The Rust Sea welcomed them back with rain.
It was the same rain grey and endless and somehow comforting but it felt different now. Cleaner. As if the world itself was relieved that the Sleeper was still asleep.
The Scavenger's Market was still there, still full of desperate people and dangerous deals. But when Lee walked through the gates, something changed.
People stopped.
They stared.
Not at Lee at the golden glow that surrounded him, at the million souls he carried in his chest. They couldn't see the souls, not really, but they could feel them. The weight of a million freed dreams.
"The boy," someone whispered. "He's the one."
"The Light Bringer," someone else said.
"The Child of the Shattering."
Lee ignored them. He walked through the market, past the Rust Eel Tavern, past the tents and stalls and desperate faces, until he reached the edge of the camp.
There, he stopped.
"What now?" Kira asked.
Lee looked at the souls inside him. A million sparks of light, waiting to be released. Waiting to find peace.
"Now," he said, "I keep my promise."
He closed his eyes and opened his heart.
The golden light exploded outward not violently, but gently, like a sunrise spreading across the sky. The million souls streamed out of Lee's chest, each one a tiny star, each one carrying the memory of a life that had been cut short.
They rose into the rain, into the grey sky, into the clouds that had covered the Rust Sea for three hundred years.
And as they rose, the clouds parted.
Sunlight real sunlight, golden and warm streamed down onto the Scavenger's Market for the first time in living memory.
People wept. People laughed. People fell to their knees and thanked gods they'd stopped believing in long ago.
Lee stood in the center of it all, tears streaming down his face, watching the souls of the departed finally find their rest.
"You did it," Taro whispered. "You actually did it."
"We did it," Lee corrected. "I couldn't have done it without you."
Kira punched him in the arm gently, for her. "Don't get sappy. You'll ruin your reputation."
"What reputation? I'm twelve."
"Exactly. You're supposed to be immature and selfish. Not... not this."
Lee laughed. It was the first real laugh he'd had in days.
"Come on," he said. "Let's get some grilled rat. I'm starving."
They walked back to the Rust Eel Tavern, past the weeping crowds, past the golden sunlight, past the beginning of a new era.
And somewhere, in the shadows of the Sunken City, Inyocha Han watched his brother's triumph through a pool of darkness.
Enjoy your victory, Lee, he thought. Enjoy your friends. Enjoy your light.
Because the darkness is coming.
And when it arrives, you won't be able to save everyone.
Not even yourself.
He smiled that sad, broken smile and began to plan.