A Whateley Academy Short Story

At the End of All Things

by Rosalie Ellen Redd

In memory of all those we have lost.

She walked through the wilted garden, looking up at the bloated red sun. Sitting down, the woman brushed a few strands of white hair behind her pointed ear. Brushing her hand over the stone, she read the names. Names of friends that passed ages ago. The grass was withered and the trees dead. As dead as this world. The power of the world trees held back the forces of the supernova, but they too were dying.

Sitting down, she looked upon the crumbled remains of what had once been like a home to her. Poe Cottage. Grass had broken through the pavement and her memories drifted to her friends from Team Kimba. Her former loves, her blood sister Sara.

The Queen of the Burning Oak walked to the remnants of the grove, withered dead trees long since petrified formed a forest of tombstones, marking the final resting place of the planet Earth.

Mankind had long since spread out through the stars, prosperous and fruitful. Resting under the eldest of the World Trees, having lived millennia, she who had long, long ago had been born as Nicholas Reilly Jr. passed beyond the mortal coil. As she breathed her last breath, the ancient tree failed and the power that had been held back consumed the planet.

- For Maggie