Sakamoto's Age: 4.5Location: Exiting the Whispering Woods — approaching the cliffs of Verdra ValeTime: Dusk. The real sun finally returns.Status: The party has survived. Changed.
When we stepped out of the forest…
It felt like the world had been waiting for us to remember something.
And now that we had?
It wouldn't let us forget.
The Weight of a Name
"Aevum Valtaris."
That was what the Eye-Beast called me.
And though I didn't recognize it…Niris did.
She appeared again — not as a sword, but a woman cloaked in memory.
"Aevum was the first Echoborne," she said. "You weren't given the title. You created it."
"What does that mean?"
"You weren't reincarnated."
"Then what was I?"
"Rebound. The soul trying again. Because the first version of you… lost everything."
The Party Reacts
Aelira didn't speak much.
But she walked closer to me than before.
Not to be sweet.
To watch me.
"If you go dark again," she said, "I'll be the one to stop you."
"Thanks."
"Don't thank me. Just don't make me prove it."
Ravian was quieter than usual. His pendant glowed faintly.
"The capital knows the name Aevum," he finally said. "And if they connect it to you…"
"What?"
"Then they'll stop hunting you like a threat."
"That's good?"
"No. It means they'll start hunting you like a legacy."
The Capital Moves
Elsewhere, in the palace of Nerion Vale, a woman sat on a throne of glass and flowers.
She wore no crown.
Only scars.
This was Lady Marvessa, one of the Seven Judges — and one of the last who remembered the old wars.
She stared into a mirror that pulsed with names.
"Aevum Valtaris," she read aloud.
A pause.
Then a single order:
"Send for the Shadow Herald. Tell him the first king has returned."
Ireina's Omen
That night, Ireina couldn't sleep.
She whispered to the stars while the others slept.
I watched from a distance.
"He doesn't know," she murmured. "Not yet."
"Know what?" I asked.
She turned.
And for the first time, I saw fear in her eyes.
"That it was me who sealed you last time."
Final Scene – The Scar on the Horizon
Morning came.
As we crested the Vale, we saw it in the distance:
A city surrounded by walls of stone and steel.
Harrow's Reach — the first checkpoint before the capital.
Smoke rose above it.
But it wasn't from battle.
It was from a symbol burned into the gates — an eye and a spiral.
And beneath it, written in blood:
"THE KING HAS RETURNED."