The few dozen refugees streamed through the portal I’d set up to bring them to New Alkerist. Most of them were young mothers with small children, those who couldn’t fight or run on their own. My own family came through last, Nailu in the lead and Father bringing up the rear.“—never could have imagined so much water in one place,” Mother was saying as she stepped through the portal next to him.“I know! It just went on and on, endlessly,” he replied. “I get why Gravin said you’d need boats to cross it. My arms would get tired and fall off before I got halfway.”“You wouldn’t make it a tenth of the way,” Senica said.I chuckled to myself. Even seeing it, they still couldn’t grasp the magnitude of an ocean compared to the ponds and streams they were used to. They simply lacked a frame of reference for how long it would take to swim any appreciable distance, or how quickly they’d get tired.The portal closed behind them and I walked over. “Gra-vin!” Nailu called, being the first to spot me. He rushed toward me, arms outstretched. I obliged him by scooping him up telekinetically and swirling him around me in a wide arc before plopping him back down onto the street.“Son,” Father said, “I know you said it’s over, but is it really over? For good?”“For good,” I confirmed. “He won’t be coming back again. No more zombies or skeletons. No more spies, assassins, or saboteurs.”“There were saboteurs?” Senica asked.“Well, not here,” I admitted. “But once or twice, yes. Honestly, I probably did more of that type of work than anyone on Ammun’s side of the fight. But either way, yes, it’s over. I won. We won.”I didn’t have a casualties list. As far as I was personally concerned, no one important had died. But people were gone now, and I didn’t know how many or how they might be connected to my family. There were probably going to be some sad days in the near future as the reports trickled in and they found out (...)