Dawn shattered over Liraine in a storm of Vein fire and steel. The Dominion's final assault began with no warning—just the sudden, roaring thunder of Vein cannons and the shriek of their war horns. The battered city, already on its last reserves, braced for annihilation.
---
Kael sprinted along the barricade, the relic at his chest pulsing with frantic energy. Garrick and Nalah flanked him, both bloodied but unbowed.
"They're coming from the canal!" Jaxen's voice crackled over the comms.
Kael didn't hesitate. "Marshwalkers, flood the lower alleys! Emberhands, on me!"
Nalah hurled a disruptor charge into the water. A geyser of blue flame erupted, sending Dominion troops scattering. Garrick swung his hammer, smashing through a Vein hound as it leapt the barricade.
"More on the right!" Nalah shouted, voice hoarse.
Kael raised a Vein shield just in time to deflect a barrage of enemy bolts. The shield flickered—he was burning through power too fast.
Garrick grunted, "We can't hold this line much longer!"
Kael's reply was grim. "Then we fall back, but we make them bleed for every step."
---
The square was chaos. Mira darted between the wounded, hands glowing with Vein light. Selene and Lysara crouched over the harmonizer, rerouting power as the grid threatened to collapse.
"Selene, the east line's failing!" Lysara snapped.
"I know!" Selene's fingers flew across the crystal array. "Give me ten seconds!"
A Dominion squad breached the barricade. Mira leapt up, grabbing a fallen spear. "Stay back!" she yelled, standing between the enemy and her patients.
The harmonizer flared. Lights flickered on. Selene grinned, wild with relief. "We've got power!"
Lysara didn't smile. "We need more than that. Look!"
Dominion stormcasters advanced, Vein lightning arcing between their gauntlets. The defenders braced as the air crackled with energy.
---
Above, Nirael's battered windship dove through smoke. "Skyfarers, target the stormcasters! Break their line!"
Jessa's voice was tight. "We're outnumbered!"
"Not outgunned," Nirael snapped. "On my mark—drop everything!"
Barrels of Vein oil tumbled from the ships, igniting midair. A wall of fire swept the Dominion's rear ranks. For a heartbeat, the enemy faltered.
But a Vein bolt struck Nirael's hull. The ship lurched. "Brace!" she shouted as they spiraled down, crashing into a rooftop with a bone-jarring crunch.
Nirael staggered to her feet, blood in her eyes. "We're not done. Grab the charges. We fight on foot."
---
Deep below, Whisper led her Veinweavers through collapsing tunnels. The Vein itself screamed, destabilized by the Emberfall Protocol.
"Hold the wards!" she commanded. "If the Vein breaks, the city falls!"
Her apprentices chanted, weaving desperate patterns of light. The ground trembled. Whisper pressed her palms to the stone, pouring her will into the city's heart.
Above, the harmonizer pulsed in answer. The Vein steadied—barely.
---
Dominion troops surged into the square, overwhelming the defenders. Garrick fell back, dragging a wounded Jaxen. Mira knelt beside a dying Marshwalker, tears streaming down her face.
Kael stumbled into the square, Selene at his side. "We're surrounded," she gasped.
Kael looked at the relic. It pulsed, hungry. "If I use it, I don't know what happens."
Selene met his gaze, fierce and unafraid. "Then trust yourself. Trust us."
A Dominion officer strode forward, Vein blade drawn. "Surrender! The city is lost!"
Kael stood tall, the relic blazing. "Liraine stands!"
He unleashed the Vein's power. Light exploded from his chest, a shockwave rippling through the square. Dominion soldiers reeled, shields shattering. The defenders surged forward, driving the enemy back.
But the cost was immense. The harmonizer cracked, Selene's hands bleeding as she tried to keep it together. Garrick collapsed, Mira screaming his name. Nirael, limping, hurled her last charge into a Dominion tank, blowing it sky-high.
---
The Dominion line broke. Their stormcasters fell. Voss himself, watching from afar, clenched his fists in fury as his army faltered.
Kael dropped to his knees, spent. Selene caught him, tears and soot streaking her face.
