Chapter Text
He was floating within a sea of chaos, colors swirling together in fantastical hues that would never existed in reality.
Reality.
It seemed so distant, so strange. A contradiction in itself.
What was real?
Was touch real? He could feel everything, and nothing all at once. He could feel the colors that swirled around them.
Was it taste? He could taste everything. Sounds. Colors. Touches.
He could hear the roar of creation. He could hear the void of space. He could hear every heartbeat in the multiverse. Feel them. Taste them. Touch them.
He was everything and nothing and all things at once. Was he a he? Or was he a she?
Male. Female. Inconsequential distinctions.
His mind bled into the cosmos. The cosmos bled into his mind.
Slowly lives started to emerge. Pinpricks in his consciousness. They blossomed and grew, some flaring brighter than others. Some lives were there and gone in less time than it took to register his heartbeat.
His heartbeat?
He didn’t have a heart.
He discounted the thought as superfluous and went back to watching the lives. Mixed in with the here and gone flashes of so many mortals were long stretches of life, as he experienced the eons of… rankers.
An odd turn of phrase.
The lives grew brighter, more firm. More real. Instead of flickers, pops of consciousness there and gone in the noise and silence of the cosmos they became moving pictures.
Pictures that began to resolve into depictions of life that he did not like.
Farmers forcibly conscripted from their fields, made to fight in the petty squabbles of their liege lords. Gutted and run down like animals if they refused to fight or ran from the field of battle.
Slaves being beaten to death. Starved. Raped. Brutalized. World after world, millions, no billions of lives.
Atrocity after atrocity.
Tyranny after tyranny.
Domination after domination.
The people yearned to be free.
They yearned for safety.
They yearned for home.
For respite.
For hope.
They needed…
Their need clawed at him. Burrowed into him.
They needed him.
And he rose to answer their need.
He became Sanctuary.
Power ripped through the chaos, coalescing around him, burning into him, brighter than the sun, than 10 thousand suns, the need of trillions, poured into him, each one becoming its own sun. A sun that poured all their heat, all the light, all their power into him.
Their hatred.
Their love.
Their hope.
Their despair.
Their needs.
Their wants.
He took it all, drank deep of the lives that formed him.
And created Home. Created Safety. Created Sanctuary.
He was Sanctuary, and his realm was Sanctuary, and all who needed him could enter and find peace. Entrances to his realm populated across the cosmos.
Spirits of rest, recovery, safety, rejuvenation, security, peace, hope, justice, and love poured into his realm. Creating a paradise beyond measure.
His consciousness began to coalesce, pieces of himself spinning back together from the farthest flung reaches of space. Aspects of his mind that had flowed outwards coming back to him. Memories began piecing themselves back together.
Life as a boy on the harsh world of Praetoria, a world overrun by rifts allowed to grow out of control.
His training to be a slave.
His rescue from the prison that had caged his soul.
The brilliant sparks of life as he met Liamarillus. No Liam. His beloved.
Then the flare of his fiery passion as Meidron joined him.
The grief of Meidron’s loss.
The rage he felt at Praetoria’s gods.
The soothing balm of Lily joining with him.
The joy at Meidron’s return. Forever changed. Forever marked by the death that had claimed him.
His meeting of Kaeldryx and the pairing of their souls. The link so different than that of the lumin that lit his life.
Memory after memory returned as he rebuilt the identity that housed him.
A great power enveloped him. Slowly peeled him out of the layers of chaotic space and moving him back into physical reality. Transferring him back into the vessel that had been prepared to house him.
A vessel familiar yet different.
Awareness spread across him.
He was Torric, formerly of Veythor. Now of Sancti.
He loved, and was loved in turn. Not the love of a God to those who Needed him, but the earthly love, of bonds forged between souls.
The last of his new soul, his new Divine core folded itself into the vessel built to house him.
-*-
Torric’s eyes fluttered open. He was laying on an unfamiliar bed but wrapped in very familiar arms. His consciousness flowed outwards, new senses adapting to physical reality.
His back wasn’t as heavy. Realization flashed over him, his wings were gone! Even before the panic could finish rising it subsided as the knowledge that they still existed, but were contained as a celestial tattoo on his back. They weren’t gone, just changed. As he was.
The serenity of peace flowed back over him. Torric twisted around in bed, so that he was face to face with Kaeldryx, gold eyes meeting celestial silver.
“Hey.” He said softly.
“Hey yourself.” Dryx replied.
