The days that followed the rekindling of the Eternal Flame were unlike any others in Elvaris. The skies shimmered with a faint golden hue, a quiet testimony to the power that had surged through the heavens. The wind carried warmth, not just in temperature, but in spirit — as if the land itself remembered the sacrifice.
At the Royal Academy, the absence of Yuto and Noa was more than noticeable — it was a silence that stretched through corridors and sat heavily in every classroom. Their seats remained untouched. Their names, unspoken for a time, lingered in the air like whispers too sacred to speak aloud.
Souta Minami stood at the Academy's eastern tower, gazing out over the city below. His hand gripped the small leather-bound notebook that Yuto always carried. Inside were sketches, battle plans, fragments of poems, and clumsy attempts at romantic lines that never made it to Noa's ears — except one.
"I don't know what forever means, but if it's with you, I'll find out."
He flipped to the final page, where Noa's handwriting was scrawled in softer ink, almost faded:
"Promise me... when the next world finds us, we'll still know."
His breath caught. "You did it," he whispered to the wind. "You two really saved us."
Behind him, Aya Nishimura entered quietly, a bouquet of pale sakura petals in hand. She laid them by the window.
"Every spring," she said softly. "I'll bring these for her. For both of them."
"They wouldn't want us to grieve," Souta replied.
"No," she agreed. "But remembering them… that's not the same as grieving."
Elsewhere in the city, the Temple of Rebirth held a memorial. Citizens gathered not out of obligation, but out of love. Portraits of Yuto and Noa stood beneath the Eternal Flame's symbol, surrounded by offerings — hand-drawn letters, flowers, trinkets from children who had once laughed with them.
Hikari Shimizu lit a blue candle and bowed. "You showed us what love could be — what courage really meant."
Miyu and Kenta stood together, holding hands. Kenta whispered, "The world's safer now… but it feels emptier too."
Despite the sorrow, the world moved forward.
The Eternal Flame, now blazing stronger than ever, revived dormant magic in the lands. Ancient forests bloomed again. The floating isles returned to the skies. Magic academies around the world reopened, and a new generation of mages began training under the stories of the heroes who restored the cycle of life.
Souta became an instructor at the Academy, teaching lightning and elemental fusion — in honor of Yuto. Aya opened an art guild and named it Emerald Wind, after Noa's eyes. Hikari worked as a traveling guardian, protecting magic-infused villages and searching for signs of imbalance.
But every year, on the anniversary of the Eternal Flame's restoration, they all met at the ancient hill overlooking the sea — where the stars touched the earth.
They left two lanterns afloat, one blue and one pink, and watched them drift into the sky.
Yet, this wasn't truly the end.
Far beyond the veil of time, beyond the stars and the silence, a new world stirred.
In a quiet village surrounded by glowing forests and rivers of crystal, a young boy with cyan-blue hair opened his eyes for the first time. The midwife gasped at the gentle shock that ran through the room as he touched her finger — a spark of lightning.
A few miles away, a baby girl was born under a blooming sakura tree. Her hair was a soft pink, and when she first cried, a small flame flickered beside her, dancing in the wind before vanishing into the air.
Their parents named them without knowledge of the past — and yet, destiny knew better.
In a dream that night, the boy stirred.
He stood in a field of stars, a girl standing across from him, her emerald eyes bright and filled with tears.
"Noa?" he whispered.
She stepped forward, smiling.
"You remembered."