Zephyr still chose not to join Keal.
He couldn't.
Not because Keal was wrong or because something about Keal made him uneasy— but because Zephyr couldn't let anything bind him to this world. Not a cause. Not an affection. Not even a terrifying future. He was already struggling with the bond he had with Merin.
He'd promised himself he would leave after his revenge. That was the deal.
But now… even that was fraying.
Zephyr didn't know how to move forward with the idea of revenge anymore. On one hand, he burned with it—wanted to watch Keede choke on his blade, wanted to crush the ones who'd called him "Aetherless trash." But on the other, the path to vengeance seemed to run parallel with the destruction of this world.
A world that had once been fictional to the masses.
A story.
But now… it breathed. The people bled. Laughed. Hurt. Hoped.
They were real.
And a lot of them were innocent.
