THE

END

OF

ROSELAKE
 OVERTURE
To kill the hype while it's young, this isn't a roleplay, or the introduction to a roleplay.
This is the end of one we started years ago because after everything, I believe I
owe you an official conclusion.

I am either Faline or Bamboo, formerly known as either Dweeb or Lyra's brother. For
the longer part of a while ago, you participated in my first ever roleplaying game;
it was messy at times and I made a few mistakes here and there, but through it all I
had fun, and I hope you did too. The most notable thing with Roselake was,
unfortunately, that it never ended. Time went by and I got busy with other projects,
and it occurred to me that I would never be able to end what I started the way I
wanted to. There are a lot of reasons why I never ended Roselake, but here are
the main culprits;

When I planned Welcome to Roselake, I believed it would play as a Tabletop RPG,

but as we all know, rolls and mechanics became rarer as the game developed.
The game mechanics of our roleplay were more of a base than anything else, and
while it gave you all the opportunity to bring me through extraordinary stories, it
was really hard to manage. It consumed my time and energy until I couldn't
handle it. I wasn't in control anymore; the story became something bigger than
me.

I wanted to write an official ending since we stopped roleplaying. Now it's been so
long I wonder if it lost its meaning, but that doesn't matter, this is the official ending,
finally.

Now, one last thing; two days ago, I announced to my sister that I would finally be
writing this. She took the initiative to create a server to reunite the cast, and she
asked you to be patient, because at the moment the server was created, nothing
was written yet. As I’m writing this, I only finished writing the finale (this document),
but I’m also writing an epilogue for every one of your characters. As things are
looking now, this finale and the epilogues might take up to around 100 pages. I
really don’t want to overwhelm any of you, so I decided I would be releasing the
finale and the epilogues separately.

Today, I’m releasing the finale, but starting tomorrow, I’ll be releasing all your
characters’ epilogues. The finale as it is was very hard to write, I had to go with my
original idea for the ending even though I do not like it so much anymore. I made
some decisions I wasn’t happy with, but I am confident you will be satisfied with
your epilogues, I hope.

