Áine
three months later
Morgyn and I meet up for dinner at a restaurant in San Myshuno. It seems we've both gone for seafood, but they've hardly touched their shrimp dinner.
Morgyn
My reunion with Áine, which I looked forward to, is of course marred by bad news. The two of us head out after our meal and I try to relax underneath a gazebo overlooking a river and the city lights.
"It was of the utmost importance that I performed the spell and took it upon myself to look after your realm for eternity, Áine. You worked hard on that tome for my sake, and I worked hard to learn the spell for your sake. I put it aside and did as you suggested - I stopped thinking about it for less than a week and then this happens!"
"Did you not ask this Helen if she might be interested in the Sage position eventually, Morgyn? If she is now immortal, it could be something she might have been willing to work towards. Does she know she cannot remove it?"
"She does, and I didn't ask because she doesn't deserve the role! It was meant for me! It was my gift to you, and now I can't-"
"Morgyn, it's fine. Please, do not beat yourself up. As I said to you all the way back then, there was no obligation. Not only that, but I ought to remind you that Helen is not the only one who has performed magic that ought to be beyond her capabilities and knowledge. The two of us have, as well."
Perhaps she is right. Perhaps I was too harsh on Helen, but it will take me forever to overcome this. She seemed infuriated that I had her removed, but Simeon and Leonora had taken my side in her expulsion, perhaps knowing the circumstances and knowing why I felt the way I did. Simeon and Leonora have looked after me; if anything, they may be a large chunk of why I enjoy being a Sage. They have my back, always, just as Áine did.
"Áine, do you believe I was too harsh?"
"Too hasty, perhaps. If she flew through the ranks as quickly as you said she did, I believe you could have nurtured her into the perfect successor. You could have even become friends."
"I don't think I could have done it, Áine," I explain to her. "It would have been hanging over my head for the rest of my life that she achieved what I couldn't."
"Is this because you think she is more accomplished than you are? Is it to do with that?"
"Not in the slightest. Her becoming a Master spellcaster quicker than me did not bother me. In fact, it impressed me greatly, and I tried to do as you did - I tried to tell her to go careful. It's more the knowledge that she created the Aevitas spell's pendant, and now she can never remove it and the issue can never be fixed because I do not want you wasting any more of your life force on anyone or anything."
Talking to Áine is making me realise a few things I was too irate to notice before. My emotions begin to unravel into something a little more helpful.
"To tell you the truth, Áine, it wasn't Helen's fault. I lost my temper because it meant I broke my promise to you - and that promise meant the world to me."
She puts her hand on my back.
"There was no promise, Morgyn. You said you were interested, and I gave you an option. I'm not entirely sure what to make of someone I do not know now being immortal because of me, but it does mean that she is now tied to the Realm's existence if something happens to me.
I understand that you are angry and you feel you have let me down, but you haven't, Morgyn. I would like to politely suggest that you apologise to Helen Grisswold and invite her back to the Realm and explain the situation. If you explain why you reacted the way you did, she may understand."
"She is aware that the Realm's integrity is now tied to her, I believe, but she still left. She was furious. I don't blame her. Without her, I'll never know how much longer we have your Magic Realm for after...after...you know. I suppose I can try and see if she'll come back. Maybe we can work together and she can help tutor the other students. There's been a lot of uptick in Untamed casters lately, but she's the only other dedicated one I've had so far."
Áine is correct. If I tell Helen why I was so angry about it all, even if she doesn't forgive me, she'll understand. And if her life is now connected to the Magic Realm, having her on board in the long run could be a good thing.
"I promise I will do as you suggest, Áine- and I mean it this time."
"I hope you know how much I appreciate you, Áine. I don't know where I'd be without you."
"You've been without me for three months and you've been doing fine other than this - and this is likely fixable so long as you try to clear the air with a potential asset and friend. As I have always said, Morgyn- I have faith in you."
AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for reading and I hope you enjoyed Imago, a remake of a story I wrote back in 2021. I had to rush this chapter as it was meant to be a remake of the first chapter of 'Untamed', the story that came after the original 'Imago' story chronologically, which is where the mentioned Helen Grisswold is from. Her tray files were on my external hard-drive and not in my current installation folder, and given I had to go to bed soon and had work tomorrow and just wanted to finish Imago, I decided to just shorten the epilogue to this instead.
What happened in Untamed, just as some extra info for you, was that it was a story based around the Arcane Academy Challenge. Part of the set plot of this challenge involves a necklace forged through forbidden magic that you can't take off that boosts all your needs to max (the Aevitas pendant is based on this, but without the needs thing since I was playing on XBox when I wrote Untamed and didn't realise cheat achievement disabling was only per save and not across all saves) and a disagreement with the Sages (Helen getting kicked out of the Magic Realm by Morgyn). Eventually, Helen and Morgyn made up once Áine met Helen and explained a few things and once she spoke with Morgyn. Eventually, Helen and Morgyn ended up a lifelong couple and Helen ended up the next Untamed Sage of the Magic Realm a few years after running her own magic school.
If you want to see what was changed, added and scrapped between original and remake, read this.
Credit goes to ryttu3k-sims on Tumblr for the old 2019 Sims forum posts I can finally show you now that the story is finished. Morgyn having some of Áine's life force within them played more of a part in the original Imago story, but was scrapped due to irrelevance in the remake.