Torric kissed him, melting into his arms. Melting into home.
He felt Kaeldryx’s surprise, which quickly gave over to joy, his soul finding its home within Torric.
“You’re still you.” Kaeldryx breathed when the kiss broke. “I was worried you would be all cosmic entity and inscrutable in your divinity.”
“I am Home. Your Home. You brought me back to myself. You and Meidron and Liam and Lily. I will always be here for you to return to.”
“That’s good. Because your body has changed. A lot.”
“My body is just the vessel that houses my soul. If you are disturbed by it I can change it back.”
“No. Because you are still you.”
“Where is everyone else?”
“Aevyn is talking with Desolation. Liam, and Lily are still unconscious from their own transformations. Meidron is …somewhere. Desolation said he was undergoing his own evolution.”
Torric felt along the bonds that led to his two lumin and familiar. Lily and Liam would wake soon, having been brought from B grade to the very cusp of S, their bodies exhausted from the influx of energy.
Meidron though… he had changed, as much or more than Torric had. The spirit had been infused with his Divine energy, Oblivion torn away and replaced with Sanctuary. He could feel his familiar, unmaterialized in the spirit realm adjacent to the material. He was aware, but exhausted, too drained to take on physical form. He opened the pathway between them, pouring energy into his bond. In an hour or two he’d be strong enough that Torric could summon him forth.
“Everyone is safe for now, and will join us soon enough. For the moment I’m just going to steal time with you alone.” Torric replied.
“You don’t want to know what you look like now?” Dryx teased.
“I see myself reflected in your eyes, and that is good enough for now.”
They stayed cuddled together, basking in each other’s presence, hearts beating as one, breathing in sync, whispering words of love and affirmation interspersed with kisses.
He felt when Lily and Liam’s minds ignite when they drew closer to waking. “Our Lily and Liam are about to wake.” He murmured quietly. “We should be there when they come to.”
“Yes.” Kaeldryx agreed.
Torric reached out with his magic and shifted them through space to the room next door where Lily and Liam were laid out on their backs, hands folded over their chests, side by side in bed. He gently teased Liam to life with sweet kisses, sensing his mind was closer to the surface than Lily’s.
“Torric?” He asked groggily.
“Yes.”
“You’ve changed.”
“Yes. But the core of me is the same.” He laid a gentle kiss on Liam’s lips. “Now let us wake our Lily-bell.”
He kissed Lily awake the same way he had done Liam, and she smiled up at him. “Am I the last one up?” She asked.
“Meidron is still resting in the spirit realm.” Torric answered. “He’ll join us soon.”
His two lumin had changed, probably as much as he had. Lily still had her wolf tail and ears, but her skin, like Liam’s, like his own, had changed to shining celestial silver, gleaming with a blue sheen, skin glittering like it was brushed with diamonds. Her hair, ears, and tail were a soft rose gold. Liam’s hair too was now an identical rose gold.
Though he kept most of his original features, including his pointed ears, both he and Lily now also had a similarity in bone structure. Though they each bore features of their original races and faces, they now looked as if they could have been siblings. His matched set. The lights of Torric’s life.
If Kaeldryx was his home, Lily and Liam lit the path to guide him there. And Meidron, dim though he was at the moment, was his hearth fire.
While they all had the same silvery-blue skin, Torric’s was covered not in stripes any more, but the constellations of the skies of Praetoria, gold stars lined in black, with black lines connecting them. He was finally convinced to look in a mirror.
He’d kept his tiger’s ears, thank.. It felt odd to think of thanking the gods when he was now one. Did that mean he was thanking himself? That was an even stranger thought than the thought of losing his ears. Having no stripes was strange enough. The ears were now the rose gold, with silver stars in place of the ‘eyes’ on the back of his ears. Those he had to see using his ability to perceive everything around him at once.
His tail too, was rose gold. Torric’s hair was not really white, though it gave the impression of white, at least far away, white with a subtle rainbow sheen. Up close each strand refracted the light like a prism constrained within keratin.
His face had stayed the same, thankfully, at least their features. The same near perfect androgyny. The length of his hair shifted him to the more effeminate side. His tiger’s mask of stripes was gone, as were his whiskers. In their place was the same arrangement of 5 stars that all his lovers bore.
“Do you like it?” He asked. “I know it's different. I can shift back if you prefer it.”
“It’s lovely. You’re lovely.” Lilly replied, hugging him from behind, arms encircling his neck. “And now that your wings aren’t permanent it makes it much easier to do this.”
