Nothing chased Kael Veyris anymore.
That was new.I stood at the edge of a forming reality one that hadn't decided what it wanted to be yet.
No pressure.
No correction.
No narration nudging my thoughts.
Just silence that listened.
I didn't rewrite it.
I let it breathe.
Nyx sat nearby, knees pulled to her chest.
For the first time she said softly,I don't feel watched.
Selene tested her sight then laughed quietly.
Futures exist again. Not forced ones.
Aethern still in human form planted a hand into the ground. Roots spread gently, stabilizing the newborn continuum.
This realm won't collapse, Aethern said.
Not unless you leave.
I nodded.
Then it can stand on its own.
I finally understood what I'd become.
Not a destroyer.
Not a ruler.
A constant.
Stories could exist because I didn't need to control them.
Endings could happen
just not to me.
I turned away from the forming world.
There would be others.
Some hostile.
Some curious.
But for now.
There was peace.
And for the first time since the hunt began,
The story didn't follow.
It waited.