Chapter Text
ARTHUR LEYWIN
For the first time in what felt like a thousand lifetimes, I had nowhere that I needed to be.
It should have felt like a relief.
Instead, somehow, it just felt… strange.
Strange, indeed.
I stood outside the newly rebuilt council hall in Xyrus City with my hands tucked behind my back. Workers hauled fresh lumber and stone through the wide archway, the scent of cut pine mixing with the damp earth left behind by last night’s downpour.
Around us, the city was clawing its way back to life.
Children—human, elf, dwarf, and even the occasional young asura—chased one another down the cobbled streets.
Merchants barked prices over stalls piled with salvaged goods.
While a blacksmith cursed aloud nearby as a heavy iron hammer slipped from his calloused grip.
Normal.
Xyrus seemed normal.
The world sounded normal.
I closed my eyes, listening, letting the pulse of the city wash over me.
Feeling.
There were no screams or shouts deafening the crowd.
No smell of ozone and burning flesh.
Or even a world crashing down upon us all.
Just…
Life.
Raw and stubborn.
A world now brimming full of it.
‘You know,’ a familiar voice chimed from behind me, ‘most people blink every once in a while. Or at least open their eyes when they are standing in the middle of a walkway.’
I cracked open one eye and turned towards the origin of the tease that was directed at me.
Ellie stood with her arms crossed, wearing the kind of smug grin only a younger sibling could perfect.
‘You look like you’re day-dreaming, Brother.’
This sister of mine!
I reached out and tousled her tied-back hair in response, thoroughly ruining her hairdo. ‘Oi, my hair!’ She swatted my hand away and said, ‘It’s all messed up now,’ as she attempted to smooth down the strands.
I couldn't help the light chuckle that escaped me. ‘I did blink.’
‘You’ve been staring at that building for ten minutes.’
‘I was merely thinking.’
‘More like brooding.’
‘I’m noticing a pattern here,' I admitted softly. Without King’s Gambit to constantly fuel, partition, and structure my thoughts anymore, my mind felt, a little, scattered. I guess this must be the side effect of relying on it for so long.
Ellie laughed, stepping closer. ‘You make it too easy to know.’
I sighed dramatically and rested my hands on her shoulders, feigning deep betrayal. ‘I survived literal gods only to be bullied by my little sister. Tsk.’
Ellie, catching on to my tease, continued on the charade. ‘You’ve always been bullied by your little sister.’
‘Fair point.’
Her smile faded slightly, replaced by a softer, more grounded look. She reached up, placing her hands over mine. ‘You should get used to peace, Art.’
I know I should. But it’s been harder than I thought. I can’t help but feel like this might end soon. Heavy, almost fragile—like glass waiting for a hammer to shatter it.
‘I’m trying,’ I murmured.
‘No,’ she smiled knowingly, putting her hands on my hands that were on her shoulder and squeezing them. ‘You’re trying to prepare for the next disaster.’
I didn’t answer that. Because Ellie was right.
Even now, every instinct told me that if things were quiet…
Something terrible was about to happen.
It just felt too good to be true.
Years of fighting, war, and surviving the worst had not just brought out strengths in me but also carved that expectation, a cold, guarded constant paranoia, into my very soul.
Ellie looked at me, and her expression softened. ‘There isn’t another war waiting around the corner anymore,’ she reassured. ‘It’s over, Arthur.’
‘I know,’ rubbing the back of my neck, the old habit surfacing immediately when I got nervous or did not know what to do with myself.
‘Do you?’
I looked past her, towards the bustling streets, the council hall, and the endless world below this floating city.
‘I want to.’