As The Rise of Endymion ends, the still-mysterious Shrike stands vigil over Martin Silenus’s grave on Old Earth; thanks to Aenea’s sacrifice, humanity has been freed to “learn the language of the dead” by tapping into the empathic fabric underlying the universe—and also by now being able to freecast, that is, personally teleport anywhere; and Raul and Aenea fly off on their ancient hawking mat to celebrate their honeymoon on the empty, virginal Old Earth—”… our new playground, our ancient world… our new world… our first and future and finest world.”

—Dan Simmons