Before reading the finale, I recommend you take a look at the summary on the
next page. It’s been a while, you might want to remember a few things first.
 A SUMMARY
1. Before School Party 35. Mami eats at the
at the Chuck Shack 19. The MP notices that Sepherds
2. The First Day of too many kids are 36. Cat B. meets
School dying at the Jeremy Bridgers
3. Jay Preston is hospital (her neighbor’s kid)
murdered (Cat P.’s 20. Catherine meets 37. Cat B. becomes the
brother) Jonathan (Ghost Bridgers' official
4. Justin Summers is boy) babysitter
murdered (Cat P.’s 21. The MP discovers 38. The Yogi Bear
boyfriend) the murders Incident
5. Lance and Rose's happened 39. Napoleon and
first hug because of Dr. Jethro try out for
6. Emma and Casper's Graham's cult, and the Polo team (and
first suck that the Jester is in Jethro throws a
7. Chuck and fact a Demon tantrum/Nap gets
Seriphina's first kiss named Az'thuul accepted)
(and fuck) 22. Lance fights 40. Fumino nearly
8. Rose and Lance Az'thuul murders Mami
save Cat P. and 23. Rose makes a pact when she asks if
turns Cat B. into a with Az'thuul and she's adopted
good ghost traps him in her 41. Nalia adopts Mami
9. Lance murders body 42. Lance meets with
Thomas Preston 24. Rose brings wolf Father Samuel
(Cat P.'s dad) Lance home 43. Az'thuul pushes
under false 25. Chuck is at the Rose to murder
presumptions hospital/Emma is Father Samuel
10. Emma meets healed by Pam's 44. Lance and Rose
Joshua at Baba's magic cover the murder
11. Chuck and 26. Emma and 45. Chuck and
Seriphina begins Seriphina waits at Seriphina are out of
investigating the the hospital the hospital
student murders 27. Jonathan rises to 46. Chuck creates the
12. Chuck and the afterlife Saharites and
Seriphina becomes 28. Sekki and Mami believes he is one
official RLPD becomes business of them
investigators partners 47. Chuck shows
13. Emma meets the 29. Misunderstanding Seriphina the
Black Cats and sees leads Nalia to think Saharites
the Lake Spirits Mami is a 48. Emma and Casper
14. Lance meets Husky Serpentine blows/kill Harry (a
15. Napoleon goes to 30. Rose gets laid with random guy)
see Andres at the wolf Lance 49. Napoleon parties
hospital 31. Rose and Lance with Jackie and the
16. Rose's magic show are officially a thing boys
17. Chuck goes mad 32. The Manager tasks 50. Roselake! The
and crashes his car Emma to watch a Musical
with Seriphina and Chuck Sahara DVD 51. Chad and Brad tries
Emma and join his Fanclub to rape Rose and
18. The unofficial 33. Emma finds out Lance
Mystery Pack (MP) about Arthur 52. Lance murders
is formed (Cat B., 34. Emma threesomes Bradwick
Lance, Rose, Nap with Arthur and 53. Emma runs away
and Casper) Casper from Casper
54. Emma goes to Cat 75. Jethro and Sekki 93. Wylon (Emma’s
P.'s party are BFF friend) goes to the
55. Emma and Casper 76. Cat B. is now a Sahara Sleepover
get back together teacher at Roselake alone
56. Cat P. tells Emma High 94. Emma goes to the
they're not friends 77. Jethro picks his Lake for her Black
anymore guitar at the Cat initiation
57. Cat B. babysits museum and says 95. Casper reverses
Jeremy his farewells to Eros' curse and
58. Jeremy is captured Lloyd makes Seriphina fall
by Saharites 78. Jethro and Sekki in love with him
59. Mami gets Sekki's sings in bars to 96. S.T.A.R. captures
room make some cash Chuck
60. Sekki runs away 79. Casper tries to 97. Nap is defibrillated
from Nalia bang Lyna but and finds out he
61. Mami is captured instead gets a has a beating heart
by Saharites hangover and an 98. Andres picks up
62. Rolf begins his quest awful bill Nap and brings him
to exterminate the 80. Emma sleepovers home
Saharites at Seriphina's 99. Lance breaks out of
63. The Saharites 81. Mami makes a deal Father Tristan's
causes havoc in between The basement with
Roselake Manager and the Rose and escapes
64. Cat B. and Rolf Sepherds and in the horizon
team-up and saves makes her Mama 100. Emma travels to the
the town proud other side
65. Rolf fucking 82. Casper calls Pam 101. Casper tries to rape
murders the and Michelle to Mami but gets sent
Saharites Queen inspect the sick to jail by Nalia
66. Seriphina fights off Arthur: he chases 102. Mami and Nalia has
the Saharites at the them out when they a car crash
Chuck Shack tell him Arthur isn’t a 103. Chuck meets Odin
67. Seriphina meets vampire anymore 104. Napoleon becomes
Agents Mercury 83. Rose kills Husky Leon
and Jupiter and 84. Lance and Rose 105. The Mystery Pack
learns about the break up (nearly investigates the
Saharites kills each other) church
68. Jethro tries to 85. Emma screws it at disappearances
befriend Lloyd the Chuck Sahara 106. Sekki meets with
(goes wrong) Fan Club Sato (her brother)
69. Jethro tries to 86. Lance meets with 107. Casper meets a
murder Lloyd her therapist member of the
70. Napoleon and 87. Lance meets with White Wolves
Jackie's boys Father Tristan 108. The Akamines tries
breaks Baba's 88. Lance is captured to make a deal with
window by Father Tristan Casper to get their
71. Napoleon pretends 89. Cat P. holds a daughter back
to be Vin Diesel in a meeting and forms 109. Emma, in the other
car chase the official Mystery world, escapes an
72. Napoleon brings Pack alternate Casper
everyone to the Cat 90. Seriphina is tricked 110. Emma meets a
Scratch Club by the Manager mysterious woman
73. Rose becomes a and pricked by 111. Mami notices she is
bitch and turns to Eros' arrow, falling a robot and is sent
black magic in love with Ben back in time
74. Emma tries to heal 91. Napoleon asks Sekki
Arthur but ends up to the dance
breaking up with 92. Sekki now stays at
Casper Napoleon's
THIS

