A Tear Frozen in Time

Epilogue

6months later.....

"How many souls do you think are in that place, she asked as his arms tightened about her shoulders and her head leaned back to rest against him.

"Innumerable." he replied as his head too leaned back.

"I can still remember pieces of conversations, but without any context to go by, they all seem so bizzare" she chuckled lightly.

"Every word uttered and every thought the mind could conjure is in that place. I too remember snippets of half finished words." he also chuckled and like her, he didn't think he would ever forget it.

After a little thought, and having had the time to really dwell on her experience, she realized that Mo Yuan was the only one she could discuss her ordeal with, because no one else had come even close to experiencing what they had.

"What really stayed with me even more than the pain of that place, was the thousands of soul pieces trying their best to reunite with their own. Many times I saw soul pieces regathering themselves, only to be ripped apart again and again. Why do you think of the trillions of souls there, we two were given permission to leave?" she asked, because to her mind, that's exactly what it seemed like. It was unbelievable and possibly even vain to think that only they had succeeded when countless others were still failing. There had to be a reason why they had succeeded.

"That was something I am still coming to terms with." he replied candidly. "Like you, I spent hours contemplating on what the Heavens had in store for me, and even why they had allowed me to return. Initially I thought it was because I had not truly died." he said softly.

"Not died? How can one scatter their soul and not be dead?" she asked turning her head back to look up at him.

"I think it was a trial for the both of us." and he truly believed that, otherwise, why else would the Heavens allow them to escape. It really was a vain thought to think their effort and hard work got them out of there, when in truth, only the Heavens could have allowed it.

"I think so too. And I think I may have gained an understanding of that when I happened upon a soul that was also trying to regather itself. It contained a partial memory of a conversation that I was able to hear above the chaotic noise. It said "Sometimes courage is found in peace." and for a long time, those words stayed with me. I don't think I will ever forget them, but there was something else too." she said smiling up at the soft eyes looking down at her.

"It was at that moment that your eyes entered by consciousness. And what seems a little funny now, is even in that place where my memories and thoughts were scattered, I could imagine those words coming from you."

Lowering his head to lightly roll his face in her hair, Mo Yuan had no idea what to say to that, not when he'd had similar experiences of conversations that reminded him of her.

"There are untold conversations happening in that place, sometimes they find a little more of itself and the context becomes clearer, but I don't think we will ever learn of another coming through the experience to tell about it. I think in the end, those that govern such things, allowed us this experience to bring us back together, stronger and maybe a little wiser for it." he said only watch as her eyes filled with laughter.

"And had I heard that in the Chaos, I would have known without a doubt that they were your words." she replied before releasing the giggle she had tried to hold in seeing as he was trying harder to remain serious.

"Well, since we are here and the future is ours to do with as we please, then what is it that you want?" he asked and maintaining the seriousness, because though she was with him and had made it clear that she was now beside him to stay, there had been no real mention of where they were headed. Though, going by the spark of mirth in her eyes, he knew then that he should have known better than to ask.