Kent drank wine that sparkled with stars. He bathed in moonlit springs with the goddess, whose name was Liora, meaning "Light of the First Ocean." She kissed his wounds, fed him with her hands, whispered that he had no more burdens. No enemies. No war. No destiny.
"You've fought enough," she told him one night as they lay under the cherry trees. "Why must you suffer? Why chase impossible dreams when everything you seek is right here?"
She held his face with both hands. "Stay. Be mine. Let us raise our children, grow old together, and when the stars fall… we will fall together."
Kent smiled.
And he believed it.
Years passed—so it seemed. His beard grew. His strength mellowed. The battlefield became a dream, a distant echo.
He was father to four. Husband to a divine being. Master of a domain of peace.
Until one night, in the middle of a gentle rain, he sat in silence, watching his youngest child sleep in his arms. Something stirred.
A faint buzzing.