IS

HOW

IT

ENDED
 DO YOU REMEMBER ME?
I needed to know. This is why I came here after all, why I had to listen to shady Reddit
users spreading rumors like basic bitches at a school dance. I need to know because I
feel like I’m being gaslighted by the world; everybody is everywhere, they’re releasing
books and being interviewed by every Jimmy on TV and it’s as if I never existed. Nobody’s
ever uttered my name.

It’s been so long since I saw her, but she saved me once. Despite whatever she did after
that, I remember her saving Roselake from a demon. People think she’s one of the villains,
and I might not know her that well, but I am certain she isn’t who they say she is.

I’ve been walking through the woods for hours now. No reception, figures. Where else
would a witch live but in the middle of the woods? Apparently, she never went too far
from home. She’s still in the state, only further north. People said she was living in a cabin,
and even though there’s no way to know if someone actually saw her or if they’re just
making up bullshit like people do, I’m so desperate for evidence that I actually existed
that I’m ready to believe any bullshit.

There it was, a cabin in the woods. I felt a gleam of hope, but I instantly smothered it with
the thought that it didn’t necessarily mean it was hers. The instructions to her cabin were
so vague, it felt like I was looking for Neverland.

At the crow’s peak,

Look at the Gods,
Follow the river,
And Cepheus will lead you there.

Believe it or not, following stars is hard even with Wikipedia. Furthermore, with the
disappearance of my phone reception, she’d better be there, or else I don’t think I would
be able to get Cepheus to bring me back to civilization. I walked all night and now the
sun was rising, you could say I was craving for a seat.

At least it looked lively. I could see smoke coming from the chimney, and a couple of
books scattered around a bonfire. The cabin looked cozy, clean even, cleaner than a
house that isn’t in the middle of the woods. It looked like a little piece of heaven, only it
was contrasted by a thick chain wrapped around an even thicker tree. I followed its
length with my eyes only to notice what was at the end of it, a

“Dog. Big Dog.”

It didn’t look so nice, it also looked like it just woken up. It was growling. Did I say big dog?
I meant a demon, like Cerberus minus two heads. I was paralyzed. If I stayed still would it
see me? Or does it only apply to dinosaurs?

“Good—Good dog.”

I was trembling, it was approaching.

I confirm that despite appearances, it isn’t a dinosaur.

I considered calling for help but,

you know,

who?

The beast ran towards me on all fours. Its furry hide was bruised, and its jaw looked strong
enough to rip the skeleton out of my body. It looked like it was drooling: did someone
trap me? Was I sent here to be this demon’s lunch?

As I was internally calling myself stupid over and over again, I heard a blunt yank as the
beast stopped midair. It fell backwards, revealing the strong tree that just saved my life. I
might stop eating veggies from now on.

Almost as soon as the beast hit the ground, an angry lady erupted from the cabin’s door,
shouting at the demon the same way an old man would scowl his dog.

“Husky! What the hell is it? Do you know how early it is? I swear to god if you’re trying to
eat a deer again, I’ll—”

Our eyes meet.

“Who the hell are you?”

Oh. I guess she doesn’t—

“Wait. Preston? Catherine Preston?”

Oh?
 That’s my name, isn’t it?

“Okay. What the hell are you doing here.”

Do I even know? I came all this way for this. Now I know she remembers me; I know I am
not crazy, and I know I should probably get the hell out of here before her oversized mutt
eats my face so—

“Sorry about Husky, by the way. She’s not used to, huh, guests.”

Husky?

“It’s okay.”

