30. Thyros
Silence swallowed Earth Prime. Not true silence. The ruined world still groaned beneath the strain of reality healing itself. Fractured continents shifted slowly through the void while dying storms unraveled above us in fading spirals of black and gold.
But the screaming had stopped. The Harrowed One was gone. I stood frozen beside Naeris, my chest heaving. My sword hung uselessly at my side as I stared upward into the endless dark where the vortex had once consumed the sky.
Gone.
After millions of years.
Gone.
The sheer enormity of it refused to fit inside my mind. Around us, Arkhevari warriors slowly lowered their weapons in stunned disbelief. Across the broken ruins of Earth Prime, the battle simply… stopped. As though the universe itself no longer knew how to continue.
Tiny paired lights still drifted upward through the darkness, beautiful and peaceful and impossibly gentle after so much devastation.
Caelor. Ashera. Together at last.
A strange ache tightened painfully behind my ribs. Not grief. Not entirely. Something quieter. The feeling of finally understanding where I came from. The feeling of being loved by someone I had never met.
And by the Dark Abyss, the feeling of no longer being alone inside myself.
Movement jerked at the edge of my vision.
Instantly, every instinct sharpened. The Mmuhr’Rhongs.
All across the battlefield—and I imagined all throughout the entire Dark Abyss—the surviving creatures stirred.
Arkhevari warriors tensed immediately, and weapons rose again.
But the Mmuhr’Rhong didn't attack. I stared in disbelief as one massive creature slowly dragged itself backward across the shattered crystal ruins, molten eyes dim and unfocused.
Another crawled toward the edge of a floating continent, wounded and disoriented like a beast waking from a nightmare.
No hive rage. No endless hunger. No command driving them forward anymore. The Harrowed One had truly been their center. Without him, they looked almost… lost. Some simply fled.
Melting back into the depths of Nox Eternum like wounded predators retreating into darkness. Others collapsed where they stood. Their monstrous bodies began unraveling slowly into drifting black ash and faint golden sparks.
I felt Naeris inhale sharply beside me. Then one of the collapsing Mmuhr’Rhong convulsed violently. Light burst from inside it. An Arkhevari warrior fell forward out of the dissolving darkness onto the shattered platform beneath us.
Alive.
The entire battlefield froze.
The warrior gasped raggedly like someone surfacing after drowning for millions of years.
His armor was broken almost beyond recognition, golden light flickered weakly beneath cracked skin.
He lifted his head slowly. His gaze found Zapharos.
And stars, the unbelievable happened. The expression that crossed the Praetor’s face nearly destroyed me. Recognition.
The warrior’s mouth trembled. “Praetor…”
Zapharos crossed the distance instantly and caught him before he collapsed completely. "Ilythas."
Around us, more bursts of light appeared across Earth Prime.
Not countless. Not armies. But enough. Arkhevari emerged from dissolving shadows in stunned, broken handfuls across the battlefield.
Some fell to their knees sobbing. Others simply stared upward at the stars like they had forgotten such things still existed.
The surviving Arkhevari warriors reacted like beings witnessing miracles. And perhaps they were. A comm signal crackled suddenly through the battlefield. Then another. Then dozens. Confused voices filled the air.
“The shadows are retreating?—”
“We’re losing contact with the Mmuhr’Rhong swarms?—”
“By the stars…”
A shaky laugh broke over the comms.
“They’re gone.”
Emotion hit the Arkhevari around us like a tidal wave.
Millions of years. Millions. And suddenly the endless pressure hanging over the universe was simply…
absent. No whispering darkness. No constant pull toward rage and despair.
For the first time since my birth, I could not feel the Harrowed One.
The flaw beneath my skin went still. Completely still.
The realization hit me so hard my knees almost gave out. Naeris reached for me instantly. I caught her before she could say a word and pulled her hard against me.
Mine.
Stars.
She was still here.
Whole.
Alive.
After all of this, still mine.
I buried my face against her hair and held her with desperate strength as relief crashed through me in brutal waves.
I had spent my entire existence expecting loss.
Expecting darkness to take everything beautiful from me eventually.
But she remained. Warm in my arms. Her heartbeat fluttered wildly against my chest. Her hands gripped me just as tightly.
“I’ve got you,” she whispered shakily.
