The night before our planned incursion into the Grey Sovereign's realm, the entire coalition's senior leadership gathered one final time in Kaldrath's war room — not for further strategic planning, which had already been refined as thoroughly as our available information allowed, but simply to be together, one more time, before whatever came next irrevocably changed the shape of everything we'd built.
King Aldous himself attended, along with Queen Isolde's formal representative, Thalindra speaking for Sylvaris, Chieftain Grommash representing the beastkin clans, Borgrun for Ironhold, and even Captain Vashka, present as an increasingly regular, if still officially unaffiliated, observer for the Sundered Fleet's own growing cooperation with the coalition's efforts.
"A year ago," King Aldous said, addressing the gathered leadership with the weathered gravity of a ruler who had watched his kingdom's role in this crisis grow far beyond anything his fiftieth anniversary celebration had originally anticipated, "I watched a mysterious swordsman win my kingdom's tournament and reveal power that terrified half my court. Tonight, I watch that same man prepare to lead an unprecedented alliance directly into a fallen god's own exile realm, in defense of every kingdom and people gathered in this room." He paused, something genuinely moved coloring his usually measured tone. "Whatever tomorrow brings, I want it known that Kaldrath, and I suspect every other power represented here tonight, considers this coalition's formation the single greatest achievement of my entire reign, regardless of how the coming battle ultimately resolves."
I felt the weight of that statement settle over the room, and found myself, standing among allies who had become, over the course of this impossible year, something considerably closer to family than the political and strategic partners we'd originally been, genuinely moved by exactly how far we'd all traveled together.
Aria found me later that evening, after the formal gathering had dispersed into smaller, quieter conversations throughout the palace, standing alone on the same balcony where so many of this year's most significant private conversations had taken place.
"Tomorrow's going to be dangerous," she said, joining me at the railing. "More dangerous than anything we've faced so far, if everything Malakar and Vethrion have told us proves accurate."
"I know," I said. "I've thought about it considerably. I don't want any of you risking yourselves on my account, if there was any way to face this alone—"
"Don't," Aria said, cutting me off firmly but gently. "Don't you dare try to talk yourself into facing this without us, Lukas. We've built this coalition together. We face whatever comes next together too. That was true when I first insisted on staying at your side outside Valoria's gates all those months ago, and it's still true now, regardless of how much more dangerous the stakes have become."
I looked at her, silver hair catching the pale moonlight, the same steady resolve I'd relied on since our very first sparring match still burning as brightly as ever despite everything this past year had cost all of us. "I still have your ring," I said quietly, reaching into the pocket of space where I'd carried it, unbroken, since the day she'd first given it to me.
"I know," Aria said, a small, genuine smile finally breaking through her earlier seriousness. "I've been keeping count. You still owe me its safe return, which means you're obligated to survive tomorrow regardless of how dangerous it proves to be."
"I intend to," I said. "And I intend for all of us to survive it, together, the same way we've survived everything else this past year."
She leaned against me, the same comfortable, familiar closeness that had grown steadily between us across months of shared danger and shared purpose, and for a long moment, we simply stood together, watching Kaldrath's lamplit sprawl beneath a sky that, for one more quiet night, remained peacefully, mercifully unbroken by any tear or rift or looming cosmic threat.
"Whatever happens tomorrow," Aria said finally, "I want you to know that this past year, impossible and terrifying as it's often been, has also been the best year of my entire life. I wouldn't trade any of it, even knowing everything it's already cost us."
"Neither would I," I said, meaning it completely. "Whatever we find in the Grey Sovereign's realm, whatever the Architect ultimately turns out to be, I'm glad I get to face it standing next to you, and Kai, and Malakar, and everyone else who's become part of this strange, impossible family we've built together."
Somewhere beyond that peaceful night sky, in a realm without sun, a Realmgate neared completion, and a war considerably larger than any of us had originally understood prepared to finally, fully begin.