“And you don’t have to worry about drowning from your wings getting water logged.” Kaeldryx added.
“I don’t need to breathe any more, so drowning isn’t a concern.”
“You’re breathing now.” Lily said with a frown.
“I’m simulating breathing to keep you all at ease. All of my internal functions have ceased. I don’t even need to eat any more. Not that I intend on giving that up. I enjoy your and Mei’s cooking far too much for that. But the only reason I have internal organs right now is because you would sense the fact that they’re missing and be disturbed.”
“Well, we all stop needing to eat and stuff as we get up the Ladder. Our bodies start existing on mana alone.” Liam said with a shrug. “You just took it extra far.”
“Does that mean you can’t have children?” Lily asked.
“Do not worry love, when we are ready for them, you will have our children. But not for many years yet.”
Lily laughed. “No. Not until I’m at least 500. Me? A mother before 100? Absolutely not.”
“I for one, am glad that Torric remained pocket sized.” Kaeldryx said from the bed. “Makes him more adorable.”
“I’m glad that he’s grounded for a God.” Liam said. “I’ve met a few before when they visited my parents and I had to be there for a royal reception. They’re usually so… otherworldly. Torric just feels.. Like Torric. But more. Torric plus. Does that make sense?”
“The feeling of home has intensified.” Kaeldryx agreed. “Just being in his presence is restful. Peaceful.”
“Excuse me Lily.” Torric shifted to the side out of her embrace, and into Meidron’s arms as he formed next to her, molding his body against his familiar, lips crushed against his. “Welcome back, love.”
“Mmm. Welcome back to you. It’s been a thousand years since I’ve felt you.”
“Perception of time is different in chaotic space. It was a thousand years but it was also a few seconds. But for you it was a thousand years in the spirit realm, disconnected from me.”
“I felt it when your Divine core ignited. When you made your domain you remade me in its image.”
“Yes. Now you are now the realm spirit of Refuge, and not a mere spirit of Oblivion.”
Everyone now knew of the Refuge. It was both a real physical location, for all Gods had to root their domain in a physical world, and a spiritual plane. When he had become Sanctuary he created the Refuge, placing the new world where Praetoria had once stood. Anyone could come to Refuge in a time of great peril, be they truly in need and pure of intention, by merely praying to him. That innate knowledge had spread throughout celestine controlled space in a wave outwards.
He did not demand devotion, or conversion to the religion that was forming in his Name, in order to gain entrance to Refuge. It was meant as a safe haven and that was what it would be. Sanctuary was for everyone, and so the Refuge was too. Millions had already immigrated to his new world, finding cities, farms, and villages ready and waiting for them. More were coming every second. Even orbiting above Avalon, in an entirely different section of material space, two planes away, he could still sense Refuge, and every new arrival. Would always sense it.
“Mei is the realm spirit of Refuge?” Lily asked, surprised. “How can he be here, then?”
“This is a projection of a part of my spiritual body.” Meidron replied. “Just Torric’s body is a physical manifestation of only a part of his spiritual self. Most of both of us are in Refuge.”
“Now that is freaky.” Liam said with a laugh.
“Mei can’t leave Refuge, not really. And if I were to come here with my real self I’d overwhelm Avalon. And it would super annoy the local Gods. And now that Mei is here, we have some major conversations to have. Not just us as a family, but with Aevyn as a party, uncle Kierical, the queen. And Desolation wants me to leave as soon as possible. My Domain is incongruent with his. Being forced to occupy the same space is uncomfortable for us both.”
“I’m ready when you are.” Kaeldryx said, jumping out of bed, where he’d been lounging.
Torric didn’t even need to ask to know that Lily, Liam, and Meidron were ready to leave. “We’ll go collect Ae, then. Everyone else can get a ride back to Avalon through Desolation.”
He shifted them outside, to where Aevyn was sitting on the edge of the floating ‘island’, gazing down at the planet below. They didn’t even look up when the five of them appeared behind them.
“We’re leaving then?” They asked.
“Yep. With my Elevation I need distance from Desolation.”
“Good. Hearing him rant about the stupidness of morality gets tiresome by the end of the first day, let alone the next two. I’m more than ready to be gone.”
A swirling rose gold and silver portal appeared between them. “Everyone through the portal. We’ll appear back at the school.” Once Liam, Lily, Aevyn, and Kaeldryx were through the portal, Torric closed it and shifted himself and Meidron back to the planet.
