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The sky was still covered in soot and traces of smoke hanging in the air, as if the world itself was breathing with difficulty. But the air… the air was different now.
It was the air of after.
After the deafening silence. After the bursts of power that tore reality apart. After the star faced the abyss… and kept shining.
The ruined city resembled the body of a slumbering giant. The surface, marked by craters and twisted skeletons of skyscrapers, pulsed faintly with the distant sound of propellers and boots. Helicopters descended through the dust clouds, carrying supplies, medics, and reinforcements—mechanical birds bringing a strange comfort.
Mei Nuhay, her shoulders bronzed and scorched by excess energy, her outfit torn in several places, sat on a broken bench, holding a mug of hot coffee between her hands.
She observed everything with eyes both tired and proud.
She was exhausted, wounded… but alive.
And smiling.
Beside her, Tekio slowly chewed a protein bar, his face still dirty, with an improvised bandage on his temple and a fresh cut on his lip.
— This tastes like waxed paper — he murmured, wrinkling his nose.
— And since when have you been eating waxed paper? — Mei retorted, blowing on the coffee before taking the first sip. Her eyes closed as she tasted it, and she let out a genuine sigh. — Hmm... this just saved my palate.
If it weren't for this coffee, I would have lost it. Again.
She bit into her own bar and made a dramatic face, as if she had eaten sand with glue.
— This is punishment. I saved the world, Tekio. I should be served golden croissants filled with nebula… and a glass of wine distilled from the Milky Way.
Tekio laughed, though the laugh came out weak, as if finding humor in anything was difficult.
— Maybe they're looking for that in the ruins. Perhaps the waiter died in the apocalypse.
Mei let out a "tch" and smiled sideways.
— Unacceptable. My sense of justice has been offended.
In front of them, the first Sif battalion was setting up makeshift structures: reinforced tents, medical triage areas, rest zones, and evacuation points. Drones hovered like metallic insects, and towers with spotlights bathed the crater in an artificial… but warm amber light.
Survivors were being rescued from the concentration camps located beneath the ruins. Hungry, hurt, but alive. Many cried just from seeing the sky.
The remaining Reapers were dead or had fled.
But above one of the rescue zones… something still remained.
A bubble of black energy hovered in the air.
It spun slowly, like a heart made of hatred and smoke, pulsating negativity in liquid form.
It was pure abyss.
— This is… wrong — whispered one of the researchers. — We can't identify the origin. We only know it's… alive.
— And we have no idea how to deal with it yet — said Aisha, watching from afar with a closed expression. — But… it won't be a problem now. Not yet.
But for Mei, in that moment, nothing mattered more than that coffee.
She took another sip, letting the air out of her lungs as if releasing all the bad things still surrounding her.
— This is better than any magic, you know?
She raised the mug in a solitary toast.
— And you know what's even better? I'm alive.
Tekio looked at her. A faint smile appeared… but vanished quickly.
He looked back at the horizon.
He stayed quiet for a while. Chewing without enthusiasm.
Until his voice broke the silence:
— Do you think… it's over?
Mei turned her head. She was about to respond with a joke. But she froze when she saw his expression.
Tekio was staring into nothing. But his eyes were beginning to shine—not with power.
With emotion.
His mouth was pressed into a trembling line.
— Tekio… — she called softly.
He closed his eyes and lowered his head. His chin trembled.
— I… — his voice faltered. He tried to take a deep breath, but the pain came with it. — I thought… I wouldn't make it. That I'd lose control again. That I'd…
The words died there.
The tears came, without sound.
Tekio's body trembled slightly, his fist clenched on his own leg.
The weight of everything, the trauma, the fear, the guilt, the survival, the end—all collapsing at once.
Mei didn't say anything.
She simply leaned over and, with gentleness, placed her hand on his hair, ruffling it lightly like someone comforting a younger brother.
Then she said, in a warm and firm voice:
— I know.
She stayed there. With her hand on him. Just being present.
— What you went through wasn't easy. And there's no shame in breaking a little after all that.
But look at me, Tekio.
He hesitated… but looked.
Mei smiled. A sweet smile. Tired, but real.
— You did everything right.
You faced hell.
Saved your brother from the darkness.
Saved people who don't even know your name.
And you know the craziest part?
— …You saved me.
His eyes welled up more.
— I may have faced the strongest. But you… were the piece that made everything work.
Mei leaned closer and gently pressed her forehead against his.
— Tekio… I'm proud of you.
Truly.
He tried to say something, but his throat wouldn't let him.
— I just wanted... to have been stronger — he whispered.
Mei gave a light flick to his forehead.
— Strength isn't about hitting harder. It's about enduring and continuing.
