Valdax, Rianna, and Keldras stood in the main hall with their luggage packed and ready.
The entire family had gathered to see them off.
Ziri tried to smile, but the worry in her eyes never quite disappeared.
Garrok stood with his arms crossed, watching his younger twin with a complicated expression.
Gorra ran over and threw her arms around Keldras, tears streaming freely down her face as her body shook with sobs.
“This isn’t fair,” she whined.
“Why do you have to leave?”
The family still didn’t know the real reason Keldras had to leave.
At his request, Ziri had kept the council’s discovery secret.
She had wanted to press him for answers, but Valdax had stopped her.
“He’s not a child anymore,” he said.
“He’ll tell us when he’s ready.”
Keldras gave Gorra a small smile.
“I’m not leaving forever, Sister. We’ll see each other again.”
Garrok walked over and rested a hand on Keldras’s shoulder.
“I expect you to be stronger the next time we meet. I can’t keep taking it easy on you forever.”
Then he crouched beside Gorra.
“They need to go now, Sister. You can’t hold on to him forever,” he said gently, carefully guiding her out of the bear hug.
After several more emotional goodbyes, the family accompanied them all the way to the gates of the Blackrend compound.
Only then did the three finally begin their journey.
They followed the well-worn road toward the mountain cave that led into the Under-Realm, where the mountain elves made their home.
At the cavernous entrance, Keldras stopped and looked back over his shoulder.
Memories of the past several months drifted through his mind.
His home.
The explosion.
Saphira.
The Coliseum.
Bolg.
Everything had changed.
Just as he was about to turn away, he spotted three figures sprinting up the path in the distance.
They stopped in front of them, bent over and panting for breath.
Lokara stepped forward, her eyes red-rimmed.
“I just…”
She looked down.
“I’m really going to miss you.”
Urzok grinned and smacked Keldras across the back.
“Make sure those elves see what Blackspire folk are made of.”
Ghola knelt and pulled several small cloth-wrapped bundles from his bag.
“For the trip,” he said.
“Salted dried boar meat. It should keep for a while.”
Urzok snickered, earning a sharp look from Ghola.
“Thanks,” Keldras replied, carefully packing the bundles into his luggage.
“We only just got to know each other, but I’ll miss you too.”
With one final nod, he turned toward the cave entrance.
He looked back one last time at the place that had been his home for seventeen years, committing the sight to memory before stepping into the darkness of the tunnels.
Keldras stepped into the darkness.
Behind him, the light of Blackspire slowly disappeared.
Saphira’s voice echoed quietly within his mind.
“No turning back now.”
Keldras didn’t answer.
He simply kept walking.
I felt like I left off the last chapter of the volume a little abruptly without a solid farewell scene so I wrote it into the epilogue as a last thought before going to bed, it’s currently 1:17am and i’m tired so sleep time.