Epilogue – Sixteen Years After the Fall of Grib
Haven – The Founder's Garden
The sun poured golden warmth across the stone paths of the Founder's Garden, the air humming with the scent of blooming starblossoms and ironroot trees. Wind whispered through the tall flags bearing Haven's emblem—Micah's mark—and the anthem played softly in the background from a musician's corner nearby.
You stood near the edge of the garden, overlooking the expanse of Haven: taller now, broader, home to thousands. Trade routes curved out across the stars. New outposts had formed, some bearing Haven's protection. Refugees still came. Hope still burned.
At your side, stood Alessa.
Sixteen years old. Tall like her father, golden eyes like him to, full of sharp thought and quiet strength. She wore a dark coat trimmed in silver and deep green, the insignia of a council apprentice on her left shoulder… and just beneath that, the symbol of her birthright—your family's wolf sigil.
Alessa held a datapad, but she wasn't reading. She was watching the children in the courtyard—training drills led by her younger sibling, Ca'rdis. Me'ha walked among them, offering corrections. Micah and Seren, now teenagers, were overseeing logistics on the eastern docks.
"I can do more," Alessa said quietly, not as a plea but as a declaration.
You smiled faintly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "You will. But learning to lead isn't just about knowing what to do. It's about knowing why we do it."
Alessa turned to look at you. "Because we remember what it was like… to be lost. To be taken. To be nothing."
You nodded. "And because we made a promise. To never let that happen again."
Her fingers curled around the edge of her datapad, knuckles pale. "The signals on the border—the slave traders are trying again. Quietly. Building in the shadows."
You looked out at the horizon, where Haven's newest ships gleamed, waiting in their docks.
"They don't learn," you murmured.
Alessa tilted her chin. "Then maybe it's time they remember."
A quiet beat passed. You looked at her—this child of strength and starlight—and you saw it, that spark you once had when it all began.
De'rax's voice came across the comm in your ear.
"She's ready, isn't she?"
You didn't answer. You just smiled.
Alessa stepped forward, her voice steady. "I want to take one of the new ships. Not to fight… but to find the ones still hidden. Still afraid. Like we were. I want to bring them home."
You reached out and pressed your palm to hers, a quiet blessing in the old way of Haven. "Then go, Alessa. Carry the anthem. Carry the promise."
And as the sun rose higher over Haven, a new ship fired its engines—a sleek vessel trimmed in silver and deep green, christened Wolf's Call. It rose into the sky, guided by a girl who was no longer just a daughter of leaders…
…but the beginning of a new legacy.