I don't know why I wrote this. Maybe it was just out of nostalgia. This will only make sense to a few. It's amazing to see how the community has changed over the years.

The End of Surreal
or
The Death of Tyio

Space is cold and silent. It has that kind of horrible stillness that a tomb has. But the stars can always look at you, equally silent, white guardians, watching everything.
“It’s so lonely in space.” He looked down at his hand. Dull red fur. He felt so tired. He tried to remember what had happened before. He had been important, he had been someone worth caring about, he had travelled across space and time, had seen things most people can only dream of. He had hated, and he had loved, and somehow, he was happy.
“How long has it been? How many centuries?” He looked, with his liquiscent eyes, through the glass to the blue and green planet. The sun was just rising over it’s edge. He hadn’t been important after they all died, he hadn’t been important after the wars stopped. He lived in a world that didn’t need it’s heroes or it’s gods anymore. A world at peace is a world where warriors have no reason to exist anymore. He had been alone for centuries. For how many of those years had he been just drifting like this? He couldn’t remember anymore.
“Tyio. That’s what my name was.” He had lived in seclusion, as the cities sprawled and the forests sucummbed, as culture advanced and generations passed and Tyio remained ever the same. Forgotten by time itself. He reached forward to touch the glass of the one-man pod. He felt so weak, could feel the weight of his chest as his lungs strained to breathe; his body had been stretched unnaturally over time it wasn’t meant for.
Yes, there had been adventure. There had been good times, and there had been bad. He had been cold, just like the space on the other side of the glass. He had been shunned and set apart from the others. Something about his blood -- he couldn’t quite remember. He had reacted with violence and anger, that was just his way. But really it was because he wanted to be with those which his birth had set him apart from. People he loved. He didn’t like the barrier, and he was lonely inside. Just like he was lonely floating in space.
There had been wars. Great intergalactic wars, upon whose results the fate of the universe had rested, and he had fought. But when he fought, he really didn’t feel anything. When he was younger he had heard people telling stories of how they felt great and courageous and mighty in battle, but Tyio had never felt so. He just felt empty, like he always did, empty and apart from others, from the people he loved. In those wars, people had died, friends, more like family really. There was one named Aldan, and another, was her name Ducky?
Maybe he was just imagining things. When you’ve been alone for so long, the difference between what’s real and what’s in your mind starts to not matter anymore.
“Did it ever really matter?”
Every time one of them died, he died a little bit too. Soon no one remembered his deed and his name, or cared about how he felt, and if no one knows you exist, you really don’t exist, do you? He just never knew someone who didn’t exist could feel so much pain. He had retreated, in his hermitage, to a small cottage near the sites of his great deeds on Carrotous. At first being alone didn’t seem so bad, but it was something that crept on with ages, as he watched the world leave him behind.
When he was young, he had been important, and then he wasn’t important for a long, long time. Now, he was important again, because he was the last person alive in the universe.
Rabbits, and indeed, all sentient species, seemed inextricably bound to their technology. Technology always advanced, it seems written in the DNA. One could almost say that rabbits and technology are one in the same thing; if we couldn’t use tools, would we really be the same thing at all? That’s why, when technology offered a way out of the pain and suffering of living, of being alone and being apart from others, naturally everyone took that way out. Technology was their savior.
“ ‘Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.’ Sacrificing everything for knowledge. Eating of the fruit of good and evil. It’s our nature. Bah!”
Tyio would have none of it. He liked being alone, for he had been with no one that remembered his name for decades. The cities were empty now, the world was totally quiet, like at the end, things had returned to the very beginning. After centuries, Tyio wondered why death hadn’t come for him. After millenia, he realized that the universe would not allow it’s lass inhabitant to pass so easily. That’s when he wandered into the old capital. Places where he had once been with friends were gone. On the streets and everywhere were laid the clothes, empty markers of where they had once stood, covered with the debris of eons. He had launched himself into space, for he wanted to die. He didn’t want to exist anymore. He just wanted it to be still and silent.
How many thousands of years had it been? Yet the moon still rotated around Carrotous, and the blue planet still rotated. The sun still shone, and the stars still twinkled. And he floated, the last artifact testifying that people did once exist in the universe. He was alone, and that was alright.
Or was it?
He remembered what it was like to love her, to be happy with her and with them. He remembered wanting to be close to them, to break down his walls, to feel their contact. He couldn’t exist without them. How can the signifier exist without the signified? He existed in their minds, and so that added to his existance, and they existed in his mind, and so they were real.
“But there’s no one, no one left at all. Maybe I really don’t exist anymore. Maybe this is just an illusion.” He paused, and thought about it. It was getting very hard to thing; he was very, very old. “But I can feel it. So weither it’s real or not doesn’t matter. I think it’s real so it is.” That comforted him for a while, as his little pod, like a message in a bottle, rotated his view away from the dawn. But then he thought of something else.
“There is no one, there can be no one, but that doesn’t mean I’m not lonely. This is what I wanted though, right? ... No! No, it’s not! I...I shouldn’t have been cruel, I should have had empathy, I wouldn’t wish the pain I feel now on anyone. I shouldn’t have isolated myself from others, I should have touched them, learned their inner hearts, because how can I exist without the other.” He let his hand droop, floating in the weightlessness, and he began to cry, the tears tiny spheres floating before his eyes. He sobbed out,
“I was wrong! I was so wrong! Oh, God! I want to take it all back! I don’t want to be alone anymore!” Silence.
Nothing.
But then, he squinted. He thought he was facing the sun again, but no, he realized it was different. Blinding white light in all directions. He saw them approach, walking towards him in the white field. God-like beings, but he knew them, he knew each of their names.
“But...how?” They spoke with one, gentle, comforting voice.
“It was always within your power to accept your true nature. It was always within your power to let go of your pain and embrace our joy as one, where I and Other are joined perfectly, and there are no more walls, and existance is infinite.” The glass shattered, the pod dissapeared, and he felt his old body floating into their arms. They were tears of joy now.
“How is this possible?”
“We have liberated ourselves. We have removed war and hunger and disease and poverty and all sadness and loneliness. But all of us have been waiting for you to join us, before we move on together.” They held him, and he felt renewed again, fresh and clean, like a baby in the womb.
“Was it real? Were all these thousands of years real or in my mind?”
“It doesn’t matter. We’re all together now.” And that's how Tyio died.

