The Last Rites

, mainly known as  of An Old Master is one of the last passages in the book, Strength by Fire, written by the legendary Old Deian Master and prophetic figure, Joseph Everest VI. It is about his last expedition to help his ancestor finally pass on by reuniting him with his old weapon, the Staff of Eden.

Rumination I
"Long did I wonder: Would I ever have the chance to seek the resting place of Eden, to reunite him with the weapon he spent years forging, with his own sweat, blood, and tears? Though I have been retired for... over half a centu a very long time, the weapon is still in my possesion, and I hear its soft cries, it yearns to be with its master. As the days pass, I can feel the cold hand of death chilling my skin and stripping the strength from my bones more and more. I know that even were I to make the journey, t'would be my very last, my frail and old body couldn't handle the rigors of travel more than once. I awaited a sign, a sign telling me to make one last journey, and then... there she was, the bearer of the Cross of Aether, the wielder of the Light, and guardian of the Republic- or for the illiterate, my sign.

''The day the Tyrannos girl showed up on my door, I knew she was destined to accompany me on one last expedition, and to finally follow in the footsteps of that dear old Smur blue dwarf, Master Yuna, to instruct a Neophyte the way he did for me when my master couldn't teach me. Yes, he could have taught me if he had the ability, and he did teach me many things, but Yuna did what he couldn't in his ill state. I felt sympathetic towards her for that, even though her master abandonned her whereas mine was ill, I still felt I could relate to her.''"