CHAPTER TWENTY- SIX:The Life Without Us

Narration – Omniscient POV

The Rift shimmered.

Then — silence.

And with a breath that didn't belong to any one soul, the world shifted.

In the quiet dawn after the final seal was cast, the skies calmed. The winds softened. Somewhere far from the old ruins, a girl awoke in her bed, free of the nightmares she had never been able to name. A boy at the edge of the sea painted again, no longer haunted by hands he could never hold.

The Hollowed… were gone.

The curse of reincarnation lifted.

And no one remembered Elianah or Xadriel.

Not by name.

Not by face.

Not by fate.

But the world they'd left behind was brighter. Whole.

Children born under the new sun would never know war in their dreams. Lovers would meet without the weight of past lives binding them. There would be heartache, yes — but it would be earned, not inherited.

Still, some things cannot be erased.

In a quiet garden, a cherry blossom tree bloomed out of season. Beneath its roots were two crystals, humming softly — one golden, one violet. Their energy mingled. Gentle. Unbreaking.

And every so often, when the wind passed through the petals just right, a melody played that made people stop and weep — not from sorrow, but from something they couldn't name.

Love that once was.

Love that still is.

Love that chose the world over itself.

Elionys stood on a mountaintop overlooking the new land. Her armor dulled now, her sword buried beside the last battle. Meridian sat beside her, hands resting on her knees.

"Will they return?" she asked.

Elionys shook her head. "Not in this world."

"But perhaps in another," Meridian murmured.

And the wind agreed.