the end

I hope Tyio knows deep down Ducky still loves him with all of her.

I missed you, Kovey.

...whoa, I was just thinking of you earlier today, wondering what had been going on in the Tavern lately. Nice story. I don't go in for spiritual stuff too much but this seemed pretty good.

One little note... it doesn't make too much sense to have “But...how?” They spoke with one, gentle, comforting voice. as one line. Unless I'm very confused, Tyio is saying that, not everyone else.

Not all stars are white you know.

This makes an awful lot of sense, but not the way you intended I think; I was having thoughts of this nature just this morning.

I missed you too, all of you. Don't think that this is a return or anything, I just wanted you all to know I hadn't completely forgotten where I had spent so much of my life.
It's true, not all stars are white, but all those visible to the naked eye from such an orbit are.
And you're absolutely right Unknown, that is an error. However, I wrote this whole thing, more or less as soon as I thought of it, in about 20 minutes, without proofreading it, so it's bound to have some problems.

Kove ;-; Well done, as always, 20-minute creation or not.

*lapses into nostalgia*

It's true, not all stars are white, but all those visible to the naked eye from such an orbit are.

On the contrary, depending on your vision, you can see up to 75 distinctly colored stars, many more with a telescope.

stars have 75 colors< wow,relly?

Oh yes; rad, orange red, red orange , vemillion, carmine....

Guys, literature is not astronomy.

On that note, very interesting story. I haven't read the previous parts, so I'm sure Copper and Ducky understand it much better. It is quite well written, though, especially for 20 minutes and no proofing.

One should be mindful that many of the different colored bodies that appear as stars are, in fact, planets.
But fine, I'm sorry I said there were white. I used my artistic license, drawing a symbolic foil between the white stars and the blackness of space.
And to Radium; though it is in the Surreal continuity, that's just to get people's attention, it really is rather stand-alone.

Like Rad said, it's not a very important point ...

So you're not planning on sticking around, Kove?

I might, I'm not sure. If I were to I would just post other little short stories like this, to test out different writing techniques, honing my skills for my actual novel.
But I can't say thank you enough, I didn't expect it to be recieved so well

Originally Posted by the jamster

stars have 75 colors< wow,relly?

Stars have an unlimited amount of colors. It all depends on how far the stars are from the Earth. The more farther away they are, the closer the star's color will be to the red side of the rainbow. This is called "red shift," since the light waves eventually bend to a point where any color can look red, and eventually can even go into the infrared bands.

I used my artistic license, drawing a symbolic foil between the white stars and the blackness of space.

Well, maybe he was colorblind? Getting old can do that to you.

And where can I get a licence?

Stars have an unlimited amount of colors. It all depends on how far the stars are from the Earth.

And also on their temperature, hot stars are blue, cold ones red. Betelguse for example, is a red giant the size of our solar system, whereas Sirus is hotter and bluer. Most stars only appear white becuase we recieve too little light from them. Through a telescope, they look *awesome*

DD, Odin, please stay on topic.

Kovu: We're starving for decent writing right now

Originally Posted by Coppertop

Kovu: We're starving for decent writing right now

Hey! What's that make ToU?

Indecent writing.

That's not very nice. While I've only looked at a few pages, it looks like a good piece of work. Plus since it's not really an actual story but a sort of game (atleast as far as I can tell) it should be considered differently.

first thought:

second thought: When you have your actual novel ready, you should inform us.

I remember reading your work. It's a certifiably legendary Tavern story. This last piece was great too... sorta deep

Rad: I was referring to formal stories, like what we used to have before ToU came along ToU is inventive and interactive but not, as far as I'm concerned, an actual "story".

DD: Be nice.

I was joking!

*sigh*

*bemoans loss of sense of humour in young folk these days*

There's nothing wrong with joking around, but when you un-constructively criticize something someone has put so much of their effort into (i.e. a work of literature) then that crosses a line.

I really don't think anybody's feelings were hurt that bad.

There's nothing wrong with joking around, but when you un-constructively criticize something someone has put so much of their effort into (i.e. a work of literature) then that crosses a line.

Well I really didn't think two rather punnish words were unconstructive criticisim.

Punish the punnish punner!

I'm sorry DD, I guess I got carried away with what you said because of the error of mine you pointed out about stars. I'm still getting used to the way the JCF has changed, so I apologize. Anyway, back to the matter at hand, I've finished the first part of another short story, and will post it shortly in a new topic.