Episode 30 – "The End of the Flame"
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Kael was dead.
The Silent Vaults, once a place where magical chaos thundered like war drums, had grown unnaturally quiet. The battle was over. The victory hollow. Blood had dried. Bodies had been buried.
Except one.
Kael's.
He lay untouched on the altar stone, still as moonlight, a faint golden residue clinging to his skin. Even the breeze that danced through the ruins didn't dare move his hair. He looked… at peace.
But everyone knew the truth.
He wasn't sleeping.
He was gone.
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Lana hadn't spoken in hours.
She sat beside him, her hand locked in his, blood dried along her temple. She'd tried every chant, every spell, every drop of hope. But Kael didn't stir.
Tunde stood nearby, trying to break the silence with a joke. "Okay, so I'm just gonna say it—he's probably faking it to get out of schoolwork."
No one laughed.
Felix gave him a tired glare. "Tunde, please."
"What? It could be true. I once played dead to skip chemistry. Got free cake and everything."
"Tunde."
"Alright, alright." He raised his hands. "Just trying to... you know. Not cry."
Lana's voice cracked. "I already did that for all of us."
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They tried everything.
Felix brought an ancient necromancer's grimoire from the Forbidden Archives. It only screamed when they opened it.
Tunde performed a blood summoning from an old demon ritual—accidentally called a creature that looked like a goat wearing sunglasses and immediately vanished after saying, "No refunds."
They even lit a candle blessed by the Moon Sisters, the ones who were rumored to bring souls back from limbo. The flame burned blue… then died out.
Nothing worked.
Felix, frustrated, slammed the grimoire shut. "There's nothing in here. No spell. No rune. Not even demon science. Whatever he is… wherever he is…"
"He's gone," Lana whispered.
Silence.
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Later that night, they built something no one could destroy.
A pyramid of enchanted glass, woven with magical gold and sealed by elemental rings—fire, water, shadow, and wind. A stasis vault.
His body would not decay. His soul—if it still lingered—would not drift.
They lowered him in slowly. Lana placed his pendant on his chest.
"He's not just a friend," she said. "He was our shield. Our fire. The first to run in and the last to fall."
Tunde sniffed. "And the only one who ever called me a warrior without laughing."
Felix rested a hand on the crystal surface. "When the time is right, if the realms are just… maybe he'll come back."
"But until then…" Lana closed her eyes. "Kael is dead."
The pyramid shimmered once and sealed with a soft hum.
No one spoke after that.
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Somewhere far beyond the mortal realm…
A heartbeat echoed in the void.
Soft.
Slow.
Then gone again.