Two days had passed since Lilin woke up in Erin's hut, but the mystery surrounding her fall and the inscription on his hand hadn't gone away; it had only grown more mysterious.
Erin was sitting on the floor next to the simple hearth, contemplating his hand where the inscription had disappeared. He felt a slight warmth whenever he approached it, as if his body reminded him that there was something unnatural connecting him to this strange girl.
As for Lilin, she was sitting on the bed, covered with a rough blanket, her golden eyes staring into the flames in the hearth. With each flash of light, her face looked sad, as if she bore hundreds of years of pain.
"How did this inscription appear on me?"
Erin asked, trying to hide the trembling in his voice.
Slowly, she raised her eyes to his, taking a deep breath before saying,
"That... the contract of fire and wind."
He frowned incomprehensibly, so she continued in a low voice:
"When I fell from the Celestial Realm, my powers were limited. But your appearance beside me at the moment of my fall made you the link that bound me to this world."
"What does that mean?"
"It means that you have become the source of my strength on this earth. If you depart from me, my powers will wither... and if you die, I will die too."
The words fell upon him like thunderbolts, but he tried to compose himself, saying nervously,
"I don't understand. Why me? I'm just a weak person. I can't even carry a bucket of water without gasping for air."
She didn't reply, but looked at him with a mysterious expression, then said,
"Because only the wind can give life to fire."
A moment of silence fell, during which the only sound was the tapping of rain on the roof of the hut.
Then she added in a low voice, her eyes glistening with tears, "I'm sorry that you have been involved in this fate."
But Eren closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them and looked at her with a seriousness he'd never seen in himself before:
"If this is my fate, I'll bear it."
Her eyes widened, as if surprised by his response, but he continued:
"But in return... you must teach me how to live with this inscription... and how to protect myself from you."
Suddenly, the fire in the fireplace crackled brightly, illuminating the room with an orange glow, as if responding to his words.
Lylin smiled for the first time since opening her eyes in the human world and said in a warm voice:
"Okay... I'll teach you how to control fire."
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