These words had traveled back in time with Damon, carried from the final moments of Valarie Sunwarden before her death.
He was never certain if she had been the original source of them, or if she herself had heard them from someone else, from somewhere long forgotten.
What mattered was that they endured.
And now, spoken again, they had changed something within these children.
Damon was giving advice he refused to use himself.
It was almost laughable, like that one friend who had never dated yet always had the best relationship advice.
Don't cling to the dead.
Don't let despair end you.
Interesting words, coming from someone doing the exact opposite.
Creating meaning forward.
He had lost that.
All while fully intending to die.
Damon knew the right answer. He simply did not believe it applied to him.
Lazarak watched quietly, a soft smile resting on his small face. He understood his role in moments like this.
Gods did not create legacies.
They observed them forming.