She returned to ruffling his hair, making the touch comforting.
— And you continued. You survived. And you even managed to laugh again. That, Tekio… that is being incredibly strong.
Tekio laughed between sobs. A pained laugh… but genuine.
— Thank you, Mei.
She feigned surprise.
— Did you just thank me? That's rare. Is the universe going to reset?
He gave a short laugh and sniffed, wiping his eyes with his arm.
There, among the remains of a shattered civilization, with the sky still wounded and the earth still healing, Mei and Tekio shared something stronger than any power:
Affection.
Trust.
Family.
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In the silent heart of the devastated city, among twisted beams and broken columns like the bones of titans, Stella and Dan walked slowly. The flashlights on their shoulders cast trembling beams over the buried corridors. The ground creaked under cautious steps, while the wind carried the smell of dust, rust… and old blood.
— Wait — said Stella, stopping abruptly. — I heard something.
She crouched, pressing her ear close to a fissure between the stones.
— There are people here.
Without hesitation, Dan knelt beside her. The two began removing the debris with their hands, without exchanging more words. It was as if they shared the same thought—save someone, quickly, before it was too late.
Minutes later, from the remains of an underground shelter, three adults and two children emerged. Exhausted, wounded, but alive. When the children reached the surface, the sky still covered in smoke, one of them, small, with wide eyes, looked up with a trembling voice:
— The fire woman… did she win?
Stella felt a lump in her throat.
Dan knelt and nodded, with a slight smile.
— She won.
Later, away from the bustle of the rescue, the two sat in a quiet corner among the rubble. An improvised campfire cast warm shadows around them. Dan passed a water bottle to Stella, who drank in silence, her eyes on the fire.
— This… feels so wrong — she said after a while.
— What?
— Being alive. Sitting. In silence. With fire and water.
She gave a weak smile.
— I was so used to waiting for the next disaster that I don't know what to do with this.
Dan shook his head.
— It's strange, huh? Being okay. Even if just for a moment.
She watched him from the corner of her eye. Dan was thinner. The dark circles deep. His shoulders tense even now, as if expecting another attack at any moment.
— Hey, Dan… — she murmured. — Did you think you were going to die?
He let out his breath slowly before answering.
— Several times. Especially when I realized that… I never said some things. That I held back too much, out of fear.
— Like what?
— Like how much you kept me standing. Even without knowing.
She averted her gaze, touching the necklace around her neck. The involuntary gesture of someone needing something firm.
— I held back a lot too. I thought, with all this, it wasn't fair to involve anyone in feelings… in the middle of so much chaos.
— I thought the opposite — said Dan, with a half-smile. — That was exactly why I wanted to say it. We can lose everything in a second. I saw it happen. You saw it.
Stella fell silent. Then she said:
— And now?
Dan hesitated.
— Now… I think I'm trying to figure out if I can be honest. If I won't sound like an idiot.
She turned to him. Her gaze softer than usual.
— You never sound like an idiot. Just… cautious. Like me.
— Is that a compliment?
— It's the closest to a romantic compliment I know how to give — she replied, laughing.
They laughed together, and when the laughter died, the silence that remained was different.
More comfortable.
More sincere.
— I like you, Stella — Dan said, finally, lowering his eyes slightly. — But I don't want to pressure you. I just… wanted you to know.
She looked at him for a long time. Then placed her hand over his.
— I know, Dan. And... me too.
The two stayed there for a few more minutes, without further words. Just their fingers intertwined naturally, as if they had always belonged to each other. As if, at the end of the world, they had found a beginning.
The campfire warmed them.
The ruins no longer felt so cold.
And the future… for the first time, seemed possible.
(...)
The end of the battle did not bring silence, but a strange calm, like the held breath of a world still learning to believe in its own survival.
Mei Nuhay remained seated on an irregular concrete block, an old piece of staircase or ruined plaza. The coffee in her hands was now lukewarm, but she continued to hold the mug as if it were the anchor between reality and dream.
Beside her, Tekio was leaning back, still quiet, watching the camp expand. Now and then, his gaze drifted to the pale sky, as if searching for signs of another battle—but, for now, there were only clouds and dispersing smoke.
Mei let out a sigh that seemed to contain ages.
— If I close my eyes for more than two minutes, I'll sleep for a week.
— And I'd let you — murmured Tekio. — But only after you finish the coffee. Then yes.
She gave a small smile, and it was at that moment that Fenra approached.
She walked with natural elegance, the kind of posture that made it seem like even the dust avoided touching her feet. Upon arriving near them, she cast a light glance at the two and then sat beside Mei, crossing her legs as if she had always belonged to that space.
— It's beautiful, the crater of the end of the world — she said, almost humorously.
