Aster raised an eyebrow. The doctor’s words… the information he was delivering appeared to be a mix of positive and negative ideas, though his whole body seemed to suggest some level of optimistic concern. Whatever, it wasn’t truly an issue, Aster supposed. The spry man did another stretch as he approached the door to the next room, trapped in his own little bubble as he spun together new tales in his head.

 Part of him wondered what there would be to act about if there were no more political issues to speak of, but he also knew there was always another story. Perhaps that of the performer who refused to let even Death knock him from his stage. His neck cracked as he tilted his head and pulled through to the next space. His feet found a pair of sandals that were perhaps a size too large, but he didn’t mind all that much as eyes wandered through the monastery. The whole place seemed to resonate with an air of mystery and the whirring machines were like harp strings to his alive-again ears. He began to hum a cheerful tune under his breath as he wandered down the wide-arch hallways. While it was true that the place didn’t seem to invest much in upkeep, it almost added a new level of character. It felt like he was wandering through an ancient civilization – forced to abandon everything at the last moment…

 Odd. With that one thought came a realm of melancholy deep within himself that he swore he buried long before his death. When he wandered into the great hall and noticed the heavy, foreboding metal beasts that grappled the place, it created a level of dissonance from the great Golden lion statue that rattled his brain. 

 [color=green]”What have I missed?”[/color] he asked the room, eyes glued to the golden statue that made his skin feel like rough paper against himself, [color=green] “Does the cycle continue? Have we discarded one tragedy only to be greeted with another? For once could Life not imitate the art that we create?”[/color]

 The door stood as sentry. The last shield, and probably the last dream that needed to be shattered before he faced reality once more, but with one final step Aster greeted this future with confusion he’d never felt before.

 Then he wandered back into that great hall, and his knees crumpled beneath him.

 [color=green] “It’s… gone. The grand stage, the audience, all of it… Have I truly been dead only a few years? Or has it been centuries…?” [/color]