Jayden stood at the heart of the war room — a circular chamber beneath Solmar's keep, once sealed with wax and forbidden whispers. Now, it echoed with the voices of power.
Tielen arrived first, cloaked in obsidian, reeking of blood and secrets.
> "The Forgotten Kingdom," he muttered, tossing a bloodied medallion onto the table. "I haven't heard that name since I was ten."
Linet followed, her black heels silent as always. She placed a scroll beside the medallion.
> "They've made alliances. Old ones. Ones we never buried properly."
Jeff came last. Uncharacteristically quiet.
He simply dropped a black ring — frozen with frost — onto the table.
It bore the insignia of the Crownless Court.
> "They're not coming for a seat," he said grimly. "They're coming to erase the entire table."
--
Elira didn't sleep.
But when she closed her eyes, she saw it — over and over.
A city drowning.
A boy crying.
A blade slicing through a crown.
The child wore Jayden's face.
And the sword? It was hers.
She awoke gasping, gripping the dagger hidden beneath her pillow.
Jayden was already watching her.
> "It wasn't your fault," he said.
> "But it will be."
> "We write our fate now."
> "No. We pay for what we already wrote," she replied, brushing his hand off softly.
> "We've killed too many kings to believe we're any better."
---
Jayden found the letter under his coat pocket.
Maggy's handwriting danced across the parchment like a whisper.
> "Dear Jayden,
> If I'm honest, I hoped you'd never find this.
> But if you're reading it, then you've chosen Elira — and that's okay. I don't hate her. I just envy her. Because she gets to stand beside you in the fire, and I only ever got to warm my hands from afar.
> Be safe. Be dangerous. Be real.
> And if you ever look back — make sure it's only to smile."
Jayden read it once.
Then folded it, placed it in his inner pocket, and whispered,
> "I'll never stop looking back."
---
To defeat the Forgotten Kingdom, they needed more than armies.
They needed alliances born of regret and revenge.
Jayden summoned the Silent Prince from the southern isles — a man who hadn't spoken in thirteen years, ever since he killed his own father to protect a forbidden queen.
He agreed to fight.
Linet traveled north to resurrect the Iron Syndicate, a clan of exiled assassins who once ruled the shadows.
They too agreed.
Jeff went east to find the Sisterhood of Thorns, betrayed centuries ago by the ancestors of the current court.
They didn't agree.
Until Elira arrived.
And gave them the sword of the woman who betrayed them.
They didn't speak — they just knelt.
---
Jayden found Mira atop the palace balcony, her eyes on the children playing below.
> "You're not like them," she said softly.
> "Like who?"
> "Kings. Generals. Monsters."
> "Aren't I all of them?"
She turned to him.
> "No. You're a boy who learned to walk through fire and forgot how to ask for water."
Jayden blinked.
Then hugged her.
For the first time in years.
She cried silently into his chest.
Because tomorrow, he might not return.
And today, he smelled like goodbye.
---
The snow fell heavy in the west.
A figure emerged from the frost — tall, armored in ivory bones, crowned with a halo of thorns.
The Forgotten King.
His face was a mask of porcelain.
His voice, like a choir of the damned.
> "Jayden walks with ghosts," he said to his court. "Let him. He'll join them soon."
Beside him stood a child.
Barefoot.
Silent.
Wearing Jayden's eyes.
Elira's fear from her dreams had come to life.
The future was no longer prophecy — it was now.
---
Everyone celebrated quietly.
One last drink.
One last joke.
One last time to pretend they weren't marching to their graves.
Jeff played a broken violin in the hall.
Linet danced with herself.
Tielen told a story that ended with everyone laughing — and a dagger in the table.
Elira and Jayden didn't dance.
They watched.
Because tomorrow wasn't about joy.
It was about memory.
And they wanted to remember the people they were… before the blood returned.
---