It was not a storm — it was a lament.
Ren and Kael stood motionless before the body.
Eron still held the broken sword, driven into the ground like a final oath.The dried blood mixed with the earth, forming dark marks the wind could not erase.
Ren felt his chest hollow.
There were no screams.There were no tears.
Only a weight crushing him from within.
Kael clenched his fists.
“He died… because of us.”
Ren wanted to deny it.But the silence would not allow him.
Then the air changed.
A strange cold swept across the field.It did not come from the wind.
It came from something far greater.
The sky rippled in invisible waves.
Three figures appeared first, wrapped in symbols of ?nima carved into skin and garments.Their eyes glowed with the mark of the Sealers.
Then, behind them, the world seemed to fall silent.
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Space bent.
A man appeared.
Long golden hair, loose like living light.Golden eyes, deep, as if they could see reality’s own flaw.
His presence made the air vibrate.
Kael fell to his knees without knowing why.
Ren felt the Abyss sword tremble on his back.
One of the Sealers murmured in reverence:
“Aurelion, the Forbidden.The Forbidden.”
He looked at Eron’s body.
And, for the first time, his expression faltered.
“So… I arrived too late.”
No anger.No hatred.
Only a silent pain, heavy as the world.
Aurelion knelt beside the body.
He placed a hand over Eron’s chest.
The ?nima reacted — not to heal… but to honor.
Runes of soft light rose around them.
“He did not run.”“He did not fall.”“And he did not beg.”
The wind rose around them.
“He fulfilled his duty.”
The Sealers lowered their heads.
Kael finally managed to speak, his voice trembling:
“He… told us to run.”
Aurelion lifted his gaze to the two of them.
And for a moment, Ren felt he was being seen beyond his body.
“You are not guilty,” he said.“But now… you are no longer innocent.”
A grave was raised atop the hill, facing Halverin.
Eron’s sword was planted as a headstone.
The Sealers left their marks upon the earth.
Aurelion remained last.
Before leaving, he turned to Ren.
“The world will try to break you.”“When it does… remember this man.”
Then he vanished, as if he had never existed.
But the echo remained.
That night, Ren understood:
The path he would walk from now on…was built from sacrifice.
And he could no longer turn back.
Some deaths end a story.Others begin one.
Eron’s sacrifice will echo through every choice Ren makes.Thank you for walking this path with them.