The field of white flowers stretched endlessly in every direction.
Sunrei stared at the black blossom in Lina's palm a single flaw in this perfect, sunlit world. His fingers twitched toward it before he caught himself.
Where are we? His voice sounded strange here. Hollow.
Lina smiled, twirling the dark flower between her fingers. Where you buried me.
The memory hit like a fist to the gut:
A freshly dug grave.
Small hands clutching his.
Tears on his cheeks not hers.
A whisper: I'll come back for you.
Sunrei's brand flared, its violet light staining the flowers around them. You died.
Lina's smile didn't waver. Did I?
The black flower unfolded in her hand, its petals peeling back to reveal
A brand.
Smaller than the others. Simpler.
Older.
Sunrei's breath caught. That's...
Yours, Lina finished. The first promise you broke.
She pressed it into his palm.
The world shattered.
Darkness.
Then
Memory:
A younger Sunrei stood in a cavern of living fleshthe Maw's heart. Before him knelt Lithriel, her silver hair matted with blood.
"You don't have to do this, she begged.
Sunrei's hands shook as he raised the brand. Yes, I do.
The mark seared into her wrist
and the Maw screamed.
Sunrei gasped back to the present, his knees hitting soft earth. The field was gone. Now he knelt in a circle of blackened grass, the sky above churning with violet stormclouds.
Lina stood over him, her form flickering between girl and something else.
You marked her first, she whispered. Lithriel. Then the others. Then me.
Sunrei's brand burned hotter. Why?
Lina's smile turned sorrowful. To keep the Maw sleeping. To chain the Eclipse before it woke.
A gust of wind tore through the clearing. When it passed, Lithriel stood beside Lina no, not Lithriel. The thing wearing her face.
But chains break, Prince. Its voice was the grinding of tectonic plates. And you're all out of brands.
The ground trembled.
Sunrei scrambled back as cracks spread through the earth, revealing glimpses of something moving beneath. Something vast.
Lina grabbed his wrist, her fingers icy. Remember your vow!
The brand in his palm pulsed
and the world shifted.
Sunrei stood on the shore again, the wreck gone, the sea unnaturally still. Kaelis and Cael were nowhere to be seen.
Only the Eclipse remained.
They knelt in perfect rows, their hollow eyes fixed on him. Waiting.
Ryvan stepped forward, his form flickering between hunter and hollow. King.
Sunrei's brand ached. I'm not
You are, whispered a voice behind him.
Kaelis.
Her eyes glowed violet.
And on her wrist
A brand.
Fresh.
Bleeding.
Sunrei's stomach dropped. Kaelis?
She smiled, but it wasn't her smile. You marked us all, Prince. Even her.
The Eclipse rose as one.
Sunrei backed toward the water, his mind racing. This wasn't real. Couldn't be real.
The brand in his palm burned hotter.
Lina's voice whispered through the chaos:
Break the cycle.
Sunrei looked down.
The small brand his first brand glowed in his hand.
A key.
A weapon.
A choice.
He closed his fingers around it.
And pulled.
Agony.
White-hot and all-consuming.
Sunrei screamed as the brand seared through his palm, his flesh parting like paper. Blood black and thick dripped onto the sand, sizzling where it touched.
The Eclipse froze.
Kaelis gasped, the violet light fading from her eyes. Sunrei?
Hers.
Really hers.
Sunrei staggered forward, his wounded hand outstretched. Take it.
The small brand floated above his palm, its glow intensifying.
Kaelis didn't hesitate.
She grabbed it.
Light erupted.
The Eclipse screamed as the brand's power ripped through them, their hollow forms dissolving into shadow.
The sea boiled.
The sky cracked.
And from the depths rose her
Lithriel.
Not the imitation. Not the shadow.
The real Lithriel, her silver hair whipping in a wind that wasn't there, her eyes burning with centuries of rage.
You.
Sunrei met her gaze.
Me.
Then
The world ended.
Silence.
Sunrei opened his eyes.
He stood in the field again, the white flowers undisturbed.
Lina sat beside him, weaving the black blossom into a crown.
You remembered, she said softly.
Sunrei's hand was whole. Unmarked.
But the weight of the brand of every brand still lingered.
Now what?
Lina placed the crown of flowers on his head.
Now you wake up.