It’s not.

The dog returned to her mistress, and the witch was petting her as if it wasn’t the most
evil-looking monster known to man.

“I’m Rose Everleigh. Do you remember me? It’s been so long.”

It felt like the universe was slapping me with a handful of joy. To be remembered is one
pleasure, but to be on the other side of the memory lane? It brought tears to my eyes.

“Yes, Rose, I do. I remember everything.”

“Huh, you’re weird.”

I CAN CONFIRM YOU’RE NOT CRAZY, BUT
THE WORLD MIGHT BE LATELY.
She invited me in and made some tea. It almost felt like visiting my auntie if it weren’t for
the enormous demon dog sleeping next to her rocking chair. And the tea sucked, she
definitely wasn’t a tea person, or I wasn’t.

“Did you really make it all the way down here just for that? Stirring old memories? I’m
too young for this.”

Rose sat back in her chair, caressing her familiar with the tip of her fingers. Now that I was
closer to her, I noticed she did look sad. Her face told many things, at first it lists how much
hell she’s been through to get here, but it conceals all the demons it gained along the
way.

“I’m sorry, I just wanted to talk, or something… I haven’t seen the others since, well, we
left Roselake I guess. Even with everything I’ve seen it just feels like I’ve woken up from a
very bad dream and that nothing really happened. But then I turn the TV on or scroll my
way though Twitter and all I see is them. Talking about their experience in Roselake, and
it pisses me off because I was there, with them, and not a single one of them seems to
remember me.”

“What do you mean? Did something happen?”

“You’re kidding.”

She was kidding. How could she not know? How can she say that so cluelessly! So, what,
the world almost ended, and she’s just been chilling with Satan’s lapdog in the middle of
Mississippi?

“I really am not. If you’re talking about world news, I’m not too big on the Internet over
here. Better that way.”

“Okay, how much do you not know? You know monsters are a thing now?”

“Yes, and do you know monster is a slur now?”

“How would you know? I thought you hated technology or something.”

“Who would like to be called a monster? It’s common sense. It’s not very progressive.”

Awkward pause.

“Anyway,”

Rose takes a sip of her muddy tea.

 “How is it out there? I barely left my shack since we arrived, how is the world taking it?”

“It’s weird, but people are taking it well, I think.”

Rose looks at me doubtfully.

“I mean, there is a lot of hate but back in Seagarden things aren’t too bad.”

“What level of hate we’re talking here? Twitter angry or is it more KKK shit?”

“Oh, KKK wish it was them. It’s terrible, it’s like every Christian on Earth just turned into
Van Helsing. I think people are still debating whether or not they should kill them on
sight.”

“So, people are taking it well?”

I smirk, she follows. We feel like two old hags reminiscing about the past, old friends. Taking
the time to catch up, sharing rumors of “where are they now?” We’re having fun, and I
can tell that it’s been a while for her just as it was for me. For the whole time she’s petting
Husky, who’s snoring. I remember Husky, her talking pet plush. I remember what
happened to Husky. That’s why I’m curious to know who that demon beast is. I don’t
know what guts I used to ask:

“Who or… what is it?”

I’m looking straight at it. I think she’s trying to pretend she doesn’t know what I’m talking
about, but the sadness in her eyes tells it away.

“A… An old friend.”

She smiles, nostalgic, as she continues caressing the beast. I think I understand what’s
happening. I gasp. She says something before I can think of something to say.

“I like to think she’s somewhere in there, but as years go by, she still hasn’t paid me a
visit. I wonder what’s taking her so long.”

She laughs at her own joke. I’m too uncomfortable to go there.

“But, Husky?”
 “It’s to remind me it’s not her anymore. Lance—she’s gone. What you see is what has
been sleeping in her for so long. I thought that if I tamed her demon like I tamed mine
things would go back to how they were, but here I am, still waiting. She was consumed
by her anger and, because of me, she’s never coming back. I can’t give it the same
name she used to have, because that’d be lying to myself.”

