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[lionunchained]

[Video opens with Shiro outside. It looks like it generically outside almost as though he had attempted to try and make it harder for him to be found, but in the background, a glownie wanders by at a distance if someone is really paying attention so that at least put him near the pasture]

So I’ve been doing some thinking recently and I know... it's kind of morbid to be bringing up. But I’m curious to know what other people’s thoughts on death are. Like, is there something after it? And... if you lost someone and never got say goodbye, will you eventually get that chance? Or is that chance gone?

Comments

[cannot_flinch]

Where I am from there is a whole group that studies death. Thanatonauts. They die on purpose to see what is in that second between life and death. Because Guardians can be resurrected.

From my own personal experience with the deaths of those close to me I do not think goodbye would help. They are gone and you continue. The continuing is the more important part. It honors them.

[hadthehighground]

In my galaxy, it's always been understood that when one dies, they become one with the Force.

I've only recently learned that those of us strong in the Force can learn to preserve our consciousness after death. Something I am meant to learn, but coming here disrupted that.

[beholding_archivist]

[ Oh, such a fun topic. ]

Death is... hm.

I used to think about it a long for a while. I lost people in my life that I never got to say goodbye to, yes. My parents, for one, because I was too young at that time. My grandmother when I was studying in London and couldn't afford the trip in time to meet her. One of my assistants got- Replaced... And we didn't notice it until months later. When I found the tapes she recorded when... It happened.

[ He pauses there and sighs. ]

And then people just... Kept dying. Even me. I was... Physically dead. For six months. I dreamed during that time. But death... It's also... On my version of Earth Death also used to be something else. The End or Terminus. The Coming End That Waits For All And Cannot Be Ignored. It is the one Dread Power that eventually will claim everything and leave nothing behind.

For my world the answer was simple: Death was the end. Unless their souls were bound by supernatural means, but these souls were left to suffer until properly released. The rules are likely to differ for your world.

[lionunchained]

Really? I'd never even thought something like that was possible. So then at least for them, there is something after it. Coming back at least.

Yeah... it is. It's not like these thoughts are going to stop me from continuing, but it was... unexpected... and complicated.

[lionunchained]

The Force? I'm afraid I'm not familiar with that.

[lionunchained]

[Shiro listened quietly, patiently as he spoke. It sounded very familiar to him]

It feels rather strange for me to be thinking about it this way. I also lost my parents when I was far too young. And then... I was the one who was supposed to die. So I've never really worried about my own death. I've known that it was lurking right around the corner.

But this last one... somehow I never considered...

[beholding_archivist]

As I said, it might be different for your world. But back on my Earth, I got to talk to a young man who's soul had been bound to a book when he passed away.

He wished for nothing more than to be released and made me promise to take his page and burn it. He said it hurt... Being like that.

[cannot_flinch]

It is in my world though most Guardians don't go into in field. There are risks to seeking out death.

The hardest deaths to accept are the ones we did not anticipate.

[lionunchained]

So... perhaps it is better that he is not tied to my world even after death. So by that theory, once they are gone, they are gone.

[lionunchained]

I would imagine that there would be. There's always risks and that seems like the ultimate risk.

Yeah, so much had happened, but so it is not surprising, but somehow in my mind, nothing was going to have changed.

[orangewayfinder]

[Terra had thought on this a lot while in the Darkness after his Master had died. But then he got another chance to see him and speak with him before he disappeared into the light with Master Xehanort.]

In my world, they move into the Light. But..I like to think they wait to talk to you again.

[Not that he knows this for sure.]

[beholding_archivist]

Yes. And I want to think it's better that way. For them, and those they leave behind.

[ And yet Jon is well aware that deep down he wishes he could communicate with the dead. If only to access all that knowledge they carry. ]

[cannot_flinch]

Some of us would risk everything for the answers for the mysteries of the universe.

There are times it seems endless. Things will be as they are but that's not the nature of the universe. Any universe, I've found, from talking to others around here.

[ezra_of_lothal]

I talked to my parents after they died. Just the once, really briefly.

[Well, twice, technically, but that was either a doorway into the past or into another timelines. He's not quite sure.]

But then, yes, as Master Kenobi said, I believe the energy of consciousnesses stopped being something separate and became one with the Force - that is to say everything.

[lionunchained]

I see. I kind of hope that there is the chance to talk to them again, but then again I'm not sure what I'd say.

[lionunchained]

Yeah, if I knew that he was in pain just being there, I'd rather that he wasn't.

[lionunchained]

Has anything been discovered from it?

No, it isn't. Life goes on when you are not there to see. I suppose it was wishful thinking that I'd come back and what I had seen had not reached them.

[lionunchained]

So you were able to speak to them before they became part of the Force? Is that something that happens often?

[ezra_of_lothal]

That's what is felt like to me. I'm sure some people would say it was just a dream, but I felt them, like I do people who are alive, and I was awake.

I wish I had a good answer to whether it happens often.

I think they held on because they knew I really needed to hear that they were proud of me. That things were already changing, and I was going to have to stay strong, but that there was hope. And they had to wait until I was ready to hear all that from them.

[beholding_archivist]

Someone close to you, I assume.

I am sorry.

[hadthehighground]

It’s what we Jedi draw our power from. An energy that resides in all living things and binds us all together. It’s what gives us life, and our life energy returns to it when we die.

[cannot_flinch]

A bit. We have some idea that a soul can carry on. That it's possible to drift between the two states. We came to understand the Hive's death magic better. It's been interesting.

Hope is not foolish. It is necessary even in the face of death.

[lionunchained]

Yeah, I know what you mean. Dreams are one thing and it is possible to doubt, but sometimes you just know.

[Shiro smiled faintly at that] I'm glad that you were able to get that message from them. I know there are a lot of people who don't get that chance.

[lionunchained]

Yeah... he was. We broke up due to other issues before I went on my mission, but still seeing that he was gone really hit hard.

[lionunchained]

I see. It's nice that you know that at least. Many people don't have a clue what actually happens.