Kael opened his eyes to a sky reborn.
No longer fractured or riddled with echoes, the heavens above shimmered with cohesion. Stars aligned like symphonies of fate, and the air itself thrummed with harmony. Yet beneath the surface, a tension lingered—a world remembering how to breathe after holding itself together for far too long.
They stood at the threshold of the restored Prism Nexus, though it no longer resembled the chaotic web of unstable time threads. It was now a garden of flowing lights, each path a stream of purpose. Trees of thought rose from the ground, branches bearing fruits of possibility. Mountains pulsed with slow wisdom, and the sky itself whispered in color.
Kael exhaled.
He could still feel the seed he had planted resonating within him, its roots entwined with his very being. He hadn't just repaired the Prism. He had become a part of it.
Lin walked beside him, her aura bright, stronger than ever. She no longer looked toward Kael with uncertainty, but as someone who had found her own center and chose to stand beside his.
"So this is what peace feels like," she said.
Kael turned to her. "It's not peace. It's potential. And potential… is the beginning of every storm."
Aelira chuckled behind them. "You're still dramatic, even after rewriting time."
They turned to see her perched on one of the flowering light structures, twirling a glowing blade made of memory-light. Her brow was still furrowed in defiance, but her heart pulsed with something new. Hope.
"The echoes are quiet," she added. "But not gone. What you did didn't erase the other timelines. It gave them choice."
Kael nodded. "That was the point. Dominion is the path of the old gods. I chose to let the worlds decide."
From beyond the Nexus, the fabric of reality shimmered. Portals began to open. Not rips, but invitations. Beings from fractured paths, some familiar, others foreign, emerged. Some were versions of allies they once knew—others were those who had perished long ago.
One by one, they approached the Trinity.
Kael. Lin. Aelira.
They bowed.
Not in reverence, but in recognition.
Kael stepped forward, lifting his gaze to the horizon where stars met roots, where threads of the past and future wove into the eternal now.
"Let the worlds begin again," he whispered.