10. Epilogue

Meogg knew exactly what everyone’s footsteps sounded like. Claes scoured over the ground. Holog made distant light jumps. The foxes scurried, almost as if they walked to the beat of a song.

But this sound? A mix of graceful walking and hard stomping, on two legs instead of four? She didn’t recognize it.

Meogg opened her eyes. When the Sand King smiled at her broadly, she knew she had slept. And it felt good, as if she could go at it again for the next hundred years. Her body still hurt, but she could use it again and the skin had grown back. She instinctively snapped at a large insect flying by and enjoyed her first bite in a long time.

A gigantic ape next to Claes startled her.

“We heard you helped protect the island.”

“Yes. I think. Is the island protected?” Meogg found it far too confusing that she had now missed a whole part of the day. Maybe even longer! What if I even missed a whole night! Who knows what happened!?

The ape laughed heartily.

“Certainly. Olombos has been sent back home. Most of the boars were heavily wounded, but survived thanks to the sleeping mist. We’ll take them to Apra Realm shortly. Most importantly: the Egg Cave is still completely intact.”

“Oh, but—” She looked at Claes.

He nodded. “The boars and foxes saw it too. There’s no more point in keeping it secret.”

“Instead …” said the ape. He took a bracelet from his forearm and placed it around Meogg’s neck. “You are the official guardians of Porto Volo.”

“Oh, well, what an honor.” Meogg retracted her body until she sat upright in the familiar frog position. “What does it mean?”

The ape looked more serious. “We had some trouble enforcing the Law of First Landing.”

“But we were first. Claes can confirm it!”

“Yes, you came first a few days ago. But the real first inhabitants were of course the birds. By law, the island belongs to them. But they haven’t been here for thousands of years and they were the first almost everywhere. Maybe the law needs adjusting.”

A few doves landed around Meogg. The ape stroked their heads tenderly, as if they were his own children. “I see no reason why foxes, bullfrogs and birds can’t live together on Porto Volo.”

The foxes too? she thought. It mustn’t get any crazier.

The ape stood up.

“Make sure no more pieces of Cosmo’s Soul are stolen. He was god of the sky and space. As you saw, his soul apparently amplifies any power until it forms a magical mist that can hover over an entire island. Work together to keep the Egg Cave intact. Until the moment we figure out how to make the eggs hatch again.”

After the Apra left, Meogg took a break and found her family again. Her brother still slept under some ferns. Her parents stood by the Egg Cave, trying to guess what was inside each egg, although they strongly felt one was missing.

She couldn’t find the injured Parog anywhere.

I need to discuss some things with you, said the voice in Claes’ head.

“And I thought you were gone for good.”

You don’t want me to leave. Claes stayed quiet. Anyway, yesterday almost no animal in the world slept decently. That can’t happen.

“I was a little busy saving the world, okay? My sand puppets can do a lot on their own, but I couldn’t control them for multiple days. I’ve been working for you since … since … literally the start of this world!”

Claes changed into a porcupine. “You can give me a little more trust. I know how sleep works.”

The voice sighed. Fine, fine, I’ll give you more freedom. Swing by again sometime, makes it easier to talk.

“You never told me where you live now.”

The voice paused a long time. You know what, I’ll come to you.

A fox ran up to him and ended this conversation in his head. “Sorry again!”

“What for? Your loyalty to the goddess Feria saved us.”

“That we attacked you on the ship. We didn’t know you … existed.”

“And I’d like to keep it that way. As soon as I leave this island, I’ll go back to my many invisible forms and put animals to sleep unseen.”

The fox grinned. “I’ll be watching every night now though. You won’t fool me again!”

Before she finished the sentence, a grain already landed on her eye to make her sleep. He had nothing against foxes, but he was a busy creature, and there was one last thing he had to do.

A flock of finches flew right over his head. Flying creatures. On this island.

That’s what happened, he thought. There’s a power on this island that forbids flying. But my sleeping mist made everything sleep, even this power. Let’s hope it takes a long time before it reawakens.

He found Parog sleeping in the grass, in front of the blue cave with Cosmo’s Soul. He was surrounded by gorgeous nature, which had regrown immediately.

Most of all, he was surrounded by his family. For his damaged body had not magically regrown.

When Meogg could finally let him go, Claes changed into a winged horse and gently laid Parog onto his back.

The Sand King nodded at the family. “Parog, Meogg’s dear grandpapa, I will tell you a story. And it is so indescribably beautiful. It is a story from a time long, long ago. When I was still called Vaec, an ancient dovish word for sleep.”

He walked to the cliff’s edge and took off. With sleeping Parog on his back, he sought the setting sun in the sky, his voice growing softer.

“The world was still fresh. All plants were in bloom, more than enough space for all animals, and rays of sunlight so warm and good you wanted to catch them in your paw. So you’d never lose them. So you could gift them to everyone you loved. And in that time lived a some very special beings, who acted with grace and kindness, and about them I will now tell …”

And so it was that life continued …