The storm faded slowly, its echoes carved into stone and blood. Kael stood in the hollowed ruin of the square, his chest heaving, Ashrend's crimson light still pulsing faintly along the edge of the blade. The taste of iron lingered on his tongue.
Lyra was the first to reach him, her armor splattered with soot and blood. She caught his shoulder, steadying him even though her own knees threatened to buckle.
"Kael… you're bleeding."
He glanced at her, half-smiling despite the crimson streak down his cheek.
"I'll live. We all will. That's what matters."
Darric stumbled closer, sword still smoking from the clashes he'd fought off. He shook his head, muttering.
"Matters? We barely survived that. If that was just one of their commanders… gods help us when the rest come."
Kael looked down at Ashrend. The blade's stormlight flickered like a dying flame before steadying again, as though it breathed with him. He tightened his grip, forcing strength into his trembling hand.
"They'll come. Stronger, faster, more determined. But we'll meet them. I'll meet them."
Isryn, silent until now, stepped out of the shadows of the ruined archway. Her voice was cool, steady, but carried an edge that cut deeper than any blade.
"You don't understand yet. That wasn't victory—it was a message. They wanted to test you. And they'll return when you've grown enough to be worth breaking."
Her words hung like smoke.
Lyra's eyes flickered between them, unease settling in her chest. But Kael only lifted Ashrend once more, resting the blade across his shoulder. His eyes glowed faintly, stormlight deep within the crimson.
"Then let them come."
The companions gathered themselves—wounded but unbroken, shadows of exhaustion painting their faces. Together, they stepped away from the ruined square, leaving behind the shattered remnants of the Black Host and the commander's fading fire.
None of them said it aloud, but each of them knew: this battle had only pulled them deeper into a war none fully understood.
And Kael carried the weight of that war like a crown made of fire and blood.