Chapter 85 – "He didn't deserve it, but he earned it."
> "Some souls don't vanish. They transform. Into wind. Into memory. Into the reason others keep going."
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Scene 1 – "Where the Mirror Broke"
> Narrator: "You can only look at your reflection for so long before you step through it."
Dion and the Root Avatar face each other beside the black pool.
They don't talk much. There's no more need.
The Avatar attacks—fast, brutal, and surgical.
The Avatar jumps and attempts to slash Dion's eyes.
Dion dodges and slashes it's fingers.
Root Avatar: "Ambidextrous?... I see."
The Root Avatar leaps. He punches Dion's face and is about to cut his head.
Dion steps on the sword and kicks the Avatar's face.
He's thrown back.
Root Avatar: "You are the greatest enemy of your age I've ever faced. You're talent and skill are surreal."
He attacks. Fast. Relentless. Brutal.
Dion fights back. He's faster than before. Sharper. But not enough.
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Scene 2 – "A War Between Voices"
Root Avatar: "You carry his name like it's armor. But Atlas bled just like the rest."
Dion: "And you fear that. Because he still echoes."
The battle intensifies. Memory jars shatter around them. Each one unleashes a false scene, blinding or distracting Dion mid-duel.
He's cut, impaled, slammed into stone. Yet he still stands.
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Scene 3 – "Almost"
Dion drives a blade through the Root Avatar's shoulder—but is stabbed through the stomach in return.
Dion looks at his stomach. Time seems to halt. The moment lingers.
Blood pools.
> Narrator: "Some endings arrive not with silence… but a heartbeat that doesn't come back."
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Scene 4 – "They Find Him"
The crew arrives too late.
They find Dion crumpled on the ground, barely breathing. The Root Avatar is wounded but smiling.
Reen screams. Maiku burns the battlefield with rage.
They fight—blades and fire, rage and precision. They injure the Avatar more than ever before.
The Avatar's ribs are broken.
It's lung is punctured
Yet he smiles.
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Scene 5 – "Retreat"
The Root Avatar escapes in a spiral of corrupted roots and fading memories.
Reen rushes to Dion's side. They try to heal him.
Jakku applies bandages. Gift applies pressure.
Matthew plays a note, hoping it will reach somewhere deeper.
It doesn't work.
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Scene 6 – "Final Words"
> Dion (whispers): "Did we… stop it?"
Reen: "We're still standing. That means something."
Dion: "Thank you guys for everything. For teaching me how to farm, loving me, treating me with respect and kindness. For saving the planet. Wherever I'll go I'll watch over you guys. "
Gift tries to interrupt.
Gift: "We can heal yo‐"
Dion stops him.
Dion: "Please let this be the end of my story. Standing right next to the people I love."
He places Atlas's blade fragment in his hand. Closes his eyes.
Dies.
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Scene 7 – "The Peace Beyond"
Dion opens his eyes again.
He's barefoot in a golden field. Sky soft. Wind warm. Flowers hum.
Atlas stands nearby, smiling.
Atlas: "Welcome home, brother."
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Scene 8 – "Shlum Veharmonia"
Dion weeps. He doesn't think he deserves this.
Others appear—villagers they couldn't save. People from his past. Elders. Children. Florin. Lorian. All embrace him.
Atlas: "Peace isn't earned. It's chosen. And you kept choosing right—even when it broke you."
The field blooms brighter. Dion laughs through tears.
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Scene 9 – "The Override"
Dion sees the battlefield from above.
He watches Reen sob, clenching his shirt. Gift sitting in stunned silence. Maiku punching the ground. Matthew with his head bowed. Jakku standing there saying nothing wanting all of the terror to end.
Atlas: "What you gave them was bigger than any wound. That's what overrides the lie."
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Scene 10 – "Mourning Fire"
Back in the world of the living, the crew builds a pyre.
They don't light it.
They just sit by it. Holding hands. Crying.
Nobody speaks.
The whole night feels... hollow.
> Narrator: "Grief does not demand language. It demands witness."
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Scene 11 – "Ashen Morning"
The next morning, the air feels different.
Lighter.
Reen places the blade fragment on Dion's grave.
Matthew plays again—this time the song has no sadness.
Only honor.
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Scene 12 – "A World Still Turning"
Cut to nearby towns.
Rumors of the battle spread. Some say they saw Dion fight a demon. Others say the sky wept during the night.
One child draws Dion with wings.
> Narrator: "The lie was loud. But now... the truth had a shape."
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Scene 13 – "They Get Up"
The crew puts on their gear again.
Jakku finishes the latest entry in the Ledger of Truth.
Gift helps Reen strap on her blade.
Maiku ignites a new flame in his hand—this one bright white.
Matthew ties Dion's shirt onto his flute.
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Scene 14 – "What Comes Next"
They stand at the edge of the burned clearing, the horizon ahead.
Reen: "We keep going."
Maiku: "Even if they hate us."
Gift: "Especially then."
Matthew (quiet): "They have to know what he died for."
> Narrator: "They lost their sword. But they found their reason."
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To Be Continued...
> Narrator (Closing Monologue):
"Some warriors fall with a roar.
Others fall with a whisper that never fades.
Dion didn't just fall—
he gave.
Not just his life.
But his doubt. His strength. His forgiveness. His final word."
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"The Root Avatar brought war with scalpel precision.
Dion answered with something sharper—conviction without noise."
"Their fight wasn't fair. It wasn't even.
But truth doesn't always win because it's stronger.
Sometimes, it wins because it refuses to leave."
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"Dion stood long after his body should have stopped.
Not because he wanted to win…
but because he couldn't leave without showing them it was possible."
> "Even as he bled, he bled forward."
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"There are no instructions for this.
No right way to hold the silence.
So they held it together—
not to stop it from breaking them…
but so they could break… safely."
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"The lie said he wasn't enough.
The battlefield said he was just a blade.
But peace said:
You were love. You were choice. You were enough all along."
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"The Override wasn't a weapon.
It wasn't vengeance.
It was Dion,
reminding the world from beyond that truth doesn't die.
It echoes.
Even through fire.
Even through rot."
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"The sun rose not because the world moved—
but because someone like Dion had been in it."
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"They had every reason to stop.
To fold.
To be devoured by what the lie had taken.
But instead—
they chose to carry him.
In music.
In fire.
In the next step forward."
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"Dion didn't deserve to die.
But he earned every word spoken after.
Every memory guarded.
Every story passed down."
"He died with a blade in his hand…
but he became something gentler.
A reason.
A field that bloomed in the minds of those still fighting."