Kingdom of the Nine: Hail (I)

Epilogue

This place is different now. The frozen wasteland of Zenot stretches endlessly in every direction, an icy monument to my grief and the uncontrolled power that had swallowed this once vibrant world. Every day I wander through what remains, searching for any signs of warmth or life, but it's only ever snow and silence. Faced with the horrors of what I've done. The quiet is unbearable now.

Wolf Rock still stands, though it too has been ravaged by the cold. Zen's temple, once a place of refuge, of memories shared with him and my sister, feels hollow. The beach, once my favorite place, where the waves crashed against the shore and the sand was warm beneath my feet, is gone. The ocean is nothing but a solid expanse of ice merging with the sky, and the coastline, a frozen wasteland.

I've brought Mia's body back to the temple here. Her tomb has become the center of my world. Every day, I walk through the snow-covered halls, passing through the temple's ancient stone doors to visit her. The chamber is filled with what she would have loved, necklaces, jewels, anything that might have made her smile. Her body rests beneath a painting of her, a reminder of what once was, of the person I loved and failed to save.

In the beginning, I still heard her voice. When I knelt beside the tomb, I could almost convince myself she was speaking to me, still alive, still here. Her voice was soft, like it always was, comforting me when I was at my lowest. I'd talk to her, tell her about my days, share what little news I gathered from the space shuttles that came and went, though fewer and fewer arrived as time went on. It felt like she was still with me.

But that too, began to fade. Slowly, the sound of her voice grew distant, like an echo lost in the wind. I tried to hold onto it, to her, but each day it slipped further out of reach, until there was only silence.

Now the silence is all I hear.

Vermidia is gone, her whispers no longer haunting my nights. She's vanished, as elusive as ever. I've searched for her, hoping that confronting her might give me some closure, but she's left no trace. She's out there somewhere, and I don't know when she'll return, but her absence has left an unsettling void.

The space shuttles from Naurus come and go, taking refugees to safety, away from this frozen planet. Some people survived, though I haven't seen them. It's good to know not everyone was lost, but Zenot is a wasteland now, inhospitable, devoid of life. Farms can't grow anything in the ice, and wildlife is scarce, hunted to near extinction just to survive the cold.

There's a final shuttle scheduled for tomorrow. The last chance to leave this place. I've spent weeks debating whether to leave or stay, clinging to this frozen tomb, to Mia's memory. But there's nothing left here except the cold. No future.

Tomorrow, I'll be leaving with the others, but as I pack what little I have, I can't shake the feeling that a part of me will always remain here, in the cold, alone with Mia.

I glance to The Book in the corner as I pack my things. I haven't touched it since that day Vermidia left. As I motion towards it I feel its knowledge spinning. I lay my fingers on its cover and it begins to glow. It floats just above the shelf it rests on. As it hovers, it opens and its pages begin to turn. As if it's sensing my presence, the things buried within my mind, searching itself for the answers to questions I haven't even acknowledged with myself.

The pages stop. My eyes fixating on the text before me.

"'Vermidia's presence is currently unknown, although in her disappearance she has left behind a child, a son....' A son?" I ask.

The pages react again. Flipping vigorously and then stop yet again.

"'Little is known of Vermidia's offspring, only a name. Domnik Wrathrune, son of Zul.' Domnik..." I mutter.

The pages turn. A map appears. "Naurus..."

I close the book and set it in my pocket. I step out the doors of the temple and turn to the horizon as I see the final space shuttle approaching.

"You'll pay for what you did to my family Vermidia, you take mine, I'll take yours."