Epilogue: Release
Time passed, years slowly stretching into decades. The Temple of the One stood empty but for the watchful eye of the dragon god.
Finally,the stone began to crack. The statue split into pieces, the great dragon losing wings and head before crumbling into dust.
He fell, landing in a heap atop a pile of crushed stone as the statue came down around him. Pebbles and dust rolled off the mound of stone as he sat up, rubbing the back of his head where he'd hit the stone. It didn't hurt. Nothing did. Even as he looked down at his hands, bloodied with shards of the Amulet of Kings buried in his skin, he felt no pain.
He pushed himself to his feet, the bright light above him fading until only sunlight remained. The Temple of the One was empty, peaceful as he worked through his confusion. The last time he had seen this place, the last time he'd been here, the world had been burning down around him. How different everything looked, now that the feeling of impending doom no longer commanded his attention.
He ran, searching. The streets were empty, and each door led him somewhere different. The butterfly room to the Isles with its ominously ticking metronome, the Great Hall of Cloud Ruler Temple still piled with books and research, the farmhouse outside of Kvatch where he had grown up, the house in Anvil where the table was set for four, all presented themselves and he ran through each one, looking and finding nothing. Finally, the door from the Anvil house opened back to the Temple District.
He smelled smoke and burning wood. The district was in shambles, scorch marks and broken footpaths filling the empty streets. It was destroyed, but somehow peaceful. He walked the streets, still searching. The sound of her footsteps led him through the district, following until he caught up with her.
Her dress was torn and bloody at the bodice and both arms, staining the purple of her gown an even deeper color. A staff hung at her back, blackened with blood and soot as the city around them burned.
"Amelie!"
She turned as he called to her, her face white and streaked with tears against blood and ash as it had been when last he saw her.
"Martin?"
He sprinted forward, lighter than air as years of regret and burden rushed away, leaving him peaceful as he held her tightly to him. The world below, full as it was of stories and memories, was no longer his to worry about. The glass fell from his hands, blood and scars melting away from her skin as the damage of the battle repaired itself. The parts of the district that had come undone slowly rejoined, paths reconnecting and fires fading away as if they had never been there. The soot and scorch marks vanished as the city healed and became tranquil.
"What do you say we give this another try?" Martin asked quietly. He kissed the top of her head as she laughed.
"Another try?" she prodded. "You count thirty seconds of fire and daedra as a try at romance? I fear for you." Amelie stepped back out of his grip as he laughed. She was all smiles.
"I, I'm not very good at this," he admitted. "I never have been."
"I know!"
Laughter overtook them both, Martin's head dropping to hide his face in his hand. He felt her fingers on his cheek, bringing his gaze back up to meet hers.
She was in vivid, living color, every detail exactly as he remembered. Her smile, her laugh, the joy in her eyes—he could not help but match it all.
"I love you," he said at last. "And long have I loved you."
He watched her head dip, smiling down at the ground for a moment. Martin took her hand, waiting for her to lift her head again and look at him.
"You may not be the first or only one I have loved," she told him, her eyes meeting his. "But you will be the last and greatest."
He released her hand as she tugged it away, joy and peace flooding the district. Perhaps in death, they could have what their time in life had denied them.
Amelie dropped into a curtsy. "So," she said, bright smile never fading. "Now what?"
Martin bowed deeply to her in kind, and offered her his arm. She took it, walking with him as he pushed open a door.
"Let's find out."
