The golden light still shimmered in the air, fading slowly like the last embers of a dying fire, casting a soft glow over the reborn city. The world was whole again—streets bustling with life, skies clear of the Rift's shadow, the scars of war erased as if they'd never existed. And yet, as the dust settled on this new beginning, a weight hung heavy in the air—the weight of an unfinished story, a chapter closing with no promise of another page.
Kael turned, his silver eyes narrowing as he watched Ethan stare at the horizon. The golden aura flickered around him, a radiant halo that dimmed and flared like the last glow of a star before it slipped beyond the sky's reach. There was something different in Ethan's stance—a stillness, a quiet resignation beneath the unshakable confidence that had carried them through chaos. Kael knew that look, had seen it in the eyes of soldiers before their final march, in the faces of friends who'd whispered goodbyes under blood-red dawns.