“Do you still...?”

“Love her? A part of me still does, but this beast… I pity it. It makes me sad, but I can’t
let it go. So, I kept it. At least, it’s a good mutt and it keeps me company, I’m glad we
have each other.”

She rubbed her hand over its head, giggling. The demon opened one eye and stared
back at the witch. It growled and it shut its eyes back close. I thought to myself that they
might’ve looked sad, but they also looked calm. It was a nice sight.

“What about you, Preston? How’s life after hell?”

“Not much, I tried my luck at the Seagarden college, but failed miserably. I dropped
out, I’m swinging from part-time job to part-time job like Tarzan on vines, and since
nobody offered me a book deal, I’m also broke.”

“A book? What are you talking about?”

Oh, yeah, she wasn’t kidding.

“How much don’t you know?”

“Well, wasn’t Mr. Sahara Hades or something?”

“Oh my God you are so clueless.”

Oh my god she’s so clueless.

 FUCKING BOOK DEALS
I started from the top. Prom night, that’s when everything went down. The Godfall, they
call it. Our class was half its size it was in September, it was as if everything that could go
wrong happened only in our class. One was sent to jail, one almost died in a car
accident. A lot of them completely disappeared, like our teacher, Mr. Sahara. It was
surreal, only a few of us remained, and because the year was such a wreck the
headmaster decided that everyone was going to leave with passing grades. I won’t lie,
I think our high school had a stronger kill count than Jason Voorhees. I want to say that
we’ve been through so much that year that nothing could surprise us anymore, because
vampires and werewolves are one thing, but seeing your school become the battlefield
of a war between Greek Gods is still pretty insane.

“The Godfall, that happened in Roselake?”

“Everything happened in Roselake, have you seriously no clue about any of this?”

“I heard about the Godfall, obviously, but I never stopped to read further.”

“You’re telling me the headline is “Gods Fights a War in Roselake” and you don’t read
the full article?”

“A demon is literally living inside of me so, no, I’ve seen crazier.”

“Sure.”

Our teacher, it seemed, was one of them. A God. Figured his disappearance wasn’t any
regular disappearance, it was the men in black. S.T.A.R., they’re called, and they’re not
your regular Will Smith buddy comedy. Figured I knew about them long before they
became mainstream since I’m super into aliens myself; they’re an independent
organization funded by the US government who investigate extra-terrestrial oddities. Their
first theory, it seemed, was that the Gods who wandered Earth weren’t really Odins and
Athenas, but aliens. Of course, they were wrong, and that’s why they screwed up.

They captured Chuck Sahara because they believe that he was some Ziggy Stardust
type. They quickly understood that if Chuck truly was a superhuman, that he was
amnesic, so they decided to refresh his memory a bit. They thought it’d help him, and it
did, only, you know, the guy Chuck forgot he was wasn’t such a nice guy.

“Are you familiar with the story of Eros and Psyche?”

Rose blinked twice, not sure where I was going with this. Understandably.

“You’re not telling me that Mr. Sahara, who almost destroyed the world, is the God of
Love? Baby-assed Cupid?”

“I know right?”

“That’s just stupid.”

 “But you do know the story?”

“I think so. He shot a girl with his arrow and they fell in love?”

“Yeah, but did you know Eros had a brother?”

“A brother?”

“Yes, his name is Anteros, he’s the God of Natural Love. Do you know what that means?
Do you know what it implies?”

Rose doesn’t seem to follow.

“Anteros represents people who fall in love naturally. That means Eros represents people
who fall in love unnaturally. Whoever is struck by his arrows weren’t destined to fall in
love, it’s just a God messing with people.”

“Oh, so that means—”

“Psyche was never in love with Eros, she was forced to love him.”

“That’s messed up.”

“I know, right?”

