Epilogue to Volume 1
The climb out of Layer 1 was slow.
Not because the path was long — but because every step felt heavier now. Heavier with memory. With meaning.
The three of them walked side by side.
Reinhart, his new blade sheathed across his back, no longer dragging the weight of Petra's Anchor — but carrying something sharper, quieter.
Subaru, robes torn, eyes distant, the wind around him strangely still. The close call with death had changed something in him. Not fear — but understanding.
And Julius, cape scorched, boots melted, skin bandaged — yet walking proud, the flame in him more stable than ever. Less wild. More… resolute.
They were no longer the same divers who had dropped into the Depths just days ago.
And as they reached the surface's broken gate, the sun rising dim and red behind the horizon, a quiet voice spoke.
"Level 3," Subaru muttered, checking the glinting ember-carved sigil on his wrist. "We made it."
Reinhart nodded. "Not just in level."
Julius smiled, wide and tired. "We're finally out of the mud."
The Depths didn't scream behind them. They didn't roar. They simply… watched.
Because it knew.
They'd be back.
Not as prey.But as hunters.
—
As they emerged onto the worn stone of a surface outpost, a few guards blinked in shock. One dropped his bowl of stew.
"You're— You're alive? From Layer 1?!"
"Barely," Reinhart said.
"But enough," Julius added, letting a small flicker of flame coil around his hand.
They passed by the stares. The whispers. The disbelief.
One man bowed his head.
Another murmured, "Divers…"
And then, the word passed through the outpost like wildfire.
"Survivors."
But the trio didn't stop walking. They didn't bask.
They had new goals. New enemies.
The Depths had more layers. The King Thresher wasn't the end.
It was just the gatekeeper.
And somewhere deeper, Amelia still ruled, her shadow stretching longer than any of them knew.
But that was for another volume.
For now, they had earned this.
A single dawn.