*Chapter 40: The Reawakening*
The world exhaled.
Theo and Nyra opened their eyes to a sky reborn — brighter, fuller, as if the heavens themselves had been stitched back together. The grass beneath their feet shimmered with dew, and far below the peak, life stirred where silence once reigned.
They stood hand in hand, quiet, humbled by what they'd done. Not heroes. Just *chosen*.
"The Compass," Nyra whispered, looking down.
It no longer glowed. It no longer pulsed. It simply rested — as if its purpose had been fulfilled.
"It's over," Theo said, barely believing it. "We did it."
As they descended the mountain, the world around them began to respond. Trees once withered now bloomed. Villages long abandoned showed signs of life again. Birds returned to skies that had forgotten flight.
In the first village they reached, people gathered in awe. Some wept. Some knelt. Most just watched, whispering: *The Thread has been healed.*
And in that place, a child stepped forward and handed Nyra a small, hand-carved token — a compass of her own.
"For the one who led light back into the dark," the child said.
Nyra held it to her heart. "We didn't lead," she said softly. "We *walked together*."
And the people cheered — not for victory, but for *hope*.