Their dorm was exactly as they had left it, three days, or in some cases 1,000 years later. The servants appeared from their section of the floor almost immediately, greeting Torric reverently, which he waved off immediately.
“No need for that. Treat me as close to normal as you can. I don’t want to be bowed to or ‘your eminenced’ or anything like that. This space is our home, not my temple. I’d love for all of you to join us, later for a celebratory meal. Not as employees, but cherished members of our family.”
The five servants were quick to agree, and looked genuinely elated to have been invited to sit down for a meal with him. The five retreated upstairs to start plotting the impromptu feast with Kaeldryx’s servants, while Torric and the rest of his party gathered in the parlor.
“So what is the big important conversation we need to have?” Liam asked.
“Well, some of it is related to the school, and our stay on Avalon in general, and our future here. And the formation of our royal House.”
“Royal?” Lily asked teasingly. “You took me from slave to a queen in less than a year?”
“You’re affianced to the God-king of Refuge, so yes, that would make you its future queen. Not that our kingdom will be in any way normal. Eventually I’ll hand off the running of the planet to our children, but for now I’m stuck with the job. And I’m only tangentially responsible for your freeing from slavery.”
“A lot of people are going to be mad about Refuge.” Kaeldryx pointed out. “How many slaves are escaping their bonds and taking the passage?”
“So far? 17 million.” Torric answered. “I expect that to rise exponentially as time goes by. Let their masters be angry. I know the conditions that must be met to trigger safe passage. They are lucky that all I do is remove the victims and leave them untouched.”
“They might try to take revenge.” Liam pointed out.
“Then I will assemble my legions and we will go forth and free the people from their oppression. I am the embodiment of the home and community. If that means freeing my people forcibly and returning their homes to them through force of arms I will do so, and gladly.”
“Your people?” Aevyn asked, raising a brow.
“Everyone who longs for home, hearth, and safety is one of my people. They do not need to pray to me to empower me. I exist everywhere people gather to build a home. Within every community who unites in common cause. Good or evil, everyone wants family. Wants a home. And I don’t just mean family by blood. Chosen family. Friends. Lovers. Those that build community together make me stronger and as I strengthen their bonds grow tighter.”
“So you claim neutrality?” Aevyn challenged.
“No. I am good aligned. But there is more nuance to the situation of good and evil. It is not black and white, though there are very, very clear lines. Lines that many don’t care about crossing.”
Aevyn nodded. “Good. No pun intended. While I’m not joining your family, Good wishes me to join your house as their ambassador, and to act as an advisor. If you’re willing to have me.”
“I’d love you joining us in any capacity.” Torric answered her with a smile.
He turned his attention to Kaeldryx. “And you? Would you forsake your allegiances and join with me? Join my house? Forsake the pursuit of Power for the love of hearth and home?”
“Without hesitation.” Kaeldryx swore, eyes burning. “There is more strength found in the protection of love and home and the pursuit of safety than can ever be found in the mindless drive towards crushing power and using might as the cudgel to enforce toxic authority.”
Torric smiled at him. “It makes me so happy to see you find your way.”
In an instant he’d gone from his seat to Kaeldryx’s lap, pulling his head down, not to kiss him, but to press his forehead against his. “Power through unity. Strength through love. Authority through community.”
Something in Kaeldryx's chest cracked open, old, long-sealed, aching.
"I forgot," he whispered. "I forgot it could be like this."
Torric's hands cradled his face. "Then let me remind you. Every moment, of every day. For as long as you need. Dryksarian.”
The mask hiding his identity shattered with his Naming. Black chains bubbling to the surface of his skin then breaking up into motes of rose gold, drifting into the air like embers blown in the wind, and fading to sparks of nothingness.
“Why?” He asked softly, voice echoing through the ages. “Why do you accept me after I allowed my purpose to be corrupted?”
“Because you need me. Authority and Community are meant to exist as one. We complete each other. Because together we are stronger than Tyranny.”
“How did you know? When did you know? I didn’t even know who I was.” He asked softly.
"Deceit's mask. And more of Fate’s meddling. When I was connected to the cosmos I was able to read more of the threads weaving through us all. Tyranny’s slow gradual corruption of Dominion. His using of Deceit’s power to twist you into a creation of his making. Fate’s maneuvering. Stealing me, stealing you. She kidnapped us both. You were hidden among Urdmoggra’s brood, me on Praetoria. Destined to meet here and now, in this place. To be enemies or lovers.”
