Shard sighed, as if this was elementary.

“No more talking. Max, in the end, the discussion we need to have about the existence of God, will be over. By then we’ll be simply waiting for God to appear… or not appear. In the end we will no longer be talking about it, or arguing about it, of fighting about it… we’ll be quietly waiting for God to appear, or not.”

“Fair enough,” Max said. “And the other words?”

He wanted to walk away from this perfectly clear.

“It’s the same vision! On the Last Day there will no longer be any reason to cry.”

“And the destruction?”

“That was more than we hoped for. Those final words hold the key to the Regeneration,” Shard said, smiling proudly at Max. “The beauty of this vision is that it guarantees that in the end there will be no destruction.”

“Guarantees?”

“Call it a promise – it doesn’t matter how you categorize it.”

“But… will people believe it?” Max asked anxiously.

“What people believe won’t change the nature of things. If it’s going to happen, it will happen.”

“You see it all as… so simple,” Max said, still confused.

“There’s nothing complex about this. Like millions of sadhus before you, you took a sip from what is, and always has been, an ongoing stream of consciousness. Your experience has merely provided us with another glimpse of the future as it will be on the Last Day.”

“Will be?”

Shard smiled.

“Let me assure future generations, one day it will happen. Eventually we’ll be moved to call for God. The human race is too intelligent not to do it, at least as a last resort. It’s merely a matter of time.”