The End Is The Beginning - Warpstar Draft

Clef awoke to a limitless sky and stars that were so bright it looked like a painting from a museum.

“This is what the sky looked like before mankind .” A voice came into his mind and Clef jumped. He was laying on the sandy shore of a lake. He remembered it all. Final goodbyes. Kondraki holding his hand.

“Am I’m dead?” He spoke to the lapping waves on the shore, to the sky.

“No. This is a place for you to know peace. This is where you will grow into a person free of your past and embrace the future.” Clef felt the tension leave his body as the voice echoed in his mind.

“Mekhane. I remember you.” Clef ran his hand through his hair, it was once again soft and long, hanging down off his shoulders. He checked his hands, then the rest of him. He looked to be in his late 20s, and was blemish free, he had to admit, he felt really, really good.

“You were old and your mind degraded before the download. Free of your imperfect machinery, it will now rebuild itself.” Clef smirked at the god's awkward attempt to describe his body.

“Alto!” Clef spun in place as his husband ran across the sands. The world felt right again as the smell of Kondraki surrounded him. Cigarettes and cheap whiskey. For the first time in what felt like years they kissed.

“How?” Clef asked, looking into his husband's eyes. Everything was right about him. All of it perfect.

“Don’t worry my body's sitting safely at home.” Kondraki stepped back, holding Clef at arm's length. “You look amazing….” Clef looked away, remembering his final moments.

“I’m sorry I made you do this.” Kondraki pulled him into a tight hug.

“I knew you’d be stubborn as fuck. You had the right to turn into a bitter old man.”

“I was not a bitter old man!” Clef snapped, shoving Kondraki back. The man laughed and shoved him.

“You thought the nurse was your daughter and you nearly shot a doctor.”

Clef's eyes watered at the mention of his daughter. “I want to see her…” Kondraki pulled him close again.

“I told her about you, I talked to her for hours. She’s wants to meet you. She doesn’t hate you.” Clef nodded into Kondraki's shoulder. Clef knew things were about to get chaotic. His now dead body held too many secrets to name.

Kondraki released him from the embrace. “Let's get you inside. We can talk and have dinner.”

“Wait- dinner?” He asked looking confused and Kondraki laughed in that deep-chested way he missed.

“Yes, we can eat and drink here. Really anything we could in life.” He blushed, scratching his beard like he did when he was embarrassed. Clef just smiled.

“Ok so let's see if your cooking can kill me here too.” The two walked back up the shore to a lake house perched on a hill, lit warmly from the inside as the primordial night sky continued to glitter above them in a beautiful panorama of the cosmos.