Chapter 60: Ashes and aftermath
The battlefield still smoldered.
The sky, once ripped apart by Azariel's wrath, had begun to stitch itself back together, clouds rolling in soft patterns like a slow exhale after a scream. Smoke lingered, ghosts of flame curling around charred rocks and broken earth. But in the silence, something sacred took root: peace, however temporary.
Cain stood at the edge of the cliff, flames quietly flickering around his shoulders like a dying ember. The blood on his hands had cooled, but the heat in his chest remained—love, rage, grief, and the gravity of what they'd survived.
Behind him, Leo was picking his way through the fallen demons, occasionally kicking one with a muttered curse.
"You think they had names?" Leo asked aloud, tone sarcastic but eyes too quiet.
"They were pawns," Eren muttered. "Just like we used to be."
Leo paused. "Not anymore."
Selene sat with her back to a stone, watching Cain's silhouette as the wind played with the ends of his torn coat. She was exhausted, bruised, and still healing from the fight. But her heart beat steady. Cain was alive. They all were.
"Does it feel real to you?" she asked quietly as Eren plopped beside her.
He shrugged, a rare solemnity falling over him. "Not yet. Like maybe it's just some fever dream, and I'm gonna wake up and still be chained to that prophecy."
Selene touched her fingers to the dirt. "You're free. You all are. But freedom's a funny thing—it leaves you wondering what comes next."