Loop
The aftershock of the battle lingered in the air.
Joshua stood at the center of the ancient platform, head bowed, chest rising and falling with each breath. A faint glow still pulsed beneath his skin. Not bright. Not wild. Just steady. Alive.
No one said anything at first.
It wasn't because they didn't want to.
It was because they couldn't.
Something had changed.
And not just with Joshua. The room itself had shifted. The air didn't resist him anymore. The pressure that had weighed down on them since arriving in Ostarius was gone.
Like the fortress had accepted him.
Like it knew who he was.
Joshua finally looked up, his eyes glowing faintly gold on one side and black on the other.
"I'm… still me," he muttered.
"Technically," Draken said, arms crossed. "You're a past-lives fusion reincarnated chosen hybrid messiah of some kind, but sure. You're you."
Joshua squinted. "You made that sound way worse than it needed to be."
