---
Ned's lifeless upper body fell onto the broken ground. Everything below his ribs had disappeared into the void.
Silence covered the battlefield. Even Fizz did not speak while John stood before the body and breathed heavily. He had killed beasts and enemies before, but this death felt different. Ned had been his half brother only through blood. There had never been love, kindness, or loyalty between them. John did not feel sadness for him. He only felt a deep emptiness where part of his old fear had once lived.
One of the people who had tortured him was gone. The past had not disappeared with Ned, but it had become smaller.
