Chapter 83
The child slept soundlessly beneath the fig tree.
No fire wrapped its form.No prophecy clung to its breath.And yet, Kael had never seen anything more powerful.
Not because it could destroy the world…
But because it might never have to.
Eliendara stood watch as dusk fell, arms crossed, gaze distant.
"The world won't let this last," she said quietly.
Kael sat beside the cradle, eyes fixed on the sleeping child. "Then we'll make it."
She shook her head. "Peace is fragile."
"So is glass," he murmured. "But when it catches the light—it's enough to make gods jealous."
They had built kingdoms.
Survived gods.
Refused flame.
But this… this was something they had never done before.
Guard a future.
That night, as Kael stirred from sleep, he felt it.
A presence.
Not hostile. Not divine.
Familiar.
He stepped into the courtyard, moonlight slanting through fig branches.
And there, in the shadow of the tree, sat a man.
No armor. No throne. Just silence.
Kael's flame twitched inside him.
"…Caedros?"
The former god did not look up.
He sat cross-legged, palms open, staring at the moss beneath his feet.
"I died," he said flatly. "And then I didn't."
Kael kept his distance. "Why are you here?"
Caedros finally turned his head.
There was no fire left in his eyes.Only the dull ache of someone who had lost everything he thought eternal.
"Because that—" he nodded toward the cradle,"—is the only thing I've seen that isn't afraid."
Kael didn't reply.
Caedros stood.
"I didn't come to fight."
Kael raised a brow. "Then what?"
The former god shrugged.
"To remember what it feels like… to stand in a world that doesn't belong to me."
He looked up at the sky.
"And maybe… to apologize."
Kael's jaw clenched.
Not in anger.
In recognition.
Because once, that had been him—nothing but power, lost in a world he didn't understand.
The two stood in silence.
No flames.No weapons.
Just two broken legends.
Watching a child sleep.
Caedros turned. "You won't raise it as a weapon?"
Kael's answer was immediate.
"We'll raise it as hope."
Caedros nodded.
And then, without another word…
He disappeared.
Not vanished.Released.
Eliendara appeared beside Kael.
"Will he come back?"
Kael looked at the empty space where Caedros stood.
"No. That part of the story's over."
The child stirred.
A soft breath escaped its lips.
And in that breath…
Kael heard something.
Not prophecy.
Not power.
A beginning.
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 84: The Fire That Refused to Rise
Not all peace stays untouched.
A remnant stirs in the east—not god, not flame,but something born from the silence Kael left behind.
And as the child of hope begins to dream,those dreams ripple across reality…
Reaching those who should have stayed forgotten.