Silence followed.
Not emptiness—but peace. The first true silence in eons.
Kale descended the broken hill, his boots pressing into the earth that was finally his to shape. The divine thrones lay empty. The sky was free. The loops had ended.
Waiting for him stood Scarlet, or Sel'marieth as she now remembered herself. Her sigils glowed faintly beneath a white cloak, her eyes not just human now, but ageless.
He walked straight into her arms.
No words.
Just a kiss.
Not the kiss of reunion.
The kiss of eternity.
Later that night, they stood in their new world—a realm built from Kale's will and her essence. There were no temples. No shrines. Just starlight, water, and living earth.
Scarlet stepped into his arms, and he whispered, "We survived."
"No," she corrected gently. "We lived."