The road to Kieran ran straight.

Not because it was easy—but because Kael stopped avoiding it.

They didn't speak much as they traveled. The land here was quiet in the way a held breath was quiet, hills rolling gently beneath a sky bruised with slow-moving clouds. Kael felt the pull in his chest grow steadier with every step, not sharper—clarer. Like a compass needle finally settling.

Jorah broke the silence first, because of course he did. "So. Hypothetical question."

Eira glanced at him. "If this is about stabbing, the answer is no."

"It's not," Jorah said. "Okay, it is, but not like that. I just—are you sure you don't want backup?"

Kael shook his head. "I need to do this alone."

Jorah grimaced. "I hate when you say that."

Eira slowed, walking beside Kael now. "We'll be close," she said quietly. "If you need us."

Kael met her eyes. There was worry there—real, sharp, unhidden. Also trust. That mattered more.

"I know," he said. "But this one… this isn't about winning."

She searched his face, then nodded. "Then come back to us when you're done."

He promised with a look, not words.

They stopped at the edge of a ravine where an old watchtower leaned into the wind, half-ruined but stubbornly standing. Smoke curled from its top—thin, deliberate.

"He's there," Kael said.

Jorah muttered, "Of course he picked the dramatic option."

Kael stepped forward.

The pull in his chest eased.

—

Kieran was sharpening his blade when Kael entered the tower.

Steel whispered against stone. Slow. Careful. Ritualistic.

He didn't look up. "You're early."

Kael closed the door behind him. "I'm right on time."

The sharpening stopped.

Kieran straightened and turned.

He looked… ordinary. Older than Kael remembered, hair touched with gray, shoulders looser. No crown. No insignia. Just a man in travel-worn clothes, a sword that had seen too much.

For a heartbeat, neither spoke.

Then Kieran exhaled and gave a humorless smile. "You're supposed to be dead."

"I was," Kael said.

Kieran nodded as if that settled something. "Good. Then I'm not crazy."

"You killed me," Kael continued.

"I know."

Not denial. Not justification.

Just truth.

Kieran set the blade down between them and stepped back. "If you're here for vengeance, do it. I won't run."

Kael looked at the sword on the floor.

He remembered it.

Not its shape—but its weight, the way it had entered between his ribs, the way the world had narrowed to heat and shock and disbelief.

"You didn't hesitate," Kael said.

Kieran winced. "I did. Just not long enough."

Kael stepped closer. "Why?"

Kieran laughed softly, bitter. "You've already asked that question of better liars."

"I want your answer."

Kieran leaned back against the stone wall, eyes lifting to the narrow slit of sky above. "Because I believed them. Because they told me if you lived, the world would break. Because they showed me visions—cities unraveling, time folding in on itself."

Kael's voice was calm. "And when it happened anyway?"

Kieran closed his eyes. "Then I knew I'd killed you for nothing."

Silence settled between them, thick but not hostile.

Kael studied the man who had ended his first life.

He expected rage.

What he felt instead was… distance.

"You were my friend," Kael said. Not accusing. Just stating fact.

Kieran nodded once. "That's the part that hurts."

"You could've warned me."

"Yes."

"You could've refused."

"Yes."

"You could've stood with me."

"Yes."

Each word landed like a stone.

Kieran's shoulders sagged. "I didn't."

Kael stopped an arm's length away.

The Chrono Blade stirred at his side, sensing the moment, eager.

Kieran looked down at it. "That thing… it wasn't there when you died."

"No," Kael said. "It was forged from that death."

Kieran swallowed. "Then finish it."

Kael didn't move.

Minutes passed.

Wind whistled through broken stone.

Finally, Kieran laughed again, hollow and raw. "You're not going to do it, are you?"

Kael met his gaze. "No."

Kieran's eyes snapped up. "Why?"

"Because killing you wouldn't give me back what I lost."

Kieran's jaw tightened. "I don't deserve mercy."

Kael shook his head. "This isn't mercy."

He stepped past Kieran, looking out through the tower's broken wall at the ravine beyond. The world was wide. Alive. Unbroken—for now.

"This is me choosing who I become next."

Kieran's voice dropped. "Then what happens to me?"

Kael turned back. "You live with it."

Kieran flinched harder than if he'd been struck.

"You live knowing the world almost ended because you chose fear," Kael continued. "You live knowing I survived anyway. You live knowing that when history tells this story… you're not the villain."

Kieran frowned. "I'm not?"

"You're a warning."

The words sank deep.

Kael moved toward the door.

Behind him, Kieran whispered, "Kael."

He paused.

"I see you now," Kieran said. "Not as a threat. Not as a prophecy. As a man who refused to become a monster even when he had every excuse."

Kael didn't turn. "Don't put me on a pedestal. I'm still choosing."

He stepped out into the light.

—

Eira was the first to see him return.

She straightened immediately, scanning him—no blood, no tremor, but something had shifted. Something quieter.

Jorah squinted. "Well? Are we celebrating or running?"

Kael shook his head. "Neither."

Eira approached slowly. "It's done?"

"Yes."

She studied his face. "And?"

Kael exhaled, the breath shuddering as it finally left him. "I walked away."

Jorah let out a low whistle. "Huh. I did not have that on my internal betting chart."

Eira reached for Kael's hand without hesitation. He didn't pull away.

"Does it hurt?" she asked softly.

Kael thought about it.

The anger was gone.

The ache remained—but lighter. Less sharp. Like a scar that no longer bled.

"It hurts," he said. "But it doesn't own me anymore."

She squeezed his hand, grounding him.

Jorah cleared his throat. "So. That's all of them."

Kael nodded. "Yes."

Far above them, unseen but felt, the fabric of reality tightened—subtle, cautious. The Source adjusted its calculations.

Revenge had not broken Kael.

It had failed.

And that terrified something ancient.

Kael looked out across the land, eyes steady.

"For the first time," he said quietly, "my past is behind me."

Eira followed his gaze.

The road ahead did not look easier.

But it was finally his.

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