'm sorry, Zack," said Merta, when I got a bit together. "She... deserved better."
"She did."
"We will never forget her, right?"
"We will never forget any of them," I said. "Raia, Mrs. Tain, Fia..."
"We will live for them," said Merta. "Can I... live with you? After this ends?"
I nodded. "Your place is with me... my Lady."
"And your is with me... my Knight."
She cocked her face a bit and closed her eyes.
So I kissed her.

I was awakening slowly. I opened the eyes... someone was kicking me.
"Rosey!" said a voice.
I blinked. "Soot?"
"Zack! You're awake!"
"I'm... back?"
I looked around - yes, there was everybody, Rosey, Soot, May - as well as Max and Linda. Merta was just opening her eyes too.
"You were asleep for the whole day," said Soot. "Grace teleported you all back here. We were afraid you won't wake up anymore."
I didn't care.
"Merta!" I shouted. "Are you OK?"
She nodded. "I think so. But my head is hurting a lot. And I don't remember much of what happened... it's all foggy..."
"What about the Queen?" asked Grace.
I hesitated. "She's gone," I said, in the end. "Not forever, I think. But for long enough."
"I figured that out," nodded Grace courtly. "Geomancy is still working, after all. If something, it might be even stronger than before."
"May, are you OK?" I asked. "We saw you getting sick..."
"We all were," she nodded. "But it went away. Don't worry. You won, didn't you?"
Did I? I sighed. "Yes... I suppose I did. Still..."
"Zack!"
I turned around. "Merta?"
"Zack! Who... who..."
She was sitting on the bed, having just removed her blanket. A brown-haired girl, about five years old, was holding her clothes.
She looked scared.
"I am Raia," she said. "You are my Mommy?"
Merta looked aghast. "It looks like..." she said, "...like you did succeed after all."
The girl looked at me. "And you are my Daddy?" she asked.
I sighed. "I suppose so, Raia. I suppose so."
End of Geomancer
Fulgur's Readers' Corner:
So? What is left to say here?
I would like to thank every and each one of you that was with me throughout this project. It was a rough ride, interrupted by sloth attacks, but the series is finally finished!
Of course, when I say that the "series" is finished, it's not the same as "story" - far from it!
What comes next, then? Wait and see, that's all I can tell you now. There is much more from where this came.
Because, let's face it, there are still questions you might ask. Who created the Queen if not humans? Will other Ascended Ones come to Earth, or will they stay back to protect their rears? And especially - what the heck is going to happen next?
The next story, entitled "Ordinary Days" might take a while, since I have other duties to perform besides writing stories. Still - I promise it will be worth the wait.
There is one particular person that stayed with me the whole time, and without whose assistance this story would never achieve the artistic beauty it - albeit arguably - has. Crosschan has used her valuable time to draw me pictures to illustrate memorable spankings and finer storyline points - and for this she will stay in my heart forever.
And so, I think it's only fitting to let her say a few closing words - although I hope that our cooperation will continue in further Geomancer stories!

Crosschan's Readers' Corner:
As all great things must come to an end, the first series of Geomancer has seen its conclusion grow near. I would like to thank Fulgur, the author, for sharing his series with us.
With all its predicaments, sentiments and individuals, the world of Geomancer will be sorely missed. We say goodbye to Linda, Soot, May, Merta and Zack, in this conquering end to an always superb story.

I am very indebted that you ultimately did share this with us, Fulgur, and I thank you. :3
Keep up the wonderful writing, and I hope that more will be on the way to our screens!

Best, Cross.

Fulgur's postscriptum:
Don't worry! There's more to come!