67: The End

"Mama, Fu'ji, look! The fireflies among the lanterns are pretty."

Thane excitably pointed out the night sky overcrowded with glowing lanterns soaring high. Guiding the lanterns' way were fireflies.

Liran smiled as she held her son's hand. Her husband kissed her cheek and held her other hand. The three of them were enjoying the Outskirts festival to celebrate a new beginning.

"They're pretty, just like you." Xander faced her with a smile that was fading.

"Mama, I go with Fu'ji now." Thane let go of her hand as he clung to his father's.

"Don't worry, I'll be with Thane. The prince's a good man." Xander's eyes lingered upon hers with his goodbye. He led Thane away, toward the lanterns in the sky.

Liran was suddenly lost within a crowd and unable to see her family.

"Are you looking for your family, Sans-sai?" An alfaren woman grabbed her hand, dragging Liran through a blur of countless faces until she was standing on a high stage.

Below, an audience of people gathered to celebrate her performance. Liran's eyes swelled with awe at the amount of heads packing the area. Hundreds of thousands of souls: so many people she lost count. They all cheered to celebrate her victory.

"My... victory?" Liran glanced at the warm and mellow night sky filled with lanterns, then to the sea of people calling out her name.

The Daar'len Nau shamisen and bachi appeared within her hands. She took a deep breath and played her song to the cheering crowd.

The spirit of the moment was absolute peace, happiness and...

Thank you.

⊹₊˚‧︵‿₊⊱·✶·⊰₊‿︵‧˚₊⊹

Liran's eyes fluttered open.

"Finally woke to grace us with your presence," Grayman wryly said at her bedside. "Any longer and Graystein might have charged you for the stay."

Something heavy landed on her stomach, she was soon pulled out of her sleepiness by overexcitable vermin.

"I thought you were a goner." Chen wailed with happiness, dropping snot all over her sheets.

"Disgusting!" Rat snapped at the ratiss and used his air magic to clean up the mess.

She felt weak but her lingxi was flowing through her at least.

Lingxi. The memory of Arazeta casting a Spell of Life upon her, made her want to open her mouth and hope.

"I'm... alive?" Her voice flowed through her ears. As it carried across the room, her bard skills and blood codes were restored. And there was something else.

The kijen sisters and Annoying Imp entered. The girls leaped to her with their hugs and tears.

Grayman grumbled and snapped at everyone to let Liran get out of that damn bed.

Liran laughed and returned the hugs.

It was a few hours later when she was up and dressed for a new adventure. As she was leaving the room, she was greeted by Aiden. He was dressed in new splintmail armor with his sword sheathed at his hip and shield on his back. He stood before her with his deadpan expression.

Liran felt her eyes water, as relief flowed through her to see he was alive and well.

He pulled her into a warm hug. 'We survived... I'm so glad you're well."

She smiled when she felt his tears on her shoulder. "Don't leave snot, okay? Or I'll charge you washing fees."

He pulled away with a frown and wiping his tears, then burst with laughter. "Everyone's waiting for you in the mess hall."

As Liran walked through the halls of the Library of Andor Sakratu, she wondered how she got there.

But her mind was instantly distracted when an overwhelming cheer erupted through the hall.

"Did you empty everyone from Irelon?" Liran called out to Grayman, who waited for her at the entrance.

He laughed. "Well, since the tower exploded and most of the palace had collapsed, we had to evacuate as many survivors as we could." He leaned back as he added. "Fortunately, it was the entire surviving barracks. Wouldn't do the Alfaren Royalty any good if all their soldiers were lost to the hammer blasts."

Liran spent the day celebrating with her friends, and learning what had happened to the others.

The Daar'len Nau was destroyed when the pebble exploded, as its fate was tied to the Morningstar's. The grimoire was also destroyed, along with Romaris Lyashi's spells and legacy. Liran wasn't sure she could tell Rei that the grimoire she had almost given his son belonged to his evil ancestor. But, knowing her friend, he'd just laugh it off and say it was just as well she took it back.

Bosnia eagerly filled her in on how the high king trapped them in a strange space, but the high princess cast spells that broke them out of it. They ended up fighting soulless with the army and wizards.

Darien added that the tower began to collapse around them. So the wizards used this as an opportunity to trap the soulless in the collapsed spaces.

Lyam sat next to Liran and added that when the royal family were teleported out of the courtyard, the soulless went with them. This gave the wizards time to evacuate everyone.

"Wei told us what you suffered to destroy the Morningstar's final threat to our world." Lyam smiled. "I couldn't be more proud of you."

"I had a dream of Xander and Thane." Liran looked up to the hall's cosmic cloud ceiling. "They're gone now and at peace."

Lyam patted her shoulder.

For the remainder of the day, it was full of celebrations and hopes for a future. Along with concerns for immediate fallouts. 

But Graylight reminded everyone to enjoy the moment. "No point in pushing the future forward." 

Thankfully, Liran, Aiden and Wei ensured everyone could stress for a tomorrow. 

Later, in the evening, when Liran and her friends entered Andor town, they saw Scot and Beserk had their tavern up and running. The entire town was celebrating its opening, but they were without a bard.

"Oh?" Liran got up on the stage Scot had set up at the back. She held Sparrowfire before her. Uriel's voice sailed through her ears, one last time, when she unwrapped the muslin cloth.

"The cosmic power, Daar'len Nau once held, let it now flow through Sparrowfire to uplift this generation and many more, many times over."

Liran let out a smug chuckle, as she felt the Law of Inspiration flow through her fingers, and passed on a boost to her audience's vitality and spirit without cost to her stamina.

She sang the song of how a tiny pebble was picked up by a traveling bard and, through trials and forged bonds, gave final rest to a 3000 year old world threat.

This song would be known to all other bards as Liran's Song.