People was losing faith in their Gods; they have been for centuries. That meant that the
Gods were getting weaker by the day, and their powers faded with it. A lot of them didn’t
survive, some decided to wander Earth, but what it meant was that Eros’ power over his
wife was weakening. It reached a point where Psyche realized she didn’t love Eros: he
was jealous, angry, manipulative. Afraid of her husband, she pretended to still be under
his spell, but her misery drove her in his brother’s arms. Psyche was in love with Anteros,
but their union was kept secret to not anger the God of Love. Eventually, Psyche was
cursed with pregnancy, and because concealing it to Eros would’ve been impossible,
she had the child and pretended that he was the father.
Eros adored the child, but Psyche was even more miserable, longing to raise the child
with her one true love. On an unfortunate night, she explained the whole story to her
mother-in-law, Aphrodite. She wasn’t ill-intentioned, Aphrodite really thought it would
help to then repeat everything to Eros. He didn’t take it well.

Eros hid the child under a bridge and confronted his wife. He told her that he was going
to leave with the child and that she was never going to see them again. In their fighting,
they didn’t notice that the night sky was pouring heavy rain over their heads. It was a
very intense night, that’s why Eros didn’t think about the consequences of a flood. He
realized too late.

Eros was always popular with the Gods; he was the God of Love after all. A real charmer,
or the King of Charmers one could say. That’s why it was so easy for him to pin their child’s
death on his wife. The Gods didn’t even question it. The very next day, Athena was
already punishing Psyche for her crime. She decided to send her back on Earth and she
transformed her into a man-eating spider, a monster.

But Aphrodite knew that Eros was the real culprit, but to not dirty her son’s name to the
rest of the pantheon, she decided to take matters into her own hands. She banished Eros
to Earth, with the intention to let Psyche kill him. But Eros didn’t come unprepared: as
Psyche was about to eat him, he stung her with his arrow, cursing her. Psyche hated him
so bad, but the arrow forced her to love him, so she couldn’t kill him. Eros brushed death,
and I think it would be safe to assume that’s why he forgot who he was, because he did.
Psyche couldn’t kill him, but she could profit off of an Eros with memory-loss, and that’s
when she decided to become her Manager. She’s the mastermind behind the cult that
was the Chuck Sahara Fanclub, a cult created for the sole purpose of feeding her.

“See, you’re telling me Eros was the bad guy but I’m pretty sure Hades fought Zeus or
something.”

“Hades fought Aphrodite, and a bunch of other Gods too. Not all Greek.”

“And how do you know all of this? Did he tell you or is it on Wikipedia?”

“It’s in Emma’s book.”

“What?”

“The book deal, remember?”

“She’s the one who got a book deal?”

“The title is “Fallen Angel”. It’s not bad, but it’s more about the God stuff. Gets
redundant after a while, pretty dramatic too. I preferred Leon’s, it’s more to-the-fact.”

“The robot boy? He also wrote a book?”

“Everybody did, it’s kind of absurd when you think about it. It’s like, we got enough
book guys, stop.”
 “I’m guessing they didn’t offer you a book deal?”

I look down, embarrassed. Was it so obvious it bothered me that much? I mean, I don’t
actually care about the book, it’s just… I was part of the gang, you know. Rose continues;

“So, you were saying the God of Love and the God of the Underworld started a war
during your prom?”
 I KNOW, RIGHT?
They call Godfall a war, but it was a war in the same way there’s a war in Captain
America: Civil War. It barely lasted two days, but it was incredibly impressive. For being in
the front row during the whole event, I can tell you that the end of the world couldn’t
have looked cooler.

They call it Godfall because Gods from all pantheons fell from the skies in an attempt to
defeat Hades. According to Emma’s book, it went like this:

Emma was actually a Greek angel named Arke and her sister, Seriphina, was Iris. They’re
supposed to be the messengers of the Gods, but for a while God-Mail was very calm.
Seriphina ended up trapping herself on Earth after falling in love with a mortal, who turned
out to be Hades in disguise. Arke was also banished to Earth by Hades, but it was because
of a deal, not a trick. Arke had to do a small errand for Hades and he would send her on
Earth, where she could have a shot to live a mortal life. Arke had to steal Zeus’ thunder,
and she did it in the bat of an eye, not knowing the consequences of her actions.