"We did it," she whispered.
He looked around at the battered survivors, the burning barricades, the wounded and the dead. "We held. For now."
The bells of Liraine rang out, wild and triumphant. The city was not yet lost.
But as the smoke cleared, everyone knew: the war was far from over, and the cost of victory would haunt them all.
---
The bells of Liraine rang out, wild and defiant, but the sound was ragged—half triumph, half mourning. Smoke drifted over the battered city as the last Dominion squads retreated, leaving behind their dead and wounded. The defenders, too, were broken and bloodied, but they stood. For now, the city was theirs.
---
Kael stumbled through the square, the relic's glow fading at his chest. He found Mira kneeling beside Garrick, whose massive frame was slumped against a shattered barricade. Blood pooled beneath him, soaking into the splintered wood.
Mira's hands glowed with desperate Vein light. "Stay with me, Garrick. Please, just a little longer."
Garrick's eyes fluttered open. He managed a crooked smile. "You always were stubborn, Mira."
She pressed harder, tears streaking her face. "Don't you dare leave us. Not after all this."
Kael knelt on Garrick's other side, gripping his friend's callused hand. "You held the line, Garrick. You saved us all."
Garrick's breath rattled. "Did we win?"
Kael nodded, voice thick. "We did. Because of you."
Garrick's gaze drifted to the sky, where the smoke was thinning and the first stars were blinking through the haze. "Tell my daughter… tell her I kept my promise."
Mira choked back a sob. "She'll know. We'll make sure of it."
Garrick's grip loosened. His last breath was a sigh of relief, a release from pain and duty. Mira bowed her head, silent tears falling. Kael squeezed Garrick's hand until it went cold.
For a long moment, they sat in silence, the city's victory soured by the price they'd paid.
---
As night fell, the survivors gathered in the heart of Liraine. Nirael, limping and bloodied, reported that the skies were clear. Nalah, her face streaked with soot and grief, confirmed the Marshwalkers were still holding the outer alleys. Lysara and Selene, exhausted but alive, managed to coax a faint glow from the city's battered Vein lines—enough for lanterns to flicker in the darkness.
Kael stood before them, every muscle aching, every wound burning. He looked into the faces of his friends—those who remained—and those of the wounded and the grieving.
"We held the city," he said, voice carrying over the square. "We paid dearly, but we did not break. Garrick, and all those we lost, gave everything so we could see this dawn."
He paused, letting the words settle. "But this is not the end. The Dominion will not forget. They will come again, stronger. And so must we."
Selene stepped forward, her voice trembling but clear. "We rebuild. We honor them by surviving, by fighting for a future they believed in."
Nirael raised her fist. "For Garrick. For Liraine."
A ragged cheer went up, the city's battered spirit refusing to die.
---
Later, as the city mourned and tended its wounds, Kael stood with Lysara and Selene atop the Guildhall's ruined tower. The relic pulsed faintly at his chest, a reminder of the power—and the danger—still within him.
Lysara gazed east, where the horizon glowed with the faint, unnatural light of a Vein storm. "The Dominion will regroup. But it's not just them anymore. Word will spread. Other cities will rise. There are rumors of Riftborne relics surfacing beyond the Meridian—artifacts that could change the balance of power."
Selene nodded, her eyes fierce. "We can't wait for the next attack. We need to find those relics first. Unite the free cities. Build something stronger than what we lost."
Kael looked down at the city—his city, now—and felt the weight of leadership settle on his shoulders. "We'll need allies. And answers. The relic showed me things—visions of a power that could either save us or destroy everything."
Lysara's voice was grave. "Then we find the truth. We gather those who still believe. And we prepare for whatever comes next."
A cold wind swept over the city, carrying with it the scent of ash and hope.
Far to the east, in the Dominion's heartland, Saren Voss watched the Vein storm gather and smiled. The war for the Meridian was only beginning.
And in the darkness beneath Liraine, something ancient stirred—a pulse in the Vein, a whisper in the stone. The true legacy of the Riftborne was awakening.
---