EPILOGUE

Avhar and Simea

Avhar succeeded in his quest - and received the right reward for that. Very few people knew about him and his status as a Chosen One, and this knowledge mostly faded into black. Deviation, after all, didn’t want people to know that her Chosen One worked for Overtyrant… and Overtyrant, too, didn’t want people to know. And Avhar, of all the people, didn’t want people to know either.

He and Simea disappeared from the region following the conclusion of the war. They found refuge in the Imperium of Kynevia, where - due to under-the-table help of the certain gentleman from the von Osten family and several ‘concerned’ imperial higher-ups - they settled as minor landowners in one of the core imperial provinces.

Of course, while the Gods respected their will to just live the rest of their lives in peace, it wasn’t hereditary. Due to a strain of unexpected outcomes and extreme competence shown by some of their children and grandchildren, the family of Khans reached the status of being one of the Imperial Houses - a status not unlike von Ostens. Essentially becoming one of the ~30 families that de fact ran the Imperium of Kynevia.

While all of such families are believed to have an almost open backing of at least a single of Imperial Gods, the actual backer of the House Khan was never revealed. There are speculations (based on the family members’ ‘rampant’ monotheism) that either Inri or Overtyrant (or even both of them) seized a small sliver of the imperial leadership, a significant victory for them in the Great Game.

Leria

While Leria died in last battle, her legacy wasn’t forgotten. She soon became the newest khardic saint, with the rebuilt city of Ambryxis (now the head of the much more centralized - and mostly khardic - dukedom) becoming the center of her worship. Woe - the fortress that remained the center of a millenia old oppression - was leveled down and replaced with a cathedral dedicated to the new saint.

While st. Leria of Ambryxis was primarily remembered for her deed of retaking the ancient sanctuary of Overtyrant (known as Tyrant’s Hold) and playing instrumental role in the liberation of Ambryxis, there was also another facet of her sainthood. Her cathedral became a favourite target of pilgrimage for those searching for... love. There was a legend claiming that any person that visits the cathedral and makes and honest vow to become a better person, will inevitable find their fated person within a single year.

Vila

Being a daughter of the khardic saint (even an adoptive one) has its perks. After the Twilight War (known to majority of the world as Great Aevarian War) ended, the new leadership of the Ardent Flame had her moved out of the harm’s way. She lived the rest of her childhood in the Great Temple of the Overtyrant, relentlessly pampered by the wives of the High Priest of Vasyrria.

After she received proper education, she entered the khardic priesthood herself. She soon became the head priestess of the new cathedral in Ambryxis (quite fitting, considering who was the center of worship there). Fifteen years later she became the head of the khardic Church in Vasyrria. Forty-two years after the battle for Ambryxis she was elected as a new Archpriestess of the entire Khardic Church.

Her… particularly bad memories from early childhood made her approach to things. While the Church still focused a lot on their war with a multitude of enemies (especially the beastmen still in thrall to the Tyrants), she redirected a notable part of its assets towards assisting those that were in danger of living through the same things as she did. While the Church already ran a lot of orphanages, hospitals and did a lot of charitable works (especially directed at widows, veterans and orphans), she more than doubled their number.

She died seventeen years later, peacefully and in her bed, surrounded by her family. To a surprise of absolutely nobody (save for few malcontents in the militant arm of the Church), she was soon declared a saint.

Her cat, Midnight, disappeared mysteriously around the time of her death. It was around that time that people surrounding her suddenly noticed that the cat that accompanied her in her last moments was actually the same cat that she received from her mother fifty nine years ago. ‘As if a spell was lifted from them’, as some of them said.

As to what exactly Midnight was… it’s probably one of that riddles that will never find their answer.

Vaera

He ultimately succeeded in taking over the Saltrock Mountains’ mountain elves. His attempts at reforming them into a more civilized state ended with a partial success. He changed them from a rather genocidal bunch of murderous and primitive tribes into a particularly warlike hereditary monarchy (rather small and insignificant on the greater scale), led by particularly feminine-looking kings.

While this trait should have disappeared after several generations of interbreeding with more typical mountain elves, for some reason it didn’t. Causing a lot of speculations.

Lena and Syna

After conquering her problems and being able to function normally without being a slave, Lena was elected as a first ‘official’ grandmaster of the reborn Ardent Flame. She led the restored order for almost twenty years, before dying in combat against the major raid of the Tyranny of Ashkar.

She was accompanied by Syna. After Lena’s death, the catgirl sniper departed from the Flame and disappeared. Some claim that she renewed her death vow and died somewhere, but body was never found.

Three weeks after Lena was lied to rest, a powerful necromancer - corrupted by Pentagram - sneaked into her cemetery together with a number of cultists. His attempt to desecrate the tombs ended with failure. Bits and parts of their body were discovered throughout the cemetery for months. The investigation found no answer, and only one clue: one of the adventurers on the lookout claimed to have seen a ‘weird’ looking Shadowlurker skulking around the cemetery, with a bloodstained bag on his back.

