Rei woke to cold rain and the smell of iron. He pressed his hands to the wound in his chest. Scars had already begun to knit. He looked toward the horizon. The forest and the voices of Hurukoya were gone from sight, burned into memory.
He pulled the black stone from his pack. It felt heavier than before. He remembered Shira's face. Her smile. The sacrifice.
A nameless anger rose in him. Not blind fury, but a cold, careful flame. He would learn what they were. He would carry Hurukoya inside him. The Enso within had been touched by divinity, and it had fractured. But a fracture could be a doorway.
Rei took a breath and began to walk. The world was larger. Lonelier. But he had a shape now: survive, train, return.
In the ruined clearing, the Elders watched the horizon. The one who had looked at Shira's place whispered. Not to a person, but to a world. "Awakening begins now."