“Why would Deceit help Tyranny corrupt then help Fate kidnap Dominion and hide him?” Liam asked.
“It is the nature of Deceit to deceive.” Dryx answered. “Even if it means deceiving its allies.”
“So we aren’t fighting Dominion?” Liam asked, looking between the two. “And he’s suddenly a good guy, just like that? And not the evil bad guy who killed Freedom, Sovereignty, Self-Determination, and the rest?”
“I did those things.” Dryx acknowledged slowly. “I have committed or allowed a great many atrocities under Tyranny’s influence. And I will have to atone for that. I cannot claim ignorance. Even if Tyranny was manipulating me, I could have turned away from his path. I was given the chance five times. And five times I killed the one who tried to become my balance. I chose destruction.”
“Exactly.” Liam replied. “Why should we trust you now? You chose to kill. To destroy. What makes Torric different? Why now? What changed?”
“I didn’t set myself up as his enemy.” Torric answered. “Dominion’s nature is that he would actively try to destroy those who directly challenged him. Each person who rose before me chose opposition. Defiance. Retribution. I offered love and peace. I didn’t challenge him or try to break him. I wore down his resistance with love. I gentled the horse, rather than trying to break its spirit. But his acceptance of me, of my peace, of Community, it erased the influence of Tyranny. I reset Dominion to his true purpose. He could no more kill me than Aevyn could. Not any more. He chose me. He chose home over power.”
“The true enemy is, and always was Tyranny.” Aevyn said, simply. “Authority that exists for the sake of itself is and was always going to be vulnerable to manipulation and corruption. Even if it wasn’t Tyranny, it could have been another, like Hatred. Nature hates a vacuum and all that. Think about who Dominion killed. Freedom. Sovereignty. Self Determination. Equity. Equality. Are those a threat to Authority, or are they a threat to Tyranny?”
“Which is why Tyranny broke the law about no more than one rank up when he had Torric kidnapped.” Lily said, with dawning realization. “He realized that Torric was a legitimate threat to his plans. He needed to remove Torric from the picture before he and Dryx connected. But Tyranny being Tyranny he had to try to break Torric before killing him, which was why Torric was tortured before they were going to kill them. Only Torric was rescued before he could be killed.”
“I was going to propose.” Dryx announced. “The night Torric was kidnapped. That night at dinner I was going to propose.”
“And then Authority would have joined with Community.” Aevyn spoke into the shocked silence. “And Tyranny would have been undone.”
“So now what?” Liam asked. “If Dryx is now revealed as Dominion, and you two are united, what does that mean?”
“War.” Dryx answered. “It means war. Tyranny will not allow Torric to complete the Ladder and thus cement himself as my balance. Now more than ever he will try to separate us. Try to corrupt me and kill Torric. Without my help Tyranny can’t exist. Tyranny without Authority is powerless.”
A long silence followed that declaration.
"So we just need to keep you two together and get Torric up the Ladder," Liam said slowly. "And Tyranny... ceases to exist?"
"In theory," Dryx replied. "In practice, Tyranny will burn the cosmos before letting that happen."
“And the first place he will strike is Refuge.” Torric concluded. “The seat of my power and the literal manifestation of my Domain.”
“So what are you waiting for, we have to go to Refuge and protect it!” Liam exclaimed.
Torric shook his head. “It will take time to set up a planetary assault. Time while Tyranny gathers his allies. Time for us to gather ours. We have the house of Veythor on our side already.”
“I have no formal house, but my siblings are standing by and waiting to join the war.” Aevyn replied steadfastly.
“I no doubt have the allegiance of all the celestines who showed to back me against the queen about indentured servitude. With Desolation here the reception of its house to Avalon can occur. Which means important house from across the multiverse will come to meet with it. And the entire reception was supposed to be about unveiling me to multiversal society as a whole. There will be many alliances to be made.
“And many opportunities for a spy to be inserted into our camp.” Meidron spoke for the first time. “With Deceit on the board anyone is suspect.”
“And where Deceit goes, Disguise often follows.” Aevyn agreed.
“We also have to meet with the demon empress.” Lily said. “As the demons are the descendants of War they could go either way, and have already tried to kill Torric once. They say they come to offer peace and settle the difference between them and Torric, but why would War want to stop a conflict?”
“Unless the demons want to ally with us against Tyranny. If War thinks siding with our forces is the better play, he would.” Torric replied.
