The gates groaned shut behind us, their echo reverberating across the plains like the final heartbeat of a life I had outgrown. I stood there, Dario’s hand warm in mine, and for a long moment I simply looked back over my shoulder to stare at the walls of Solaris—the shining golden stone, the banners rippling in the morning breeze, the faint outlines of the people who lingered still at the top of the battlements, watching their High Priestess step away.
A part of me wanted to wave one last time, to cling to the comfort of the familiar. But my feet stayed rooted where they were, facing outward, toward the horizon. My heart whisperedfirmly:forward.
The world outside the city stretched vast and wild before me. Rolling fields of gold unfurled under the morning sun, dotted with clusters of wildflowers that bent in the breeze like worshippers bowing their heads.
Far beyond the plains, shadowed forests darkened the horizon, and jagged mountain peaks rose like teeth against the sky.
I inhaled deeply, savoring the scent of wild thyme and dew-damp earth. It mingled faintly with the lingering perfume of incense drifting from Solaris, the last whisper of a life of duty. The contrast struck me like a chord plucked taut—the old, fading, and the new, vibrant and unbound.
Beside me, Dario was silent, his silver eyes fixed on the horizon. The morning light kissed the angles of his face, catching in his dark hair, and for a moment he looked less like the feared Shadow King and more like something elemental, ancient as the plains themselves.
Yet when his gaze turned to me, all of that power softened. I saw the man who had fought beside me, who had burned with me, who had chosen me.
“Strange, isn’t it?” I said softly, unable to keep the tremor from my voice. “All my life, the world has been just out there—beyond the wards, beyond the walls—and yet I never really saw it. Not like this.”
Dario’s lips curved faintly, though his gaze stayed fixed ahead. “Freedom always looks different when you’ve paid its price.”
His words settled in me like stones dropped into water, sending ripples outward. I thought of the faces I had left behind—Amira, Leonidas, the novices who had looked at me with wide-eyed trust. I thought of Aeldrin, his lined face filled with pride and sorrow as he urged me to go. My throat tightened. For a moment I nearly faltered.
But then Dario squeezed my hand. I turned to him, and in his gaze I found not just comfort, but truth.Thiswas my choice. No one else’s. For once, it was not sacrifice. It was love.
We began to walk.
The road beneath our feet was little more than a dirt track, carved by the passing of traders and pilgrims over centuries, but to me it felt like a newly drawn line in the world, leading us toward something vast and unwritten. The golden grasses swayed on either side, brushing my fingertips when I stretched them out, each blade sharp and alive. Birds darted above us, their wings catching the light, their songs ringing out in bright defiance of silence.
And above us both, Meryn flew overhead, flying on, then circling back, hooting softly as if to get us to hurry.
Each step was lighter than the last, as if the robes of my High Priestesshood were peeling away thread by thread, leaving me less encumbered, less tethered to stone and gold. For the first time in a century, I did not feel the weight of eyes upon me. There were no titles here. No altar. No crown of duty.
Only me. Only Elena.
I laughed suddenly, the sound startling even me. It broke from my chest raw and unrestrained. Dario glanced at me, one brow arching, but his lips curved in a smile that softened the sharpness of his features.
“What is it?” he asked.
“I don’t know,” I admitted, still laughing softly. “It feels… strange. To breathe like this. To laugh without worrying who might hear. To walk without knowing where I’m going.”
His smile deepened, faint but genuine. “Then we’ll keep walking until we find out.”
We crested a small rise, and from its peak, Solaris spread out behind us like a jewel—a city of gold and white stone, crowned by its shining temple. I stopped, staring at it one final time.
The sight struck me with a bittersweet pang. That had been my world, my cage, my altar, and my prison, all in one. I had given it my love, my life, my very blood. And now, I was leaving it to stand on its own.
A whisper slipped from my lips, carried by the wind: “Goodbye.”
Slowly, I turned away, and together we began our descent into the fields.
The horizon stretched endlessly before us, vast and wild and unknown. And for the first time in my life, the unknown did not terrify me.
It thrilled me.
I tightened my grip on Dario’s hand, my heart racing not with fear, but with anticipation. The Sun God’s light had guided me once. Now, it was my own choice, my own love, that would lead me.
And as the walls of Solaris faded behind us, swallowed by distance and sunlight, I whispered to myself, to him, to the world itself:
“This is only the beginning.”
~
