“No!”
Elias continued.
“I renounce any throne that requires their obedience.”
The golden mark on his shoulder burned.
Pain tore through him.
Aldric shouted.
But Elias kept speaking.
“I will not be king because stone kneels.”
The Crown Seal cracked.
Golden light flowed into the Gate.
The Shadow screamed.
The abyss closed.
Not like a door.
Like a wound healing.
Malrec reached toward it.
“No!”
The closing darkness pulled him in.
He vanished.
Silence.
Then the cavern collapsed.
Everyone ran.
Aurion smashed through the palace floor from above, creating an escape.
They emerged into the Royal Square as the final black soldiers fell empty.
Varkas stood beside his brother.
Still dark.
Still cracked.
But red fire fading.
People raised weapons.
Aurion lifted one hand.
Wait.
Varkas looked toward Elias.
The giant who had called him lost prince now knelt.
Elias shook his head.
“No.”
Varkas paused.
Then slowly stood.
For the first time in centuries.
No kneeling.
The war ended by sunset.
Valoria did not immediately become peaceful.
Stories lie about endings.
Cities burned.
Families mourned.
Thousands needed food.
The northern wall required rebuilding.
The dead needed burial.
King Aldric remained alive.
That caused argument.
Many demanded execution.
Serah wanted trial.
Corvin wanted answers.
Elias wanted sleep.
Aldric surrendered the crown voluntarily three days later.
“I have no right to keep it.”
The Council asked Elias to accept.
He refused.
Everyone assumed this was modesty.
It was not.
He meant it.
“I’m eleven.”
One noble said, “You would have regents.”
“That sounds worse.”
Mira laughed loudly from the back.
Corvin was next in line.
He refused too.
“My father trained me to inherit a throne.”
He looked toward Elias.
“No one trained me to deserve one.”
Valoria did something it had never done.
It formed a council.
Not perfect.
Nobles remained.
Merchants gained seats.
Military leaders.
Guilds.
Representatives from villages.
Master Oren, released from prison, insisted two seats be reserved for districts previously excluded from taxation debates.
Mira demanded a seat for street children.
Everyone laughed.
Then Elias did not.
They created one.
Mira became the first representative.
She was twelve.
Meetings became unbearable.
She considered that success.
Aldric stood trial.
Elias testified.
So did Serah.
The former king admitted ordering Queen Elara’s death.
He also admitted the attempted murder of her child.
He was sentenced not to death but permanent imprisonment in the northern monastery.
Some called it mercy.
Others cowardice.
Elias visited him once.
Years later.
Aldric had gray hair by then.
He looked through the bars.
“You became king after all?”
Elias shook his head.