I will save you

Epilogue

An elderly couple are sat at the edge of a cliff, the male has his arm wrapped around the shoulders of his wife of many years. They are watching the sun set on the island they both have called home for many decades. He smiles down at her, although they've both grown old and wrinkly, she is still as beautiful to him as she had been the first time he'd seen her.

Astrid. Her name filled his every thought, sounded with every beat of his frail heart and filled every crevice of his soul. She was everything to him and there was no one else in this world he loved more than her. She truly was what would be described as 'his soulmate'.

The couple had suffered through many tragedies during the course of their lives. They had been through everything from wars, sickness, an unusual amount of kidnappings and many deaths. Quite frankly, they were surprised to have made it to their old age.

Although they had seen their fair share of tragedies throughout their lifetime, that didn't mean that they didn't experience immense happiness as well. When they were first blessed with a child who lived long past their own birthday, they were certain that the gods were finally repaying them for all the sorrow they had to endure in their early youth. When they welcomed yet another child to the world, their happiness increased even more.

They raised their two wonderful children and were lucky enough to get to see them grow, get married and have children of their own, all whilst remembering all that they had lost many years before.

Unfortunately, the older we get, the more prone we are to death. The couple had lost many friends and companions over the years, but they were incredibly grateful for their good health, their lasting love and of course for each other.

Like all great stories, theirs was coming to an end. With their children now grown and their grandchildren the same age as they were when they had fallen for one another, the elderly couple no longer felt needed in their families.

The village they had known and loved for years had also drastically changed. Old friends were long gone, buildings were replaced and the pair felt too outdated to keep on ruling their drastically different village. Dawn was rising on a new era, an era of which they had no part. Their time was up, they had lived their lives and they were both happy to finally attain some rest, as long as they were able to rest together.

The bearded elderly man brushes away a stray strand of his wife of many years' grey hair before he presses a soft and gentle kiss to her cheek. She turns to face him with a smile, a smile that still makes his heart beat just as fast as it had when he was a scrawny teenage boy. He still could not grasp how he, of all people, had managed to capture the heart of a goddess like her. In his mind, she was this otherworldly being and he was unworthy of her love, but still, she loved him with everything she had and he could not ask for a better wife and companion than her.

The sun's journey across the skies is almost over, leaving only the burning remnants of its passing in its trail, which casts an orange glow on the elderly couple who are nearing the end of their own journey as well.

They had done both good and bad in their long lives and they had suffered through immense pain to achieve all the happiness they had gained in the end, but it was finally time for them to rest, to take a deep breath and meet all the people they had loved and lost along the way.

"As long as we go together." The elderly woman says as the couple smile warmly at one another. This was the end of their journey and they were more than ready to go together, as one.

The elderly woman rests her head on her husband's shoulder as a satisfied sigh escapes her tired lungs. She closes her eyes as she breathes in the salty scent of the sea below them and her husband rests his head upon hers, following her lead as he too closes his eyes. In their final moments, they were together and now they would remain that way, forever.

The End.