20. Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Z en stared in horror, but Gaian didn't sizzle or howl, he simply grasped the gem around his neck, the soulstone that had been the center of this curse and all he had hoped to accomplish, and crushed it until it cracked.

So, too, cracked Gaian, with fissures like lightning etching throughout his body, until he shattered, like so much ruby crystal, falling as stardust and mixing with the dust from Zenos's bones.

Dust together, in the end.

Zen was too stunned at first to believe it was real, but he didn't get time to digest, for the view of the banquet hall seemed to suction in on itself like the center of a hurricane, distorted and spinning. He feared the castle was about to implode, or that he had lost his mind with the loss of Gaian.

But after a whoosh, a rush of air, and a moment of vertigo, everything returned to normal, and there was no dust. There was no banquet hall.

They were no longer in the castle.

Zen looked around, standing outdoors with everyone else, at the barrier gate—and it was a gate, with a fully visible wall, instead of merely mist. Everyone who had survived the fight was there. The sun was not yet up, but it was clearly beginning to cast its light upon the horizon.

The curse was lifted.

The bodies that had once littered the area were gone, leaving a clear expanse back to the village, where people were beginning to stir, noticing the crowd at the gate.

Zen even saw Degnan and Lyla's twins, racing out of the protective circle when they saw their parents.

"You freed us." Clea stared at her normal dwarven hands.

" He did," Zen corrected.

"I hope that's gratitude I hear," Khel said to Clea, looking a far better sight as his half-elf self, with his long red hair shimmering in the increasing light of the coming morn. "I am sorry to have killed your sister, or that anyone had to die to bring this end." He looked at Zen, sympathy on his face that made it harder for Zen to choke back the tears catching in his own throat.

Dante and Morty, back to their normal selves as well, shared a smile and clasp of each other's forearms.

Then Dante said to Zen, "Only you could kill and save our quarry."

Zen laughed, helplessly but unable not to, still smiling as the tears fell. He wished things could have been different, but he couldn't imagine another end being anywhere near this happy for others—if not for him.

"All the generations that separate us, cousin, would be proud of what you accomplished here," Xari said, winded from the fight but steadfast with those of her people who remained.

"And you," Zen affirmed.

"Hear, hear!" Morty cheered, and an echoing cheer followed.

From everyone.

The crowd from the village was close behind the racing twins, who embraced their parents gladly. There was bustle and quick accounts of what had transpired, but more so, Zen watched the igniting hope as everyone realized that those who remained could live as themselves and do whatever they wished in this no longer cursed land. It was theirs now.

"Nice look on you," Morty said, approaching Zen with Dante and Khel. "I even like the lily," he finished, tapping Zen's doublet over his heart.

Zen hadn't noticed a lily when he put the doublet on, but as he looked now, there indeed was a flower—stitched with what looked like moon-touched embroidery.

Zen's eyes felt hot, a few more tears streaking past his smile. He didn't know how Gaian had managed it, but maybe in the same moment when he had taken the pouch.

The pouch was gone now, though Zen's belt was back on his person with everything else, including his actual crossbow, instead of Morty's conjuring, and even his amulet rested on its chain around his neck.

"You did well, brother," Khel said, smiling kindly.

Dante nodded, adding an encouraging grunt.

Zen did do well, but he couldn't have done any of it without them.

Without everyone.

"Hush!" Degnan called over the ruckus beginning to rise. Then Zen heard why.

There was similar bustling and voices outside the gates.

Concerned, Zen exchanged looks with his companions, and they decided with nary a word to investigate ahead of the freed denizens of Nightfall.

No.

Crestfall .

Zen could feel the hesitation of the crowd behind him when he reached the gates to open them, but it was time these lands were reunited with the outside world.

The moment the gates swung wide and they stepped beyond them, however, Zen doubted his assumptions, worrying he might have made the wrong decision to end Gaian's rule.

The King, the High Priest from the capitol, and an army of soldiers awaited them.

"Halt!" a soldier at the head of the army called. Most of them were on horseback, the King and High Priest included, making Zen feel small, even with his friends and an amount of people behind him who could be an army, but none of them should have to be part of a horde anymore.

"Calm yourself, General," the King spoke.

He was middle-aged and tall of stature, with a full brunette beard and fine noble attire. Zen had never seen the King before, but his voice seemed kind when he spoke. He didn't even seem startled that a darkling led the people out of the gates.

The King rode his horse to the front of the line, followed by a distressed High Priest. "The attacks on Daxos had become a concern reaching even to me, though I was told by the High Priest that the Sun God temple here was handling it.

"Then, several days ago, all attacks stopped. When I arrived to investigate, the lord of Daxos and your own highest-ranking priest had gone missing. I trust someone can explain?"

Of course. What need did Gaian have of sending his horde once he had Zen on a clear path toward him and Lewis and Barrymore were prisoners?

Father Lewis! Zen might have forgotten him, for he hadn't noticed Lewis among the others returned to the gates, but perhaps that had been by design. Now, he revealed himself, appearing through the crowd right past Zen.

He was going to throw them to the wolves.

"My King." Lewis bowed before the King's horse. He was tattered but still in his priestly garb and clear in his station. "The monster slayed Lord Barrymore, but I was spared." He glanced briefly at Zen, a slide of his eyes that Zen wasn't sure how to read. "I was spared because of the people behind me, but more so by my own acolyte, who destroyed the vampire lord."

Zen wasn't wearing his robes, but he had his amulet, and as stunned as he was, he stepped forward to announce himself. "My King." Zen bowed, echoing Lewis, and passed the man who had scorned him so often as much of a smile of gratitude as he could muster.

There was muttering amongst the soldiers at a darkling being lauded, but also hushed whispers of ‘dark elves' and ‘fiends' as they spotted Degnan and others like him amid the crowd.

