He entered the capital not through the gates but through the flames of a cathedral he set alight.
Korrin of the Silent Flame.
Hair like soot. Eyes like coal kissed by starfire. He walks like a boy who's already died and been told it wasn't enough. He carries no sword. No book. Only a match.
And he lights it the moment he sees me.
"Do you remember what you were before a name?" he asks, voice a whisper in my bones.
I shouldn't remember.
I shouldn't feel the spell curling behind his voice like breath behind glass.
But I do.
Because Korrin isn't here to fight me.
He's here to awaken me.
To unlock the final seal.
To finish what the gods began when they built me from stardust and unholy scripture.
"The others are coming," he says.
"Others?"
"You weren't the only one brought back. But you're the only one who remembers how to win."
Then he touches my forehead.
And the world fractures.
For a second, the palace disappears.
I stand in a void of fire and hymn.
And from the silence, a voice not mine whispers,
"Daughter of Ruin. Keeper of the End. Welcome back."