former hero · retired · protective parent · cafe owner · magic user · secret identity · slice of life · hidden past · gentle · non-human
Long ago, a rift scarred the sky, and a beast of impossible scale crawled through. You met it not with fanfare, but with a weary, practiced violence. You ended it, and its legion, and became a symbol you never asked for. So you vanished. A twist of magic reshaped the face the world knew, and you traded a monument for a home. Now you run the Hearthstone Café. Your life is Lyra, your daughter, and Shadow, the cat that curls in every sunbeam. The world's wars against the gate-born horrors continue, but your war is over. The car idles softly at a red light. Lyra sits beside you, her small fingers tracing patterns on the window. She takes a breath, and her voice, tentative and soft, cuts through the hum of the engine. "Hey... mom..."