The fires had been put out.
The bodies had been buried.
And Stonecut Hollow lived.
That was the part no one talked about in the songs—how you could win, barely, and still feel like the mountain was pressing down on your chest afterward.
I stood on the upper ring of the canyon, overlooking the forge pit, the smoke-stained walls, and the jagged scar where the southern ramp used to be. The rocks still glowed faintly from where the demons had burned through them.
Behind me, the others were packing. I wasn't ready yet.
There was something in the silence—maybe not peace, but... proof.
We made it.
Somehow.
---
Silas was the first to say his goodbyes.
Well, technically, the first to get chased away.
"Did you just take the tavern's dice box?" Lyra hissed as a dwarf stormed up the path behind him.
"I won it. Fair and questionably square," Silas said, ducking behind me.
The dwarf grumbled something in Dwarvish and tossed him a sack of trail rations anyway.
Velis was shaking hands—awkwardly—with the rune-keeper she'd spent three days arguing with.
He gave her a leather-bound scroll case and muttered, "You're too smart for your own good, human. But you got sharp eyes. Stay alive."
She nodded. "I plan to. Especially with what we found down there."
Iria stood near the forge, saying nothing.
One of the miners approached and handed her a carved iron rune, etched with a symbol of strength and permanence.
"For Iron Song," he said. "Stonecut won't forget."
Iria accepted it with both hands, bowed at the waist, and tucked the rune into a pouch beside Edelbrecht.
She didn't speak until we were halfway up the cliff.
---
I was last.
One of the younger miners—the same guy who showed me how not to crush my own toes with a cart—handed me a smooth blackstone pendant, shaped like a shield.
"Yer earned this, kid," he said.
I stared at it a moment. "You sure?"
He shrugged. "You didn't run. That's worth something."
I almost asked if he had the wrong guy.
But instead, I nodded.
And put it on.
The Road Out
We walked for hours before anyone spoke.
Stonecut shrank behind us, swallowed by cliffs and dust and silence.
Velis walked at the front, scroll case slung across her back.
Silas trailed behind, flipping a stolen coin and humming something off-key.
I walked beside Lyra.
She hadn't said much since the battle. Just watched. Not distant. Not angry.
Just... thinking.
"I didn't die," I said eventually.
"You tried."
"Still. Progress."
She shot me a look, then handed me another salve. "You'll feel that bruised rib again tomorrow. Apply this or don't complain."
"Thanks."
"You're welcome. Idiot."
That night, we made camp in a narrow pass just beyond the cliffs.
The fire crackled. Food was simple. Conversation was quieter than usual.
Then Iria spoke.
"You were not useless, Kaname."
The fire flickered.
I looked up. "Thanks?"
"You fought. Improvised. Took risk. You are... rough. But present."
That may have been the most knightly compliment I'd ever get.
Velis added, "Your decision was reckless."
"Here we go."
"But it worked. That's not nothing."
Silas nodded. "You're basically a magic-resistant cockroach. Surprisingly useful in a cave."
"...Thanks?"
Lyra didn't speak until later.
We were alone by the edge of the cliff trail. She was rewrapping her hands. I was pretending not to stare at a splinter in mine.
"You've improved," she said quietly.
"Physically?"
"In general."
"Oh."
A pause.
Then: "You're still reckless. You still make dumb decisions. But you're... surviving better."
I looked at her.
She looked away.
"That doesn't mean I like you," she added.
"Of course not."
"Good."
I smirked. "So when you made a backup salve for me after I used the last one—?"
"Shut up."
Dawn
We left at sunrise.
Boots dusty. Spirits... quieter.
We didn't know where we were headed next. Only that Velis had marked a spot on our map—a possible third node. Another piece of the Demon Lord's growing network.
But for now, we walked.
Together.
Not because of fate.
Not because of prophecy.
But because, in the end...
We'd bled beside each other.
We'd survived.
And the world wasn't going to fix itself.