The next morning, Jace woke up before sunrise. No dreams. No visions. No threads tugging at the edges of his awareness.
Just silence.
Real silence.
He made himself breakfast. Burned the toast. Laughed about it. It felt good to laugh without magic humming beneath his skin.
Eventually, he walked to a small corner café he'd always passed but never entered. A normal one. No pulsing lights. No threads. No fate woven into the air.
He stepped inside.
Warm lighting. Gentle chatter. The smell of real, simple coffee.
The barista smiled. "Hey! What can I get for you?"
No threads glowed behind her. No auras. No echoes.
Just a girl doing her job.
Jace hesitated—then smiled softly.
"Just… a regular latte."
"Coming right up."
He sat by the window, watching the world pass. People walked their dogs. Kids waited for the bus. Someone rushed past carrying too many books. Life moved forward in quiet, chaotic, beautiful pieces.
Faye would be opening the café around now. Ren would probably be stress-drinking espresso. The café's neon sign would flicker—mourning, but surviving. It would adapt. Faye always found a way.
Jace breathed in the warm steam of his drink.
No visions came.
For the first time in months, the future was entirely his.
He didn't need fate.
He didn't need magic.
He just needed this—A quiet morning.A warm drink.A life that belonged to him.
The neon sign of Fate Café flickered somewhere far behind him.
And Jace walked firmly, fully, into his own future.
The End.