The quake had passed.
But the echoes remained.
Rei sat with his back against a column that now leaned sideways, its upper half sheared clean by the rupture. Emberdust still floated through the air like ash after a funeral pyre. The Sanctum had not collapsed entirely — but it would never breathe the same again.
Kaia crouched near him, elbows on her knees, tail flicking slowly behind her. Her face was streaked with soot, her hair damp with sweat. But her eyes never left him.
"You alright?" she asked.
Rei nodded.
Then shook his head.
Kaia snorted. "That's what I thought."
Durik slumped nearby on a fractured step, hammer across his lap, cheeks flushed from heat and fear alike.
"Well," he said hoarsely, "that could've gone worse."
Kaia shot him a glare.
He held up a hand. "I said could've. Could've gone worse. Not that it didn't go straight to the pits of molten hell."
Rei chuckled once — a dry, brittle sound.
The satchel still lay beside him. The Gem inside no longer glowed.
It had quieted.
Or waited.
Rei wasn't sure which was worse.
"You were glowing," Kaia said, eyes narrowing. "Back there. In the fire."
"I didn't feel anything," Rei said.
"Exactly." She leaned closer. "That's not normal."
"I don't think I'm meant to be normal anymore," he whispered.
Durik sighed, rubbing his forehead. "The priests are rattled. They're already arguing upstairs. Some say you're the Forge reborn. Others say you're what cracked it."
"What does your father say?" Kaia asked.
Durik hesitated.
Rei turned toward him. "He touched the Gem, didn't he?"
Durik nodded once. "He won't talk about it. Just told the Runepriests to stop theorizing and start obeying. His hand's been shaking ever since."
"And his eyes," Kaia added. "Red. Faint. But there."
They fell quiet.
The Forge moaned somewhere deep below, like a sleeper turning in restless dreams.
Rei looked down at the sword resting against his thigh.
Bread Cutter.
It should've looked ridiculous.
But it didn't.
The blade was heavier than it seemed, perfectly balanced, the edge still hot from the forgefire it had survived. It pulsed once — not with magic, but resonance. Like it remembered the moment it was named.
Rei grinned faintly.
"You really named it that?"
Durik looked away, muttering, "I was hungry."
Kaia chuckled — a real one, this time.
The warmth of it dulled the weight in Rei's chest, even if only for a breath.
They sat in that broken chamber for a long while.
No questions.
No answers.
Just the sound of a living mountain exhaling slow.
Then Rei said, "I saw something."
Kaia looked over.
"In the fire. When it broke," he said. "When the Gem flared. I… I wasn't there anymore. Not here."
Durik leaned forward.
Rei's eyes unfocused slightly. "There were thrones. All made of fire. And a voice that wasn't mine, but felt like it. And I—" he hesitated. "I don't know if I was walking through a dream, or being shown one."
"You think it was the Rift?" Kaia asked.
"I think…" Rei paused. "I think it was the beginning."
Of what, he didn't say.
Kaia didn't press.
Durik stood finally, hammer slung back over his shoulder.
"Well," he muttered. "If something's coming, I'd like to be armed when it does."
He extended a hand to Rei.
"Come on, Riftborn. Let's see if the council wants more answers than screams."
Rei took it.
Bread Cutter sheathed at his side.
Gem quiet in his satchel.
And fire… still lingering beneath his skin.