Book 4 | Agent 34 and the Last Gem

Chapter 85 | Farewell

"What?" Agent 34 exclaimed. "But I—I—!"

"I want to continue what my dad started," she said.

"But we've already done that. We followed his clues and obtained the last gem," he told her quickly.

"No," Ismara stopped him. "I want to continue what he started with Ilrenia. I'm going to rebuild it from the ashes,"

Bradford didn't respond. He simply stared at her with sadness and a new feeling of loneliness. The elf wrapped his arms around her as he silently let the tears fall.

"I'm going to miss you," he told her after they broke apart.

"I'm not going to leave in the dusk of the night," she told him. "That's stupid. I'm going to tell Thad and then I'll leave tomorrow,"

"What about your tent?" Bradford motioned to her items. "Why weren't you putting it up if you aren't leaving today?"

"I don't need to," Ismara said. "I'll just sleep in your tent tonight,"

A flood of redness appeared over Agent 34 before he smiled and wrapped his arms around her again. "That sounds great," he told her before planting his lips on her forehead, sending his warmth into hers.

~ ~ ~

Ismara threw her backpack onto the back of Venon, pulling herself up after. She shot a smile to her friend, tears glistening.

"I'll miss you," Agent 34 said to her.

"I'll miss you, too," Ismara said back.

Venon's eyes flickered from Bradford and the elf upon his back. He didn't say anything. The dragon had decided to accompany Ismara back to Ilrenia and take home there. His home town was nearby and he wanted to check that out if it was still intact, which he assumed it was not. He wanted no more part in the rebellion.

"Goodbye," she said to him as the dragon prepared for takeoff. "I love you."

"I love you, too," Bradford told her, a pang hitting his heart sharply.

Venon took flight, flying away into the bright sun.

"Wait!" Agent 34 called to them. The dragon didn't hear him and continued flying, ignoring his calls. Bradford quickly fumbled to connect his and Venon's minds and shot him a mental message: You forgot something.

The dragon turned around and landed on the scorched grass again, looking for what they had missed. "What is it?" he asked.

"I'm going with you," he told Ismara. "Give me a minute,"

"What?" she said quickly. "You can't. You need to keep Renya safe,"

"I want to keep you even more safe, Ismara," Agent 34 told her. "Let me go with you,"

Ismara definitely wasn't against him going with them, but didn't want to steal him from the Zena. She thought that it'd be too selfish.

"Okay," she told him. "Can we go get his stuff, Venon?"

"I'm not in any hurry," he snorted. "Go for it,"

She climbed off of his scales and hopped onto the ground, the two elves giving each other an embrace that was full of as much love as they could muster. They walked back towards the camps to get his items and say goodbye to the Zena for good.

~ ~ ~

"Thad, I'm leaving," He told the dwarf.

"But—but what?" Thad asked, utter shock filling him as his jaw dropped.

"I want to be with Ismara," Bradford explained. "I don't want to be in danger of losing my life every five minutes. I like protecting people, but I'd rather do it as a sir of my own village,"

The dwarf pushed back tears. He had been through hell and back with this man and it was now time to say goodbye. "Very well," he said. "I look forward to seeing the village you build from the rubble. Your name will be immortalized in stone, Bradford,"

"No," the elf replied. "Don't call me Bradford. My name is Agent 34,"

Agent 34 turned and left as the new king of Renya was watching him with sadness. He turned around and said one final goodbye. "You're gonna be a good king."

~ ~ ~

The dragon set sail, the pair waving to everyone who had gathered to say goodbye to the group. The sun fell and brought cold and darkness upon the land, leaving the three of them inside of the sun's farewell gifts.

"How should we start with rebuilding?" Ismara asked.

"Salvage scraps," Bradford replied. "Retrieve anything that's usable and worth keeping. The rest, we build over or burn down,"

"It's already been burned down," she told him. "There's most likely nothing left to burn."

"Right, right," the elf said. "Let's burn it anyways," he joked.

She laughed and slowly leaned her head on his shoulder, both of them staring at the moon in the dark of the night.