— You should see the view from the destroyed balcony of hell — Mei retorted, raising the mug in a sarcastic toast.
Fenra laughed. Then, her expression changed, becoming more serious, more present.
— You know what you've just achieved, right?
Mei looked at her over the rim of the mug.
— Besides a perforated stomach, two cracked ribs, and some burn marks? — she replied, arching an eyebrow.
— Far beyond that — said Fenra, not smiling now. — All nations are uniting. A global agreement is being formalized, and you…
She hesitated, perhaps to let the weight of the words sink in at the right moment.
— …you are going to become an Elder.
Mei frowned.
— Sounds like "old person with power and back pain".
— That too — Fenra admitted, laughing. — But it's much more. You will have full authority. Wherever you step, it will be law. The world will not only listen to you… it will have to obey you. You will finally be able to do what you've always dreamed of. Change the system from within. End the vices of high command. Confront the gears that suffocate ordinary people.
Tekio looked up.
— So that's it… you're going to become the leader of everyone.
Mei fell silent for a few moments. The coffee steam rose slowly before her face, as if even time was waiting for her response.
— I always dreamed of this — she said finally. — I shouted for it. I bled for it. And now… now that it's here, in front of me…
She looked at the sky, still covered in dirty clouds and filtered light.
— …maybe I just want to sleep a little. Before carrying the world on my back again.
Fenra nodded, understanding.
— You deserve it.
Mei turned to Tekio, poked his arm lightly with her elbow, and murmured:
— I'm going to appoint you as my official advisor. One of the few I listen to without wanting to strangle.
— That's almost a position of trust — he replied, trying to look serious, but with a nervous smile hidden at the corner of his mouth.
— Fenra would be better at that than me, wouldn't she?
— Maybe, anyway I'm joking, I need to sleep well to decide bureaucratic things like that...
At the United Nations
Meanwhile, in the dusty halls of the UN, world leaders were discussing in tense voices.
— The damages are incalculable. — The abyssal energy still contaminates the subsoil. — It will take years to restore the city. — But… the world was saved.
The broadcast of the fight was still being analyzed by experts, military personnel, and scholars. Several satellites had captured the moment Mei exploded the abyssal crown. The image of her screaming, enveloped in fire, became a symbol even before the battle ended.
One of the ministers—a gray-haired, proud man with tearful eyes—clenched his fists on the table.
— For the first time… we were saved by a single person.
Not by armies.
Not by alliances.
But by one woman. Alone. Against a god.
The voices around fell silent.
In a separate room, where the oldest leaders watched the images transmitted by orbital cameras and drones, Danteus, the strategist and chief diplomat, observed everything with a calm demeanor.
The entire world awaited his opinion.
But he only smiled. A small smile, almost imperceptible.
And murmured:
— Mei Nuhay.
The star that burned the abyss.
In the Streets of the World
Giant screens in Shibuya, New York, Cape Town, Cairo, São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and dozens of other cities displayed the same signal: the image of Mei Nuhay, standing, bloodied, scorched… but victorious.
The star that burned the abyss.
In public squares, crowds cheered with tears in their eyes.
Children with red bandanas shouted in the streets, imitating her attacks:
— ASCENDANT SUN!! — PLANETARY NEBULA!! — — "If you're going to turn into a monster... I'll turn into a star!" — they recited in unison, making the activation gesture with their hands.
Some raised improvised posters with drawings of her, others painted the symbol of fire on city walls—three horizontal lines crossed by a spiral, Mei's mark.
In a refugee camp, a woman with a baby in her arms cried:
— She saved my sister once, and now... she saved the world...
And as if the planet breathed at the same time, fireworks began to explode. Posters with phrases like "Thank you, Mei", "Empress of the Sun", "Light at the end of the abyss" waved in the hands of the population. Nations that hadn't spoken to each other for years sent joint messages of solidarity and reconstruction.
For the first time… there was hope.
Mei finished her coffee. Sighed.
Beside her, Fenra adjusted her glasses with her fingertips while Tekio dozed against one of the destroyed pillars, breathing deeply—his eyes still swollen from earlier tears.
Mei stretched like a cat, feeling every muscle in her body ache. Then, she lay down on the stone next to Fenra, with a deep, satisfied sigh.
— The world is still messed up, huh?
Fenra looked around. Medics working. Shouts of reunions. Helicopters taking off. Teams rescuing survivors.
She nodded.
— It is. But much less than before.
Mei laughed softly, looking at the sky stained with ashes. The warmth of the coffee still in her chest. The shouts of victory echoing over the radio.
— Well… it's something.
She closed her eyes.
Her stomach and will satisfied for now.
And she slept.
To be continued....