Smoke rose above the treetops. The last of the birds had fled. The men were returning—fewer now, but angrier, desperate. The failed ambush had only fanned the fire in Lord Brenner's camp.
Lia watched them from a slope above the stone ruins, Maru's head resting on her lap. His ankle was swollen, his skin hot with fever. She'd done all she could. Water. Herbs. Rest. None of it helped.
Mister Genie stood silent beside her, his hands folded.
"They won't stop," she said, voice hoarse.
"No," he agreed.
"And Maru—" she faltered, brushing her brother's damp hair from his forehead, "—he won't make it another day."
The genie said nothing.
The wind was cold again, the way it had been the night she found the lamp. Only now, the cold had teeth.
She looked down at the lamp in her satchel. It pulsed faintly, as if aware.
Lia closed her eyes. "He doesn't deserve this."
"No child does," the genie said quietly.
She opened her eyes. "But if I use the wish… I lose you."
"I was never yours to keep," he said. "Only to serve."
A tear slipped down her cheek. "I just wanted to survive. That's all. Not to change the world. Not to start a war."
Mister Genie knelt beside her. "Then use your last wish wisely, Lia. Some wishes are not about power. They are about peace."
She nodded slowly.
In the distance, Cray's men entered the clearing.
They saw the girl. The boy. The lamp.
Cray shouted. "Take them!"
Time slowed.
Maru stirred, fevered eyes opening halfway. "Lia… I'm cold…"
"I know," she whispered.
She stood.
Lifted the lamp.
Held it to her chest.
"I wish," she said clearly, her voice steady, "that no one—no lord, no soldier, no thief—can ever harm Maru again. Not in this life… or the next."
The wind died.
The sky pulsed gold.
Mister Genie closed his eyes. "It is done."
A blinding light erupted from the lamp, enveloping Maru like a cocoon of warmth. His fevered face relaxed. His breathing slowed… and then stopped.
But there was no pain. No gasp. No fear.
Only peace.
The light around him shimmered, then faded. His body remained still, calm. Untouched.
Cray's men hesitated. They didn't understand what they'd seen.
But Lia did.
"You granted my wish," she whispered. "Even though it meant…"
"Yes," the genie said. "He will never suffer again."
Cray stepped forward, sword drawn.
"You're out of wishes now," he sneered. "What do you have left?"
Lia turned to him slowly. "Nothing," she said. "Nothing you'll ever understand."
And then… the lamp cracked.
A single fissure ran down its bronze surface.
Mister Genie looked down at it, then back at Lia.
"The bond is complete," he said softly.
"What happens now?" she asked.
"I return to the currents between worlds. The lamp will vanish. And you…"
He paused.
"…will be remembered. Even if no one else knows."
The light in his eyes dimmed as he stepped backward. The lamp flared one final time—then turned to ash in Lia's hands.
Mister Genie disappeared into golden mist.
The soldiers watched, stunned.
Cray lowered his sword. "Where'd he go?"
But Lia didn't answer.
She knelt beside her brother and placed a hand on his still chest.
Then stood.
Alone now. Unarmed. Unprotected.
But unafraid.
She turned and walked past the men, her eyes empty, her shadow long in the afternoon light.
And in the wind behind her, faint and fading, came a whisper—
"Three wishes spent. One story ends."