After sending Arke on Earth, he killed Zeus with his own thunder, taking over the pantheon.
Hades was unpleased with the mortals’ lack of worshipping, so he decided he would
bring upon the apocalypse to remind everyone that Greek Gods do not only exist in
Disney films and Young Adult novels. That’s how Godfall started: Hades was weak, but so
were the rest of the pantheons. He started war in Roselake of all places, somehow there
already were a few Gods there.

“Did you know our janitor was a Norse god?”

Rose wasn’t sure if she heard what she heard. I elaborated.

“The hunky janitor, he was a Norse god who decided to live in exile on Earth. It’s weird
how many Gods were in Roselake, though.”

“That’s because of the source.”

For once, Rose was the one to hit me with the strangest truth. She elaborated.

“Just like faith, the lack of practice of magic has weakened it. There was a time where
everyone could practice magic, but because nobody does anymore, it’s harder to
master. There’re a few places on Earth where magic is stronger. Roselake has a long
history of witches, hence why its eponymous lake is a great well of magic.”

“That’s interesting, this is why Gods were drawn to it?”

“Exactly, Gods and monsters are more powerful near these sources. That would be a
reason why there were so many creatures in Roselake.”

“Well, that explains what happened next.”

Hades tried to begin the Earth’s destruction in Roselake, what he didn’t expect was that
other Gods were preparing for it. Aphrodite was roaming Earth for a while now, which is
how she recruited her ragtag pantheon. Notable figures of her team were Freyja,
Shango, Morrigan, Santa Muerte, the Greek Muses and, of course, Arke and Iris. From
where we stood it look like we were assisting to the new Avengers film, but with less witty
dialogue and more bystanders being crushed under their crumbling homes.

The war was interrupted by a third party, though. That part isn’t in any of the books that
were released, it’s not even on Wikipedia. The only place you’ll find it online is on some
shady forums between “9/11 was an inside job” and “Stanley Kubrick directed the moon
landing”. But I was there.

Eros came out of nowhere, and the town instantly recognized him as their Golden God.
They thought their local celebrity had came to save them. They thought again. At first, it
did look like we were saved when Eros killed Hades, but that wasn’t why he came.

“I suppose that’s how Mr. Sahara was able to kill Hades? Because of the source?”

Rose nodded. Neither of us would know for sure, but that sure sounded like a logical
explanation to how the God of Love was able to slay the God of the Underworld so
easily.

“And what, what did he want? World domination?”

“Not really, to be honest I’m not even sure he had a plan. I think he was just consumed
by anger, all he wanted was to explode and bring Roselake with him. He wanted to kill
everyone; Psyche, Aphrodite… He even tried to kill his then girlfriend.”

“Seriphina? Why?”

“Nobody knows, but if the stories are true, he probably thought she was betraying him
in some way, just like he thought the whole world did.”

“So, who stopped him?”

“His brother, Anteros. Before he could explode, his brother was able to talk him down.
Chuck then fainted and when he came back to himself, Eros was no more. It seems he
lost his godhood, he’s completely mortal now.”

“What did Anteros tell him?”

“Again, nobody knows. They were too close for anyone to hear.”

“Damn, Wikipedia’s game is weak these days, isn’t it?”

“I know, right?”
 WHAT HAPPENS NEXT?
From what I can remember, most of us left Roselake. Chuck did also. We all skipped the
chapter where Chuck took Hades’ place, the stories don’t even mention him, but it’s
better that way. To the rest of the world, Chuck is just like any other nobody. Word is that
he’s trying his luck at celebrity in Seagarden, but he didn’t have much luck with it so far.

“Wasn’t he proposed a book deal?”

