Chapter 26: A New Era Begins
The Shattered Throne stood empty.
For the first time in centuries, the Rift’s influence was gone.
The air, once thick with the weight of darkness and corruption, now felt… still. Quiet. As if the world itself was finally able to breathe. The sky, which had been split apart by Rift energy, had settled—the moons shining together in harmony, their light no longer tainted by the presence of the void.
And at the center of it all, Kael stood victorious.
His body ached. His lungs burned. But he had won.
Varyn was gone.
The Riftspawn had vanished the moment the final blow was struck. The throne, which once pulsed with unholy power, now sat as nothing more than a relic of a time long past.
Kael exhaled, staring at the battlefield. It was over.
A hand grabbed his. Warm. Familiar.
He turned to see Lirien, her green eyes shining with relief. She was still breathing heavily from the fight, her armor scorched and torn, but none of it mattered.
"You did it," she whispered, squeezing his fingers.
Kael squeezed back. "We did it." Sylas sat on a broken pillar, rubbing his temple. "So, just to be clear, Kael… you went from a guy who swings a hammer to some kind of divine moon warrior, blasted a dude through the stomach with light, and reset reality as we know it." He let out a deep breath. "Hell of a character arc, my friend."
Mira, sitting beside him, laughed as she wiped blood from her daggers. "I don’t care what happened, as long as that smug bastard is actually dead."
Kael let his gaze drift toward the shattered remains of the battlefield. Varyn was gone. Not just dead—erased. The Rift had swallowed him completely.
He would not be coming back.
Rhea crossed her arms, surveying the ruined land around them. "So… what now?" Kael thought about that for a long time.
For so long, he had been fighting toward this moment—toward stopping the Rift, toward stopping Varyn. But now that it was done… what came next? "Now," Kael said finally, "we go home." The road away from the Shattered Throne felt different.
Not because of the landscape—the Rift scars still marked the ground, and the ruins were still ruins—but because for the first time in a long time, there was hope.
They had won.
Kael rode beside Lirien, their hands brushing more often than not. Neither pulled away. Mira and Sylas were in their usual banter, arguing over who had the higher kill count in the final battle. Rhea, who had been with them for only part of the journey, now felt like she had always belonged. And Kael?
He felt lighter. As if the weight of his past, his failures, his doubts had finally lifted. But there was still one thing left.
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One thing he needed to see. hey returned to Kael’s home city a week later.
The sun was rising as they rode through the gates, the streets still quiet in the early morning. But Kael barely saw any of it. His mind was on one place, one person.
His father.
The man who had been asleep for so long, lost in a coma since the Rift’s corruption had nearly taken him.
Would he still be there? Would he be the same? Would he even wake up?
Kael’s heart pounded as they entered the healers’ quarters, Lirien at his side. The scent of herbs and incense filled the air, but Kael barely noticed.
Then, at the far end of the hall—he saw him.
Lying still.
Breathing softly.
Kael swallowed hard, stepping forward. His father looked… peaceful. More at ease than he had been in years.
"Kael," Lirien whispered, touching his arm.
Then—his father stirred.
Kael’s breath caught.
His father’s eyes fluttered open.
For a long moment, there was nothing. Just silence.
Then, his father blinked, focusing on Kael.
And he whispered, "You did it."
Kael’s chest tightened painfully. "You—you know?"
His father smiled, weak but genuine. "I felt it. The Rift’s hold is gone. The moons… guided you, didn’t they?"
Kael exhaled, overwhelmed. He knelt beside the bed, gripping his father’s hand. For the first time in years, he felt like a son again.
His father squeezed back.
"You’ve made me proud."
Kael let out a soft, shaky laugh. "I thought I lost you."
His father shook his head slowly. "No. You found me."
Lirien smiled, her own eyes shimmering with unshed tears. Mira, Sylas, and Rhea stood near the door, watching but not interrupting.
This moment was Kael’s.
And it was real. The world was different now.
The Rift was gone. Varyn was defeated. The future was unwritten.
Kael stood on the edge of the city walls, staring out at the horizon. For the first time in his life, he wasn’t chasing a goal. He wasn’t running toward or away from something.
He was free.
Lirien walked up beside him, brushing her shoulder against his. "So," she murmured, "what happens now?"
Kael thought about that.
Did he go back to being a mercenary? Did he travel, did he search for a new purpose? Did he stay? He looked at her. And he knew.
"I think," he said slowly, "I want to live." Lirien raised an eyebrow. "That’s vague."
Kael chuckled. "I want to be here. With all of you. With you."
Lirien smiled, tilting her head. "That’s a good answer."
Kael turned to her, brushing a strand of hair from her face. "I meant it, Liri. I want to be with you."
She smirked. "I know that, idiot. You think I kissed you back from the dead for nothing?"
Kael laughed. A real, genuine, free laugh. Then, he kissed her.
And for the first time—it wasn’t because of battle, or desperation, or the fear of loss.
It was because he was alive. And the future was theirs.
The world moved on.
The scars of the Rift would heal. People would rebuild. Legends would be told of the battle at the Shattered Throne.
But Kael and his friends?
They would live.
They would fight new battles, make new memories, and carve their own stories into the stars. The past was behind them.
The future was unwritten. And for Kael, that was more than enough.
The End.
I dedicate this story to my daughter, creating a new story to tell.-Lee.
