The city woke under pale sunrise — bruised and battered, but alive. Smoke drifted from cracked buildings where people picked through rubble for neighbors, for friends, for any sign that the darkness had truly gone.
At the factory's ruin, Zindra lay half-conscious, propped against a broken pillar. His runes no longer glowed, but the faint pulse of life still beat beneath his skin — enough for Liyaya to cling to as she worked her hands over him, whispering quiet words only the earth could hear.
Around them, the people gathered — the bus driver, the street kids, the shopkeepers with crowbars and battered shields. No more cults. No more shadows. Just people — staring at the two who had done what no one else could.
---
The Council's Arrival
At dawn, the shimmering portal opened above the cracked street — cold blue light flickering through the morning mist. The Council of Cyne had come to reclaim what they called theirs.
Armored enforcers stepped through, weapons ready — but they paused when they saw the crowd. Hundreds of people, filthy and bruised, yet standing like an unmovable wall between Zindra, Liyaya, and the Council's cold gleam.
The lead Council voice echoed from the portal, impassive and vast. "Sentinel Zindra. Your service ends now. Return to Cyne. Abandon this world."
Zindra tried to rise, but his legs gave out. Liyaya rose in his place, stepping forward, roots shifting under her feet as if the city itself carried her. Her hair tangled with leaves and dust, her eyes bright with the same green light that had burned back Sanavak.
"No." Her voice rang clear. "He stays. We both do."
The Council's tone hardened. "Earth is not yours to claim."
Liyaya spread her arms wide, palms pressed to the wounded concrete. Tiny shoots of green sprouted through cracks in the pavement. The people behind her placed their hands on the ground too — a living network of breath and blood and roots binding the city to her will.
She lifted her chin. "It was never yours to throw away. It's ours now. His. Mine. Theirs."
---
The Choice
Zindra reached for her hand, voice raw but sure. "If you force me back — you'll kill me. I am tied to this place now. To her."
The Council flickered — a ripple of cold calculation. "So be it. You are no longer of Cyne."
The portal pulsed once — then collapsed into mist. The enforcers stepped back through, their helms lowered in silent recognition of what they had seen. Then they were gone, leaving behind only the city's broken streets — and a people standing like roots that would not be dug out.
---
A New Seed
As the sun climbed, people began clearing rubble, lifting the wounded, building fires to keep warm. Small flowers bloomed where Liyaya stepped — tiny wild things no one had planted but that the city had always hidden beneath the concrete.
Zindra leaned on her shoulder as they walked to the street's edge. He looked down at the flicker of green at her fingertips — at the way life pulsed around her like a heartbeat he could finally hear.
"Will you stay?" he asked softly.
Liyaya smiled, brushing dust from his cheek. "We both will."
He touched her forehead with his, eyes closed, and for a moment, the star-blood of Cyne and the deep root of Earth beat together — one promise, one bond.
The people cheered softly behind them. Dawn spilled over the ruins. And for the first time since the shadows came, the city exhaled — not in fear, but in hope.
The sentinel and the girl of green light turned, hand in hand, ready to rebuild what the darkness could never swallow: a home worth fighting for.