Chapter 14 – The Cinder Café
The dawn came slowly over the scarred skyline of Amaranth. Smoke still rose from the ruins of the old capital, curling through the broken spires like ghosts reluctant to leave. The war was over – at least, that's what everyone kept saying – but the silence it left behind was louder than any battle cry.
Nestled in what used to be the merchant district stood a small wooden building that looked as if someone had glued it together using pure hope and bad carpentry. Its sign hung crookedly from a single rusted chain; the words painted in clumsy handwriting:
"The Cinder Café – now serving peace, pastries, and post-apocalyptic burnout."
Inside, sunlight filtered through patched curtains and lit the small space. A counter lined with mismatched mugs. A wooden chalkboard scribbled with impossible menu items ("Mana Muffins," "Ethereal Espresso," "Souls on Toast"). Someone had even tried to hang a cracked bell over the door – it made more of a dull clunk than a ring whenever customers walked in.
Reika stood behind the counter, sleeves rolled up, trying to make coffee using a Rift crystal. The crystal pulsed faintly like a heartbeat, glowing in shades of violet. "Okay," she muttered, holding a pot beneath it, "If I channel just a bit of heat –"
The crystal shuddered, sparked, and fired a jet of purple steam straight into her face. Lucan, sitting at the nearest table, didn't even look up from his tea. "You do realise that's a Class-B volatile Rift fragment, right?" Reika coughed, wiping soot from her cheek. "It's multi-purpose! The manual said it can heat liquids!"
"It an also melt them," Lucan replied dryly. "And, apparently, barristers."
Aina giggled from where she was helping arrange flowers near the window. "At least it didn't explode this time." Lucan stirred his tea. "Give it a minute."
In the far corner, Kairo Orin sat hunched over a plate of burnt toast. The Tyrant King – conqueror of armies, breaker of dimensions – was locked in battle with breakfast. He stabbed the toast cautiously with a fork, as if expecting it to retaliate.
"You all realise," Kairo said, voice low and half amused, "that the world is literally rebuilding itself, and this –" he gestured vaguely at the table of chaos – "is what we're doing."
"Exactly!" Reika said proudly. "Saving the world again. Through the power of carbohydrates."
The door burst open so hard that the bell fell off completely and hit the floor with a sad plonk.
Taro stumbled inside, carrying an armful of groceries stacked precariously high, "Emergency supplies! We ran out of milk, sugar, and sanity!" He tripped over the doorstep mid-sentence and went down, sending apples, carrots, and what looked suspiciously like a live chicken scattering across the floor.
"Delivery complete," he groaned, face down. "Mostly."
Kairo didn't move. "Still alive. That's today's miracle." Reika smirked. "He's improving. Last time, he came back missing a shoe." Taro lifted a finger weakly. "I still can't find that shoe."
Aina knelt to help pick up the apples. "At least we're together again," she said softly. "After everything, I'll take this kind of chaos any day."
For a moment, her words settled over the group like a warm blanket. The café smelled faintly of cinnamon and smoke, and the air carried that strange sweetness that only comes after surviving something impossible.
But peace never lasted long in Kairo's world.
The door opened again – this time carefully. Three figures stood silhouetted in the sunlight.
The first was a tall girl with messy red hair and enough belts to restrain an entire horse. She grinned like she'd just walked into an adventure. Behind her stood a silver-haired man with a flute, wearing a cape so unnecessarily dramatic it fluttered despite the lack of wind. And between them peeked a nervous young scholar with round glasses and a heavy book clutched to his chest titled Totally Not Summoning Magic (Probably).
Reika blinked. "Uh…who are you?"
The red-haired girl raised a hand cheerfully. "New party members! Or employees. We're still negotiating the terms." Lucan groaned audibly. "No. No, we're not doing this again." The silver-haired man twirled his flute. "Name's Dain. Travelling musician, part-time flirt, and full-time mistake-maker." "Lyra," said the red-haired girl, pointing to herself. "Adventurer, monster slayer, and sometimes a good influence. Mostly not." The scholar waved awkwardly. "Mero. I just…kind of followed them."
Kairo looked up from his toast. "You're all hired." Lucan nearly spat out his tea. "You're kidding." Kairo shrugged. "If they're going to cause trouble, anyway, might as well keep an eye on them where I can see them."
Reika slapped the counter excitedly. "Welcome aboard! You're hired for – uh – whatever it is we do here." "Chaos," Aina offered. "And pastries."
Within ten minutes, the café had descended into utter anarchy. Lyra tried to fix the Rift crystal and somehow set the ceiling on fire. Dain attempted to play a "soothing tune" that shattered three glasses. Mero accidentally summoned a spectral goat that refused to leave.
Taro was chasing it around the café, yelling, "Stop eating the menus!" Reika laughed so hard she nearly dropped a tray of mugs. "This is amazing! We're finally a proper café!" Lucan rubbed his temples. "This is a war crime disguised as hospitality."
Amid the chaos, Kairo leaned back in his chair, watching it unfold with quiet amusement. For the first time in what felt like years, he felt something close to peace. Not the forced calm of a battlefield, but genuine, absurd serenity of being surrounded by idiots he loved.
Aina slid into the seat across him, smiling softly. "Feels strange, doesn't it? All this noise." He nodded. "After the silence we came from…yeah. It's strange."
"But good strange?"
He hesitated, then smiled faintly. "Yeah. Good strange."
Outside, the morning sun rose fully over the battered city, casting gold over the cracked rooftops and rebuilding streets. For the first time since the fall, the air smelled like hope and burnt coffee.
And somewhere, faintly, the Rift crystal hummed again.
"Wait," Reika said suddenly. "Why is it humming louder?"
Lucan's eyes widened. "Everyone, duck!"
The café exploded in a puff of purple smoke, cinnamon, and sheer stupidity.
When it cleared, everyone was covered in soot, half the pastries were on fire, and Taro was lying upside down in a flour barrel. Reika coughed out a laugh. "Well…breakfast's served."
Kairo smirked through the ash. "Just another morning at the end of the world.