The words nearly undid me. A rough sound escaped my throat somewhere between a laugh and a broken breath. “You are never allowed to leave me again.”
She pulled back just enough to look up at me, eyes bright with tears and exhausted joy. “That sounds suspiciously like an order.”
“It absolutely is.”
A watery laugh escaped her. Then her expression softened with so much love it physically hurt to look at her.
“Good,” she whispered.
Something inside me healed completely in that moment.
Not because the war was over. Not because the Harrowed One was gone.
But because for the first time since my creation, I finally understood what I was.
Not a monster born from darkness. Not a flawed imitation.
Not a shadow. I was the second chance of a universe that had refused to surrender its light.
And in my arms, holding Ashera’s surviving heart against my own, I finally felt whole.
The journey away from Earth Prime felt strangely quiet.
Not peaceful. The universe itself still seemed to be recovering from what had happened.
Across the comms, scattered Arkhevari voices continued reporting retreating Mmuhr’Rhongs, recovered warriors, and collapsing shadow fronts throughout Nox Eternum.
But beneath all of it lingered a stunned sort of stillness.
As though no one quite knew how to exist without the weight of the Harrowed One pressing against their minds.
Eventually, Zapharos straightened and looked toward the rest of us. “We reconvene at the Hall of Seven tomorrow.”
No one argued. The Hall would decide what came next. How to rebuild. How to guide the surviving Arkhevari. How to explain any of this to the wider galaxy. But not tonight. Tonight, we were simply exhausted souls who had survived the end of the Dark Abyss together.
“We all need a moment,” Ella agreed softly.
Zapharos immediately reached for her hand.
Dravok’s arm slid around Nadine’s waist with quiet possessiveness.
I looked at Naeris. The pull toward her had only intensified since the battle. The bond between us no longer felt like longing or hunger. It felt like gravity. Like something fundamental. Necessary.
“My palace survived,” I offered quietly.
Naeris’ tired eyes lifted towards mine instantly. "You have a palace."
A nod played along the corners of my lips. "I do."
"Is it as grand as Zapharos'?"
"Grander," I assured her, getting lost in her teasing demeanor. By the eternal life, this female would never cease to amaze me.
"Does it have a bath?"
"Several." My grin deepened, wondering what else she might demand.
"A bed?" Her pupils dilated with desire, and my cock swelled in response.
"The softest you'll ever find."
"Hmm," she put her finger on her lips, lightly tapping her teeth, as if she was thinking it over. "What about food?"
"I will feed you," I promised.
"Okay, then, what are we waiting for?"
Just then, Zapharos walked over, clasping my shoulder firmly as he passed. No challenge. No old tension. Only understanding.
“Try not to destroy your palace too,” he advised dryly.
I snorted. "Yours is in shambles."
"Pretty much," he nodded.
I hated the idea of not being able to be alone with Naeris, but I knew I had to offer. "Do you want to stay with us?"
A knowing grin spread across his lips, "I would, just to mess with you, but I don't want to do that to Naeris. I like her." He winked. "Ella and I will use up Dravok's goodwill until I have a new palace."
It wasn't like there weren't many to choose from in Nox Eternum. The Dark Abyss had swallowed many planets, and some remained in better condition than Earth Prime. There were plenty of places to choose from.
Ella laughed softly against Zapharos' side while Dravok rolled his eyes in visible long-suffering. And suddenly something settled warmly inside my chest. Family. Not by blood. Not by duty. Something stronger. Forged through war and loss and impossible hope: Brothers.
All three of us.
Destiny itself had bound our lives together long before any of us understood why. Zapharos must have felt the shift through whatever ancient instinct connected Arkhevari warriors, because his expression softened briefly as he looked between Dravok and me. No words were needed. We knew now.
Nothing would ever break that bond again. Not darkness. Not time. Not even death.
Zapharos paused beside me before leaving with Ella. “Get some rest, whelp.”
I rolled my eyes automatically. “Yes, oh great Praetor of War.”
But there was no sting in it anymore. Only affection.
In pairs we took off, and through the impossible lack of gravitation in Nox Eternum, I propelled Naeris and me to my palace.
Silver light unraveled around us as we stepped onto the upper platform of my palace. Naeris went completely still beside me. I tried not to look too smug about it.
Tried.
And failed spectacularly.