"Even gods can bleed, but only men can choose to forgive."
---
The sea was calm that night — unnaturally calm. The kind of stillness that comes when the world is holding its breath.
Inside the stealth boat, the others slept — Damian slumped against the wall beside Goliath's healing pod, the gentle hum of medical runes pulsing like a lullaby.
Maya couldn't sleep. She stepped onto the deck, where salt wind met smoke drifting from the volcanic horizon. The stars hid behind a haze, and the ocean seemed endless, black as ink.
She found Nika there already — sitting cross-legged on the deck railing, hair fluttering like a silver flame, eyes lost somewhere between thought and dream.
"You don't sleep either?" Maya asked softly.
Nika turned, smiling faintly. "Used to. But sleep and I had a falling out after I died once or twice."
Maya blinked. "You make that sound normal."
"It's not." Nika looked back toward the waves. "But King makes the impossible feel like routine."
Echoes of the Immortal
The wind whispered around them as Maya leaned against the railing beside her.
"You really trust him, huh? This… King."
"I don't trust easily," Nika said, "but with him… it's different."
"How so?"
Nika's eyes softened. "Because he doesn't just save lives — he rewrites the cost of saving them."
She tilted her head back, remembering. "When the Lazarus fire consumed me, I wasn't supposed to come back, full at least. My soul was half devoured by the pit's hunger. And then King — he didn't fight it, he pulled at time itself."
Maya frowned. "Time?"
Nika nodded slowly. "I saw him grasp the sinews of reality — like threads of light and darkness. He reached between seconds, between what was and what should've been. He tore me free from the fire's grasp and remade me — not as a revenant, not as a weapon… but as me. I saw all that from the within the flames itself."
The wind shifted. Maya said nothing for a while, eyes tracing the ripples that shimmered faintly with volcanic glow.
"And the Lazarus Demon?" She asked finally.
Nika's lips curved into something caught between awe and disbelief. "You've heard the stories? The first flame, the pit's source — older than the earth's own bones?"
Maya nodded faintly. "My father used to talk about it like a myth."
"Well," Nika murmured, "King made it a memory."
She turned to Maya, red eyes reflecting the faint lights of the ocean. "He didn't burn it or seal it. He unmade it. Just held out his hand and the flames folded inward — like even they remembered what it meant to obey. The earth stopped shaking, the sky dimmed for a moment and the Lazarus Demon's scream became nothing but silence."
Maya swallowed. "And he just… walked away?"
"Walked away." Nika said softly. "No pride. No speeches. Just said, 'It's over now.' "
The Question Beneath the Quiet
Maya rested her arms on the railing. "You talk about him like he's a god."
Nika chuckled. "Maybe he is. Maybe he's something beyond even that. But to me, he's just the man who taught me to breathe again."
"Breathe?"
"He said that the world teaches killers to hold their breath — to live between heartbeats. He told me to stop doing that. To breathe like the living. To see beauty without waiting for it to vanish."
Maya was silent for a long moment. " Then you really think he believes in mercy?"
Nika looked at her, smiling gently. "He doesn't just believe in it. He embodies it. Divine mercy isn't forgiveness — it's transformation. You can hate him, defy him, test him… and he'll still hand you the tools to rebuild yourself."
Maya stared out at the horizon. The waves glowed faintly red where molten rivers met the sea.
For the first time, she didn't feel anger — just something quieter. Something like possibility.
The Turning of the Tide
The boat rocked gently. From below deck came Goliath's muffled growl and Damian's low murmur — probably reading to him from one of the old books King had given him.
Nika hopped down from the railing, stretching. "You should get some rest."
Maya hesitated. "And you?"
Nika smiled, eyes glinting. "Someone's gotta keep watch. Besides…" — she glanced at the horizon — "King says dreams are where the unready meet their fears. I'd rather face mine awake."
Maya gave a small, reluctant smile. "You really are something else, Pulseheart."
Nika winked. "You'll get used to it."
As Maya turned to leave, she paused and looked back. "Hey… that thing you said — about divine mercy. You think it applies to someone like me?"
Nika's answer came soft and sure. "You haven't even killed, you're just good at martial arts. So yeah, I think you're eligible for divine mercy."
---
The night deepened, the stars still absent — but the clouds above began to thin, letting faint silver light spill over the sea.
For the first time in years, Maya felt the horizon open before her — endless, uncertain, alive.
And somewhere, unseen but watching, King smiled.
---
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