Dawn crept over the war-scarred land, painting the remains of Kieros' domain in soft gold. Smoke still rose from distant ruins, and the ground remained cracked in places—but for the first time in what felt like lifetimes, the sky was clear.
Campfires had died to embers. The sounds of celebration faded into slow, grateful silence.
Jalen stood at the edge of the broken ridge, looking out toward the horizon. Behind him, the others stirred—some groaning from hangovers, others just rising from hard-earned rest. He took a breath. Clean air. No ash. No blood.
Just morning.
Behind him, Lucio's voice rasped from somewhere under a blanket.
"Anyone else feel like they got tackled by a mountain?"
Nathan walked past, tossing him a waterskin. "You got hit by a mountain. Pretty sure that was Kieros' elbow."
Lucio winced, sitting up. "Right… that explains the stabbing pain in my everything."
Kullen joined them, fully dressed and already making lists in his journal. "We'll break down camp by midmorning. Split the march into sections. Injured in the center. Rhea and Kuromi will lead the rearguard."
Jalen turned. "How many can travel?"
Kullen looked up. "Almost all. A few'll need stretchers. But we're headed home."
Jalen didn't say anything—just nodded.
From the ridge below, Vexa approached, leading a few of the former prisoners now armed and armored.
"We've cleared the last storage bunker," she said. "Supplies are thin but stable. Should hold us until we reach Everlock."
Her gaze lingered on Jalen.
"You're sure you want to leave?"
Jalen offered a faint smile. "I'm not meant to rule this place."
"Maybe not," Vexa said. "But you changed it. That matters."
"I didn't change it alone," he said, glancing past her to the others.
She gave a slow nod, then turned, walking back to the camp to help organize.
Jalen watched her go.
Then muttered to himself, "Yeah… we're definitely doomed."
From behind, Rhea smirked. "You talking to yourself again?"
Jalen jumped slightly. "I wasn't—"
She raised a brow.
"…Okay, I was."
She grinned, then threw an arm around his shoulder. "Come on. One last walk through the wreckage before we get moving?"
"Lead the way."
Together, they strolled through what remained of the coliseum grounds, now overrun with laughter and makeshift flags. Survivors helped each other pack. Soldiers shared food with children. Kuromi barked orders while Ember chased a squirrel.
Hope had taken root.
And by midday, the march back to Everlock would begin.
Jalen had just returned to the main camp, wiping sweat from his brow after helping clear debris from the old southern wall. Most of the others were prepping for the march—rolling up tents, dividing food, checking over the wounded.
Kullen, however, stood at the center of a small circle of Everlock soldiers, already speaking with quiet intensity.
Jalen slowed as he approached, something in the air shifting. Rhea followed beside him, curious.
"…you'll need to post watchtowers along the southern edge," Kullen was saying, gesturing to a crude map scratched into the dirt. "And get builders on the north pass before the month ends. This territory is unstable, but it won't stay lawless for long."
One of the soldiers—battered, but still sharp—frowned. "We really planning to claim it, sir?"
Kullen didn't hesitate. "We're not claiming it. We're protecting it."
"And under whose banner?"
Kullen looked up, calm and certain.
"Under the protection of the God of Freedom," he said. "Jalen."
The soldiers fell silent.
Jalen stopped in his tracks.
"…Excuse me?" he said.
Kullen turned, as if nothing about that sentence was remotely wild. "You liberated it. You gave them hope. What did you expect me to say?"
"That I was passing through?!" Jalen shouted. "I didn't sign up to be some—some symbol!"
"You already are," Kullen replied. "You just haven't caught up with the rest of us yet."
Jalen looked around—and realized the others had heard.
Lucio blinked mid-sip of water. Nathan raised an eyebrow. Even Kuromi paused in her patrol.
Vexa crossed her arms nearby, unreadable.
"You can't be serious," Jalen muttered.
Kullen just smiled. "I am. And more importantly… so are they."
All around them, people had begun to gather—those they had freed, those they had saved. And for better or worse, they already believed.
Jalen ran a hand down his face. "You guys are never gonna let me live this down, huh?"
Lucio grinned. "Oh, not a chance."
The road home wound through valleys scarred by fire and hills now quiet for the first time in years.