“Well, nobody knows he was so important in Roselake. The whole town of Roselake
even denies worshipping him at all. Every single household in Roselake used to have
every Chuck Sahara book, album and DVD, and now everyone claims they never
heard of him. I guess it’s safe to say it’s awkward between Chuck and everyone else.
Nobody really wants to talk him anymore, not even Seriphina. It’s kind of hard to look
him in the eyes after everything. Oh, but I guess Chuck did have his show on
Broadway.”

“Broadway? That’s great for him, isn’t it?

“Oh, sorry, not Broadway, New York. Broadway, Virginia.”

“That’s a thing?”

“Apparently.”

“But what about Seriphina? Why isn’t she talking to him?”

“Who knows? He tried to end the world; I think that’s enough PTSD a gal can handle.
Plus, she disappeared from the face of the Earth. She’s one of the few who decided not
to bathe in fame.”

“What about her sister? Besides the book, I mean.”

“Well Emma is probably the most popular at the moment. Her book was just the
beginning; from there she started an acting career, she even has a few albums—it’s
crazy, really. Now that the world knew that monsters were a thing, she did her best to
help them, to let every vampire and werewolf teenager knew that they deserved to be
treated as equals. But then she fell into the dark pit of fame and she’s just as shallow as
your typical actress. She doesn’t look so good lately.”

“Damn, what happened?”

“I think it has to do with Casper. He had a similar journey, wrote a book, started acting.
He’s full of shit and people seem to love him a lot more.”

“Wait, wasn’t he in jail?”

“He got out, apparently, and there’s no trace of him ever being in jail. No more police
reports or document, nothing. As soon as he found a way to slip out of jail, he wrote his
own book. In his version he’s the hero, he’s the savior of Roselake. But despite everyone
who was actually there are saying that his book is full of shit, people chooses to believe
him. To be fair, he has charm.”

“And now he acts?”

“Yup, even has an album or two.”

“Is he good?”

“Honestly? Not bad.”

We continued to talk for the entire evening, I went over the rest of the group, we talked
about Roselake. Told her everything I knew as best as I can. I was dying to tell anyone
everything I knew about this place, about what happened, and while Rose wasn’t
exactly Jimmy Fallon, it was nice to have someone to talk to.

After a while, Rose seemed tired; her “lap dog” was still resting, and she kept on petting
its fur. She seemed to have something on her mind, and it looked like she had trouble
letting it out, but she finally did.

“Also… I don’t know if you ever checked but, have you heard anything about my
father’s museum? I know it sucked but, you know, I got memories and all that.”

“Ah… I’m sorry but they closed it down. It’s still there, just closed. Permanently. Nobody
really wanted to run it after you left, so it’s abandoned. People say it’s haunted.”

“Oh, I see.”

“What?”

“Well, I might see why they’d say it’s haunted. Have you heard anything about maybe
anyone buying items from the museum? Like a wax cowboy or something?”

“As far as I know everything is the way you left it.”

“I should check it out someday, then. Before they break it down.”

“Yeah.”
A silence installed itself in the room. We had a few this evening, but this one was special.
I knew what it meant. She did too.

“Well, I don’t want to be rude, but I didn’t expect a guest today and I had things
planned.”

“I understand, but it was nice, wasn’t it?”

“Yeah. It was good seeing you, Preston.”

She smiled, but something in it worried me a bit.

“We’ll see each other again?”

The smile remained, but she didn’t say anything. She led me to her door, a hand on the
high of my back. Her hand was delicate, but something in her push felt like the touch of
an old woman. I think all the things she went through aged her soul in a way I’ll never
understand. Something about the gesture made it feel like a goodbye.

We exchanged farewells and I was back on my way. This evening was enlightening,
seeing Rose being so zen made me rethink everything. Maybe it didn’t matter if they
remembered me or not. I also went through a lot, lost a lot of people I cared about, saw
a lot of shit. But I survived, and I don’t have to carry all the baggage Rose has to.
Compared to her, and to a lot of others from Roselake, I’m fine.

But as I look forward, blindly walking through the woods as the sun is setting, I remember
I still don’t know the way back home, so I have to wonder;

What happens next?