Firewing and Ytar

After Avhar’s departure, Firewing took over as Ytar’s teacher full-term. Firewing remained a chief archmage of the new city of Ambryxis until her death of old age. She was remembered as a rare case of a ‘normal’ mortal that succeeded in slaying a Chosen One (and of Malice, of all people), though mostly because knowledge about Overkill didn’t become public.

Ytar (despite his humble beginnings as an amateur wizard in a slums) succeeded her as an archmage - his status as a hero of Anataelia and vanquisher of the unleashed shard of Vortex contributed greatly to that. Nobody knows what made him depart through the portal.

Gunther von Osten

Colonel Gunther von Osten became an imperial general following the Great Aevarian War. It wasn’t the end of his career, however. His role in securing one of Imperium’s most decisive victories against the Tyranny wasn’t forgotten - and neither were his future achievements. Twenty-four years after the Battle of Ambryxis he was elected as a new Grand Emperor of Kynevia following the childless demise of his predecessor on the throne.

Twenty-seven years later he was the driving force behind the Second Great Aevarian War (which later on led to the name being shortened into ‘Second Aevarian War’) that led into a liberation of majority of former Ashkarian territories on Aevaria. Forty-seven years later his grandson, Grand Emperor Hermann von Osten, finished the job of kicking the Tyranny out of the continent. Greatly supported in that by his wife, Leria Khan.

Nothern Aevaria

The battle over the Northern Aevaria rages for months. By the time it ended, a notable chunk of the abhorrent kingdom was turned into an aether-tainted wasteland.

Ymrir fell in the final battle of the war, taking majority of the core province of the kingdom with him. The Rage’s son failed to take him as a trophy - mostly because he perished soon after. The remaining habitable parts of the Kingdom were divided between the Vala Kasythia ‘occupation zone’ and the Hlla’s revolutionaries.

Unfortunately, while Hlla succeeded in taking control of the country, it meant little for her in the long term. Her attempts to avoid getting swallowed by the Imperium led a brief regional campaign that ended with her temporary kingdom annexed openly by the Imperium.

The major contributing factor to that was a rampage of the Vortex’s Shard. Hlla died at his hand. A handpicked group of ‘heroes’ led by young magician named Ytar returned the favour.

Once the Hlla’s kingdom was over, the whole region was mostly seized by the other regional country (the inrithian one). With Imperium’s help, a large scale reclamation project was launched, with the tainted part steadily shrinking during the next decades.

Lybaer

Lybaer survived the war and remained sort of a hero for the locals - at least those that were pretty happy with the actual local crazies gone and the Imperium seizing the region. He seized full-control of the Crimson Blades, expanded them into a de facto Adventurer’s Guild as a whole (they sorta replaced it).

He was rumoured to have an affair with Lena, the new grandmaster of the Ardent Flame. Even if that happened, it ended when the Ardent Flame relocated west, to combat the Tyranny of Ashkar. He married a Player Adventurer year after that. Once the resurrection system went down, he moved to an administrative work - just as many of the Players.

27 years later, after Imperium secured almost half of the Western Aevaria during the Second Aevarian War, he decided to retire. His past earned him enough ‘points’ in the eyes of the Imperium that he was ‘elected’ by it to be a major landowner in one of the kingdoms that were artificially constructed to govern the west.

The first king was supposed to be elected by the landowners (despite the monarchy later on expected to be hereditary). Due to becoming a sort of a middle-ground candidate, it was Lybaer that was elected (his administrative experience seen as a great bonus). It was a minor kingdom, and he didn’t become particularly famous, though.

Kytar & Menara

To a surprise of very few people, Kytar (the head of Ardent Flame workforce) and Menara (head smith) ended up marrying. Of course, after Avhar officially freed Kytar. They also left the Ardent Flame - with all honors and GENEROUS monetary gift - and settled in the rebuilt city of Ambryxis. They used the money to organize what essentially was a large shopping center for adventurers. With Kytar as a head of this enterprise, and Menara opening a large smithy.

They were also accompanied by certain elven theoretical sorcerer that - under the Firewing guidance’ - learned a lot about enchantment and got some of her confidence back.

Kovacs & Co

Kovacs married his formerly slave servant. Together with his teammates he left Ardent Flame (they weren’t very… khardic to begin with, and once the region was thoroughly ‘fixed’, they lost their main motivation for joining) and began full-time adventurer.

They also invested money that they received as a parting gift and scored several high difficulty jobs taking advantage of the still working resurrection system. They earned a lot of money. Feeling pretty good with each other company (save for… certain lawyers), they bought land estates near Ambryxis (and near each other).

They regularly visited Ambryxis to meet people like Kytar, Menara, Firewing and Ytar that remained in it - mostly to drink together and reminiscent the 'good old times'. Their descendants mostly converted to khardism and become a typical landed nobles in the region, just with a relatively big number of their members becoming adventurers for some reason.

Overkill

Surprisingly many of the ‘abusive’ locals fleeing the khardic punishment met surprising (and painful) death in the years following the Battle for Ambryxis. The murders continued for several years, before suddenly ceasing.

???

Years after the events, two people - a man and a female - on two opposite ends of the continent, reached the same conclusion: that they made a lot of mistakes and pretty much had it coming.