They walked for three more days.
The road narrowed. Trees grew sparse. The land stretched wide, full of soft hills and sky. Sometimes they spoke. Mostly they didn't. Words had grown too heavy to carry.
The vial stayed in Kael's pocket. He touched it often, like a charm or a wound. Lira didn't ask. She just stayed close.
On the morning of the fourth day, they reached the edge of the world.
Or something like it.
A cliff opened before them, looking down on a broken plain. The land below was cracked, gray like old bone. No grass. No trees. Just stone and silence. In the middle stood a tower of black iron, taller than anything Kael had ever seen.
It pulsed, faintly.
The sword whispered from his hip. It had been quiet for days, but now its voice returned. Soft. Eager.
"We're close."
Kael's breath turned to frost. The air here was wrong. Heavy. Full of echoes.
Lira stepped forward, staring down at the tower. "This is where it began."
Kael nodded. "And where it ends."
They climbed down slowly. The path was narrow, winding between jagged rocks. Wind howled through the gaps like voices trapped in stone.
Kael's hands trembled.
He thought of Lyss.
Not her face—he still couldn't find it—but the way she used to hold his sleeve when she was scared. The way she hummed when she thought no one was listening. The way her small hand had felt in his, once.
That was still there. Just a little.
At the base of the plain, they stood before the tower. No door. Just a black archway leading into shadow.
Lira turned to him. "Are you ready?"
Kael pulled the vial from his pocket. The liquid swirled, darker than ever.
He looked at her. "If I drink this, I'll lose what's left."
"Yes," she said.
"And if I don't?"
"You'll carry it. All of it. The pain. The memory. The risk."
Kael looked toward the tower. The sword hummed louder. It wanted him to go inside.
"Do you think I'm strong enough?" he asked.
Lira didn't answer right away. Then she said, "I don't think strength matters. I think you just have to decide who you want to be when it's done."
Kael looked down at the vial again.
He thought of Lyss's laugh.
And for a moment—just a flicker—he heard it again.
That was enough.
He uncorked the vial.
The smoke rose, twisting through the air. It smelled like ash and dreams and something older than time.
He tipped it forward.
And poured it into the dirt.
Lira didn't move. She just watched as the liquid soaked into the ground, disappearing into the cracks.
The sword screamed.
A sound like metal splitting bone. The hum turned to a howl. Kael fell to one knee, clutching his head.
"Fool!" it roared. "You had a way out!"
Kael gritted his teeth. "No," he said. "I had a choice."
The voice clawed at him. Pulled at his mind. Showed him Lyss dying again. Lira burning. Blood. Fire. Loss.
Kael reached for the sword.
His fingers curled around the hilt.
He stood.
And threw it into the tower's mouth.
The blade vanished in the dark.
For a moment, the earth held its breath.
Then—
Silence.
Real silence.
Not the waiting kind. Not the sword's silence. But true stillness.
The ache in Kael's chest didn't go away. But it stopped growing.
He turned to Lira. She looked at him like she'd never really seen him before.
He smiled. Just a little.
"I think that was the last hollow place," he said.
She nodded. "For now."
They walked away together, up the path, toward the light.
The climb was slow. Kael's legs shook. His hands bled where the sword's voice had clawed. But the air got lighter. The wind cleaner.
At the top, they stopped again. Looked down one last time.
The tower still stood.
But its pulsing had stopped.
Kael didn't feel its voice anymore.
He reached for the place where the vial had been. Empty now. Just a pocket full of nothing.
But the ache in his chest—that stayed.
And strangely, he was grateful for it.
Lira sat beside him. Pulled out a piece of bread from her pack. Handed him half.
He took it. Chewed slowly.
They didn't speak.
Above them, the sky was wide and blue. Birds moved across it like notes on a forgotten song.
Kael closed his eyes. Just for a moment.
And in the quiet, he didn't hear the sword.
He heard Lyss.
Laughing.