"What of the Sun God's wrath on such… creatures?" the High Priest sneered.

Zen could see that Lewis's faith had been shaken. Maybe he too was no longer sure if the gods existed. If they did, Lewis clearly thought differently of them now, just like Zen.

"Whatever hand the Lord of Law had in this," Lewis said, "the power that felled the true villain proves there is nothing evil in those who remain on those lands, least of all dark elves or darklings. They… saved me, regardless of race or creed, and in turn, saved their home. And ours."

"Surely—" the High Priest tried to argue, but the King raised a hand to silence him.

Zen remembered the old king, the one from Zenos's age. Zenos had never met him either, but all word passed down from that monarch had been of hatred and ‘cleansing'.

This one seemed to have sense.

"Perhaps with an age-old curse broken, it is time to listen to new voices, especially with a vouch like that from one of our own fathers. Well met, Brother Zen." The King bowed his head. "Is it you who wishes to be lord of these lands now?"

"What? No, I…" Trailing off in his floundering, Zen looked beseechingly back at Degnan and Xari, each of whom were leaders in their own rights. "I think either of you could handle that better. Or perhaps a council instead of a figurehead? Your majesty, I am merely a priest turned adventurer." Zen returned to the King with another bow. "I seek no title. But… would you truly allow the people of Crestfall to keep their homes?"

The King gave a hearty guffaw. "I would rather avoid war with a people so recently cursed and capable of felling a vampire lord. You have representatives? Then we should speak."

"You'll start with us," Xari said, stepping forward and gesturing for Degnan to join her, "and we'll let our people decide between lordship or council."

"Your majesty, a village is just beyond the gates." Degnan gestured behind them. "If you will join us, I am afraid my brethren and I need to get out of the sun before it rises completely, but you are welcome if you have come to negotiate."

There was further bustle and discussion, amounting in an eventual parade of the King and his men through the open gates, making the same trek that Zen and the others once had, only this time with a more genuine welcome.

Degnan and Xari led the throng into Crestfall, with Lewis passing Zen a heartfelt nod before joining them. Soon, mostly only Zen and his friends were left.

"Do you not wish to stay?" Khel asked, as they stood, seemingly waiting on Zen's word.

Zen hadn't considered what came after this. He hadn't considered anything. Before today, he'd never had a true future.

"I think I am ready for a new adventure," Zen said with a smile.

"With us, I hope?" Morty patted his shoulder.

"You saved us again ," Dante said. "You better believe you're stuck with us now."

"I would like nothing more, though perhaps we could see how this new beginning turns out first." Zen gestured after the few stragglers disappearing through the gates. "Say goodbye to our new friends. Restock supplies. Sleep ."

The others chuckled as if that sounded like paradise.

"Is that not part of the King's entourage?" Khel asked once they finally turned toward Crestfall. Everyone else had gone through now, but there was a cart half-hidden behind one of the gate doors. Zen hadn't noticed it when they exited.

"Is that an arm?" Morty sputtered.

The thought that the previous carnage hadn't entirely been cleared away churned Zen's stomach, but as he saw the arm dangling over the side of the cart, while unmoving, it didn't look bloody or independent of a body.

"Maybe someone fell asleep," Zen said, and then hurried toward the cart faster as he thought, "or they're hurt!"

He was soon running, with the others close behind him. The cart was nothing distinct, a simple merchant's cart, though there wasn't anything attached to it and nothing inside—other than a body.

Zen jumped into the cart to gently lay the figure back, sprawling them out more comfortably and checking to see if they were breathing. The sight of the face that came into view made Zen's own breath catch.

"Enki…"

It was Enki— Gaian but dressed as Enki, in his deep brown trousers, leather boots and belt, and a burgundy shirt loosely tied together at the top with hide.

Zen was terrified and hopeful all at once, but the fear quickly subsided, because the sun had just broken the horizon, and as Zen looked upon the beautiful face of his love, it became bathed in light that didn't burn him.

Gaian stirred, cringing at the sudden brightness and fluttering open ruddy-brown eyes. His dark hair was tousled in a way that let a stray lock fall into his eyes, and he smiled up at Zen.

"What happened? Where am I? Did we get that drunk at the festival?"

"We… um…"

"Your boy?" Dante said. He and the others were peering into the cart, but none looked even mildly perturbed to see their enemy resurrected. "I wondered where he'd got off to."

They didn't recognize him—not as Gaian, only Enki.

"How'd you get out here?' Khel asked, but Morty grasped Khel's arm to pull him away.

"Maybe we better give them a moment to get reacquainted, hm?" Morty passed Zen a wink, and Dante chuckled, as they dragged off a somewhat offended Khel to leave Zen and Enki alone.

He was Enki, sitting up in the cart, undaunted by sunlight. Even Zen had to wince a little without a hood to guard him from the brightness, but Enki was human.

Human .

"Zen?" Enki asked, reaching to cup Zen's cheek. "What's wrong?"

The heat of tears filled Zen's eyes once more as he leaned into that touch. Just as he had been gifted a new life, so too had Enki, molded into the man he sometimes pretended to be—who he was when stripped of his titles.

Now, he could be Enki for real.

"I have much to tell you, my love," Zen said, resting a hand over Enki's.

"L-love?" Enki repeated with a blush.

" Much to tell you. If you'll listen."

Enki smiled, and when Zen leaned forward to capture a chaste kiss, Enki returned the affection whole-heartedly.

It was impossible to stop smiling when Zen finally guided Enki out of the cart. The temptation to keep the truth from him was strong, but Zen didn't want any lies between them, especially if they were being given a true second chance. He would explain, slowly, patiently, and hope that whether Enki ever remembered his time as Gaian or not, what they had ahead of them was their own story to tell.