It was a slow march—not out of weakness, but reflection. Every step away from the coliseum felt like closing a chapter that had been bleeding for far too long. Soldiers laughed. Refugees carried baskets instead of swords. The wounded leaned on friends, not rage.
Jalen walked near the front, coat slung over one shoulder, boots scuffing the dirt. Beside him, Vexa kept pace, arms crossed, expression unreadable.
She hadn't spoken in miles.
Jalen scratched the back of his head. "You okay?"
"I'm fine," she said.
"You've been quiet."
"I'm always quiet."
"…Right."
He kicked a rock down the road, trying to read her face. "You sure you're okay walking all the way to Everlock with us? It's gonna be kind of a hike."
Vexa didn't answer right away.
Then: "You're really not that bright, are you?"
Jalen blinked. "Huh?"
She looked at him, expression deadpan. "You honestly think I volunteered to follow an army because I like travel?"
"I mean… You do have nice boots."
She stopped walking.
Jalen stopped, too. "Did I say something wrong?"
Vexa sighed, rubbed her temples, and kept walking. "You're lucky you're charming when you're dumb."
Jalen furrowed his brow, still absolutely lost. "So… are you mad?"
"No, Jalen. I'm suffering. There's a difference."
Rhea, walking a few paces behind, caught the whole thing and smirked to herself.
When Jalen moved ahead to speak with Nathan, Rhea slipped up beside Vexa.
"Trying to confess?" she asked, voice sweet and smug.
Vexa raised an eyebrow. "Confess what?"
Rhea tilted her head. "You know… That you like him."
Vexa scoffed. "I've survived four gods, three civil wars, and five bounty hunters. A man with pretty eyes and no clue what flirting is won't be the end of me."
"You sure?" Rhea grinned. "Because you're walking like it already happened."
Vexa didn't respond.
Rhea looped her arm with hers anyway. "He grows on you. Like a fungus. Or a really charming weed."
"I noticed."
"You're staying with us, right?"
Vexa nodded.
"Good," Rhea said. "Because I one hundred percent sure that he'll make me stay in the kingdom again. So I'd appreciate if you kept an eye for me."
She looked ahead at Jalen, laughing with Nathan, smiling without weight for the first time in weeks.
"I mean just look at him." Rhea said with a laugh.
Vexa watched him too.
And for once… said nothing.
The sun hung low on the horizon as the winding road gave way to towering gates of stone and steel.
Everlock.
As the group crested the final hill, the horns sounded.
One at first. Then two. Then dozens—echoing across the cliffs and into the city streets.
The people had been waiting.
And now, they surged.
Crowds poured into the lower district to meet them—shopkeepers, soldiers, children perched on rooftops. They lined the cobbled roads with flowers, food, and cheers. Cheers for Rhea. Cheers for Kuromi. Cheers for Jalen, for Nathan, for Lucio.
And most loudly… for Kullen.
The King of Everlock returned.
He didn't wear a crown. He didn't need to.
His presence alone brought the people to tears. His soldiers bowed only once, then stood with him as equals. And when he raised a hand, the crowd fell quiet.
"You kept it safe," he said simply, his voice carrying. "All of you. You didn't just hold the walls. You built them. You carried Everlock through a storm… and into something new."
His words were few.
But they were enough.
As they passed through the gate, guards saluted not with silence, but with raised blades crossed in honor—a gesture they had created for Everlock. The city glowed with life, from the garden terraces of the middistrict to the clean-flowing aqueducts up near the inner courts. Rhea and Kuromi had transformed what was once crumbling nobility into a thriving, defensible bastion of magic, community, and autonomy.
Kids ran ahead of the group tossing glowing stones that sparked in harmless bursts. Bakers handed out free bread and spiced treats. Street performers tossed enchanted ribbons high into the air, their colors shifting with the beat of Everlock's pulse.
Jalen walked through it all quietly.
Humbled.
Nathan watched the city with a subtle smile, already scanning for temporal faults and weaknesses. Lucio basked in the crowd, eating up the praise like it was air. Rhea and Kuromi returned to the steps of the palace like they'd never left.
But it was Kullen who paused longest at the gate.
He placed a hand on the stone.
Felt the warmth in it.
And whispered, "We're home."