The silence in the Elven king's throne room was heavier than any armor I had ever worn. The flames of the ritual had died out, but the air still trembled with residual energy. The fragments — amulet, scepter, orb, and all the others — now lay inert inside a coffer of living wood, firmly guarded by two Elven warriors with impenetrable expressions. King Elandor maintained his regal posture, but his eyes, once filled with disdain, now shone with cautious respect.
"You have prevented a catastrophic power from falling into the wrong hands," the king declared, his voice echoing softly through the chamber. "For that, the Crown of Lytheria is in your debt. However…" He paused dramatically, and my stomach tightened. "…the damage to the Cloud Fortress, the disruption of the Containment Ritual, and the resources spent to secure the fragments cannot be ignored."
Liriel, beside me, scoffed but stayed silent. Even she looked exhausted, her goblet of magical wine securely fastened to her belt, untouched.
"A debt is granted," Elandor continued, his eyes fixed on me. "Not of coin, but of service and loyalty. When the Crown of Lytheria calls, you will answer. That is the price of your… fearless, if chaotic, intervention."
My heart sank. We had stumbled, fought, and nearly died to stop the Demon King's ritual from succeeding — or the elves from seizing the fragments — and in the end, we left without them, owing favors to the most powerful faction we knew. The irony was so thick you could cut it with a sword.
Elara, pale but standing, bowed her head. "Understood, Your Majesty."
Vespera, with a rare look of seriousness, only nodded.
We were dismissed from the throne room under the watchful eyes of Ambassador Kaelen, who seemed less furious and more... intrigued. As we passed through the corridors of living wood, Lyra, the youngest princess, appeared from behind a column.
"Takumi!" she whispered, her eyes gleaming. "That was amazing! You defied the royal council! My sister Thalira is furious, but I think she's secretly impressed." She then pushed a small silk-wrapped bundle into my hands. "A gift. To remember Lytheria. And… maybe to visit me again?"
Before I could respond, she vanished with a mischievous smile. I opened the bundle. It was a simple wooden pendant, carved with the symbol of Lytheria. No apparent magic, but beautiful nonetheless. I tucked it into my bag, feeling the weight of yet another complicated connection.
Back at our temporary lodging — a small inn at the edge of the elven city — the mood was somber. We sat around a polished oak table, none of us willing to speak.
"We lost everything," I muttered, finally breaking the silence. "All the fragments. All those disasters, all those debts… for nothing."
"For nothing?" Liriel glared at me, her divine eyes faintly sparking. "Foolish mortal. You prevented a control ritual from triggering a cosmic war. Those fragments, together, had the power to distort reality itself. Keeping them away from anyone — including those who believe they have the right to control them — is not 'nothing.' It's a victory. A messy, loud, and embarrassing victory, like everything you people do, but a victory nonetheless."
Elara looked down at her hands. "My mana… when the ritual collapsed, I felt… something. Like a chain that bound me had been released. Maybe using elven magic to contain that energy… burned through some of my blockages." She tried a small spark on her fingertips. It flickered weakly but didn't vanish immediately. She didn't faint. "I think… I can sustain a spell for maybe… five seconds now?" Her lips curved into a trembling smile. "It's progress."
Vespera, who had been quiet and avoiding my gaze since the kiss incident, finally spoke. "I… I'm sorry." All heads turned to her. "For the kiss. It was… the alcohol. And the adrenaline. And… it shouldn't have happened that way." She looked directly at me, then at Elara and Liriel. "I don't want… to ruin things. This group… it's the most fun I've ever had."
Elara blushed deeply and looked down. Liriel rolled her eyes but made no sarcastic comment.
It was Elara who broke the following silence, her voice barely more than a whisper. "Takumi… at the fortress, when I thought we were going to… well, you know… I wanted to say that… I like you. A lot." She lifted her gaze, her determination fragile but visible. "And I don't care about Vespera, or Liriel, or Lyra, or whoever else. I… I want the chance to see where this can go."
My face burned. My heart pounded in my chest. Vespera looked at Elara, then at me, and a genuine, non-teasing smile appeared on her face. "Fair enough."
Liriel sighed dramatically. "Finally. It only took a hundred disasters and a royal debt for you two to confess. Mortals are so dramatic." She grabbed her goblet and took a sip. "But for the record, if you hurt either of them, I'll make your clothes permanently transparent. And it's not magic, it's a divine curse. Understood?"
I didn't know whether to laugh or cry. I nodded quickly.
That night, sitting on the inn's balcony, looking at the magical lights of Lytheria, I reflected. We had lost the fragments. We owed the elves a massive debt. Our reputation was that of "the fools who accidentally saved the world."
But Elara could cast magic for five seconds. Vespera seemed to have found a sense of responsibility. Liriel… well, she was still Liriel. And I… I had Elara's confession and a princess's pendant.
It was a high price. A confusing, messy victory. But for the first time since I had fallen into that world, looking out over the elven city below and feeling the weight of the wooden pendant in my pocket, I didn't feel like a failure. I felt that, maybe, in some crooked and completely unpredictable way, things could actually turn out right.
The journey back to Vaelor awaited us, with new debts and old problems. But now, we had something no fragment could give: a fragile, clumsy, yet genuine bond that might be stronger than any magic. And, I suspected, far more troublesome in the long run.