“No matter what side he picks, War gets what he wants. A war.” Meidron pointed out. “And as a former demon, it could go either way. It depends on if the empress decides it is more beneficial to align with Torric or oppose him. She will always act in the way that most benefits the empire. Or at least what she thinks will benefit the empire.”
“So we play politics.” Liam groaned. “I hate politics. That’s why I gave up being a prince.”
“And yet you’re now engaged to a God-king.” Torric said with a smile.
“You weren’t a God-king when we got engaged.”
“Don’t worry. You can sit in the background and look pretty until it comes to actually fighting.” Torric teased.
“Maybe I will.” Liam replied with a haughty sniff. The smile playing in the corners of his lips gave lie to his ‘offense’.
“But we do actually need to form a formal House if we’re going to start making alliances with other houses.” Torric said more seriously, circling back around to the beginning of their conversation.
They spent hours ironing out the details of their house, from inane but important things like its sigil and colors, but things that actually mattered, like how the house would be structured and positions that would need to be filled, who they would and wouldn’t want to make alliances with based on information that they already knew.
“So what does this mean for the academy?” Liam asked when they’d finally exhausted the topic of forming House Sancti. “Three of us are peak S grade, which means we technically out-leveled the academy. And Dominion is a full on celestine, now that his memories and magic are restored.”
“I’ve been having a clone speaking with Queen Morrigan and Headmaster Pendragon while we discussed the house.” Torric replied. “We are going to have to officially withdraw from the school. Technically Aevyn could stay...”
“I only came because of you. If you’re leaving I’m leaving too.” Aevyn immediately replied. “Besides, as one of Goods agents I can rank up to your levels whenever I want.”
“That’s decided then. So we’ll have to pack up tomorrow and vacate the premises. We are, however, invited back to watch the tournament. It sucks that we can’t do the raid though. I was really looking forward to it.” Torric said with a sigh. “Regardless, we also cannot go back to my uncle’s house. We’re allied, but I’m not officially part of house Veythor anymore, so we can’t rely on them the way I had. The queen is arranging for a living space for us to move into in the meantime, since we’re going to be here for a couple months longer, at the very least.
Furthermore, Lily, your family is being collected and will be on their way here shortly. And Liam, your parents are going to be coming as well. After the reception introducing me to society we will be having our engagement party. The queen wishes to host it, as part of the negotiations to create a World Hearth on Earth to help it recover from its apocalypse.”
“Really!” Lily said excitedly. “I haven’t seen my family in over a decade, not since I had to sell myself to cover the healing fees.”
“One of my clones is part of the party transporting them, so they’re in good hands. And another one of my clones is with your parents, Liam.”
“How many clones do you have?” Liam demanded.
“A lot.” Meidron answered for him. “You should see how many Torric clones are running around Refuge.”
“It’s a big planet!” Torric protested.
"And it's filling up fast," Meidron countered with a smile. "Seventeen million and counting."
A comfortable silence settled over them, the weight of everything discussed,war, alliances, politics, family, hanging in the air alongside the anticipation of what was to come.
Torric looked around at the faces gathered in the parlor. Kaeldryx, no, Dryksarian, Dominion himself, his soulmate and balance. Lily and Liam, his lights, his matched set, transformed and bound to him. Meidron, his hearth fire, remade in Sanctuary's image. And Aevyn, steadfast friend and Good's ambassador.
His family. His house. His home.
Outside, war was coming. Tyranny would strike. Deceit and Disguise lurked in shadows. The demon empress calculated her allegiances. Across the multiverse, powers aligned and prepared for conflict. But here, in this moment, surrounded by those he loved and who loved him in return, mortal love, not divine worship, Torric felt something he hadn't allowed himself to feel in the thousand subjective years since his soul had been torn apart and remade.
Hope.
"Alright," he said, standing and offering his hand to Kaeldryx. "We have work to do. A house to establish, allies to gather, a war to prepare for."
He pulled his soulmate to his feet and into an embrace. "But first, I believe our servants are preparing a feast. And I, for one, intend to enjoy it."
"To family," Lily said, rising with her glass already in hand.
"To home," Liam added, joining her.
"To Sanctuary," Aevyn declared.
"To love," Kaeldryx whispered against Torric's temple.
"To us," Torric concluded. "And to whatever comes next."
They had been stolen from their lives, hidden across the cosmos, tortured and corrupted and broken. But they had found each other. They had chosen love over power, community over domination, home over war.
And if Tyranny wanted to take that from them, he would learn what it meant to face Sanctuary and Authority united.
Let him come.
They would be ready.