The journey back to shore took longer than expected.
Though the seas were calm and the sky clear, the silence carried weight, an unspoken understanding that they had left something behind in the depths.
Not a creature.
Not a monster.
But a truth.
And truths, once known, could not be sealed again in this world.
No one spoke as the boat slid into a quiet coastal inlet, far from any trade road or Qi outpost, the sand was white, the breeze clean.
But none of them relaxed.
Even Kalavan, first to joke, first to grin, was silent as they stepped ashore.
Lira lingered at the edge of the land, her gaze turned back to the horizon.
The sea no longer pulsed, no longer whispered.
But the memory still echoed through the air.
They walked a rocky trail inland.
Elyra stepped beside Ryu.
"The pulse from the Eye... it would have been felt," she said. "Not just by us. Not just in Ayon."
Yan's reply was grim. "The other kingdoms will react."
"They already have," Ryu said.
He didn't explain how he knew.
But the flame inside him had quieted, not extinguished, but compressed.
Like a breath held.
And with every heartbeat, it whispered of distance.
Of other gates.
Of other bearers.
And not all of them would be on his side.
Three days passed in silent travel.
At sunset on the third, they arrived at a forward watch post of the Phoenix Guard, an isolated stone tower perched at the rim of the Eastern Bluffs. It overlooked rolling hills and forgotten Qi paths, half-swallowed by time.
The guards spotted them from afar. No challenge came.
When Yan showed her seal, the captain bowed without hesitation.
"Princess. Your return was not expected. We received word of an awakening from the sea. Some said it was a storm. Others, a sign."
Yan's eyes flicked to Ryu, then back to the soldier.
"It was both, I will report my findings to the General."
They were given rooms, warm food, fire.
But not rest.
That night, Ryu stood outside beneath the stars. The wind tugged at his cloak.
Above him, the constellations drifted like ancient runes, no longer familiar, no longer still.
Lira joined him quietly.
"I can't see them the same anymore," she said.
"The stars?"
She shook her head. "No. The world."
She wrapped her arms across her body, not from cold, but to hold something in.
"I used to think it was broken. That something was wrong with me. That I didn't belong. But now… I think this world never really knew me. And I'm not sure I know myself either."
Ryu didn't answer right away.
Then softly, "We'll remember you. Just as you are… as you."
They rested in silence, side by side, the scent of embers riding the breeze.
Their hands brushed.
A quiet spark.
A shared pulse.
The marks on their skin glowed, and memory surged.
The vision was not a dream. It was history.
A wave of energy rippled outward.
The Void Emperor stepped through space, folding distance like silk. His mastery over time and dimensionality pulsed with the stillness of absolute control. His realm, the First, was whole. His Transcendence sat at Stage Six, far beyond the grasp of time.
He arrived on a world of staggering elegance.
Crystalline cliffs encircled a deep basin, waterfalls feeding into a lake of luminous blue. Above, gardens grew along terraced slopes and spires rose like spears of light, flame not in element, but in glory.
This was the Fourth Realm.
At its centre stood a palace of woven crystal, living metal, and stone shaped by ancient arts. The architecture thrummed with delicate order, a realm not of passion, but precision.
It was ruled by Liryetta, Regent of the Fourth Realm. A sovereign, equal in station, rival in temperament.
He walked through the halls of her palace unopposed.
When she saw him, she blinked in disbelief. "You dare walk in like that? The guards should've pounced on you like a fawn!"
His voice came from behind her. Measured. Familiar.
"You know better. I'm no fawn."
She turned to strike him, but he was already in front of her.
"I've reached Stage Six of Transcendence," he said calmly. "You rest at Three. Shall we continue to pretend I couldn't walk through your entire realm if I wished?"
Her eyes narrowed. "You're still insufferable."
"And yet," he said, "you're smiling."
She grabbed him by the collar and shoved him onto the bed.
Clothes scattered.
Time stretched.
Qi pulsed and curled like calligraphy in the air.
Yin and Yang merged in perfect rhythm. The palace trembled with every breath, space itself slowing to honour their convergence. It was not just intimacy. It was alignment.
And when the stillness returned, Liryetta lay beside him, bare, thoughtful, a ruler shedding titles in silence.
He broke the quiet first.
"The Flame bearer's mark hasn't surfaced."
She turned her head. "Still?"
"It's been nearly two thousand years," he said. "Since the Twelfth fell. We should have seen signs."
Her brow furrowed. "You think something's wrong?"
He didn't answer immediately.
"There are rifts now stronger than ever. Ones even I cannot predict. It feels like we're being tested."
Liryetta sighed. "It always returns. The mark can't remain hidden forever."
He looked over. "And if it doesn't return in time?"
"Then we hold the seal ourselves, until the bearer is reborn."
He stared at the ceiling. "There's only one among us who can close them now. Me."
"Because of your mastery of space and time."
"And because the others have grown tired and weaker even the sovereign of the second and third realm are stagnated at the same rank as you for over five hundred years, the energy needed to seal us from the dark realms is immense."
She shifted closer. "Then you'll do what the Flame bearer would have. Until the cycle resumes."
A beat passed.
"You think the next will be strong enough?" she asked.
"I think," he said slowly, "they will have to be, if I am not alone then maybe our bloodline would be."
The memory shattered.
Ryu and Lira staggered back, their breathing uneven, marks glowing hot on their skin.
Their faces were flushed, not from combat, but from the intimacy of the memory, the weight of who the Void Emperor had been… and who he had chosen.
They said nothing for a long moment.
Then, clearing his throat, Ryu stepped back.
"I… I'm going to bed."
He turned sharply and disappeared down a corridor, blush still lingering well into morning.
Lira now standing alone.
The stars above shimmered faintly, like memories just out of reach.
And one of them pulsed, more than the memory they recalled begun to enter both their minds.
Far away, across the continent, across oceans and time-worn gates,
A ripple spread.
In a desert kingdom crowned in storms...
In a forest buried beneath the roots of a sleeping beast...
In a sky-city lost to the heavens...
Gates began to stir.
Some woke gently.
Some screamed.
And in one, hidden beyond the veil of time,
guarded by silence,
wrapped in cold thought and ancient hunger,
A pair of eyes opened.