The rain continued through the night.
Soft.
Steady.
Peaceful.
Novaris glowed beneath the storm like a sea of stars while distant aircraft lights crossed slowly through the dark skies far beyond the balcony. Somewhere out there soldiers still guarded the frontlines. Somewhere manifestations still roamed ruined territories.
But here—
inside this quiet apartment above the city—
war finally felt distant.
Kaien sat against the balcony wall with Nyra resting against one side of him while Lyss leaned quietly against his shoulder. Blankets covered all three of them while warm light spilled softly from the apartment behind them.
Nobody spoke for a while.
Not because there was nothing to say.
Because moments like this were rare enough to simply enjoy silently.
Kaien looked toward the city lights below afterward.
Then quietly—
"I still think this feels wrong."
Nyra tilted her head slightly against him.
"What does?"
Kaien hesitated briefly before answering.
"Resting."
The answer itself sounded strange coming from him.
Like he genuinely didn't understand how to do it anymore.
Lyss slowly looked up afterward.
"You've spent most of your lives fighting."
Kaien gave a faint humorless smile afterward.
"…that obvious?"
Nyra snorted softly.
"You literally look uncomfortable sitting still."
Kaien glanced downward slightly afterward.
Unfortunately—
she wasn't entirely wrong.
Even now part of him remained alert constantly.
Listening.
Watching.
Waiting for alarms.
The habit had rooted itself too deeply into him across lifetimes.
Karna slept preparing for war.
Arin lived running toward disaster after disaster.
Kaien spent ten years fighting an apocalypse.
Peace always felt temporary.
Like something fragile enough to shatter if he relaxed too much.
Nyra noticed the distant look in his eyes afterward.
Then quietly spoke.
"We got to spend time with you when you were Karna."
Kaien looked toward her again afterward.
Her voice had softened now.
Not teasing.
Honest.
"We had a home."
A faint smile appeared on her face afterward.
"Even if the world around us was chaotic… there were still moments where you smiled without carrying everything alone."
Kaien stayed silent listening.
Nyra's fingers slowly intertwined with his afterward.
"But after that…"
Her eyes lowered slightly.
"When you became Aditya…"
The atmosphere grew quieter immediately.
Because those memories hurt differently.
Aditya's life had been short.
Violent.
Lonely.
Nyra continued softly anyway.
"We met too late."
Kaien's expression dimmed slightly afterward.
There had barely been peace during that life.
Only resistance against the system.
War against fate itself.
Power growing too quickly.
And then death.
Nyra leaned closer afterward.
"We never got enough time with you."
The rain outside intensified softly against the windows.
Lyss quietly spoke next.
"The same thing happened when you were Arin."
Kaien slowly turned toward her.
Lyss smiled sadly afterward.
"We got the years when we were children."
Fragments immediately surfaced in Kaien's mind afterward.
Forests.
Laughter.
Campfires beside old roads.
Liora smiling at him beneath moonlight.
Then the memories shifted darker.
Fragments awakening.
The Entity arriving.
Endless fighting.
The Expanse.
Lyss continued quietly.
"After the memories returned…"
Her fingers lightly tightened around his arm.
"…everything became war again."
Kaien looked downward silently afterward.
Because she was right.
Every life eventually turned into sacrifice.
Every moment of peace became preparation for another battle.
And somehow—
through all of it—
they kept finding him again.
Nyra gently rested her forehead against his shoulder afterward.
"We've never actually seen you rest."
That sentence hit him harder than expected.
Kaien blinked slightly afterward.
Because he realized—
they were telling the truth.
Even during peaceful moments in previous lives, part of him always remained burdened.
Karna carried humiliation and war.
Aditya carried rebellion against the system.
Arin carried the weight of the cycle itself.
Kaien carried humanity.
There had never truly been a moment where he simply existed freely.
Not once.
Then Lyss softly smiled afterward.
"So this time…"
She leaned slightly closer too.
"…rest."
Nyra nodded immediately afterward.
"It may not last long."
That truth lingered painfully between them.
Because all three already knew the final war was approaching.
The Entity was preparing.
Kael Draven was changing.
Reality itself felt unstable lately.
This peace existed only because a storm was coming.
But Nyra still smiled softly afterward.
"Even if it's only for a little while…"
Lyss finished quietly.
"…we want to be with you."
Silence followed afterward.
Not awkward silence.
The kind filled with emotion too deep for immediate answers.
Kaien stared quietly at the rain beyond the balcony afterward while their words settled inside him slowly.
Then finally—
very softly—
"…I don't know how."
Both twins looked toward him immediately afterward.
Kaien kept his eyes on the city instead.
"I know how to fight."
"I know how to survive."
His voice lowered slightly.
"But this…"
He glanced toward them finally.
"…I don't know how to just live."
Nyra's expression softened instantly afterward.
Then suddenly she grabbed his face with both hands dramatically.
Kaien blinked in confusion immediately.
"What are you doing?"
"You're overthinking again."
"I am not—"
"You absolutely are."
Lyss started laughing softly beside them afterward while Nyra narrowed her eyes at Kaien seriously.
"Listen carefully, ancient war hero."
Kaien already looked mildly offended hearing that title.
"You don't need to learn how to live perfectly."
Nyra gently poked the red sun mark on his forehead afterward.
"You just need to stay here with us."
Kaien froze slightly afterward.
Then Lyss quietly added,
"That's enough."
Something inside him loosened hearing those words.
Not completely.
But enough.
Enough for the tension inside his chest to finally ease slightly after years.
Kaien slowly closed his eyes afterward.
Then rested his forehead lightly against Nyra's while Lyss leaned quietly against his shoulder again.
For several minutes afterward—
none of them spoke anymore.
They simply stayed there together listening to the rain and the distant sounds of the city below.
And for the first time in perhaps all his lives—
Kaien allowed himself to believe something impossible.
That maybe…
peace did not need to last forever to still matter.