The Abandoned Luna's Return
Hope said, standing at the edge of the platform, "the 'Re-Birth' begins. The shroud will start to break. In a hundred years, the sun will touch the ground again. In a thousand, the oceans will be blue."
"And what happens to you?" I asked.
"I'm just a 'User Interface,'" Hope said, her form beginning to dissolve into green sparks. "Once the 'Subject 01' is seated, I'm no longer needed. I'll go back into the 'Dream-Stream.'"
She reached out and touched my cheek. Her hand felt like a warm breeze. "Thank you for being such a good story, Elara."
She vanished.
I stood alone in the center of the world. The silence was gone, replaced by the roar of the Genesis engines, waiting for my command.