The rain didn't stop that night.
It felt endless — like the sky was mourning with her.
Elara sat beside Lucien's still body, the ashes of his power fading into the earth. His warmth was gone, but the mark on her wrist burned brighter than ever.
Each pulse was sharper, heavier — like his heartbeat had moved inside her.
She didn't speak.
Didn't cry anymore.
She just stared at the golden lines crawling up her arm, spreading toward her shoulder, her neck, her heart.
"You always say that…"
His last words echoed in her mind, over and over, until it felt like they were carved into her bones.
The world around her was silent — too silent. Even the wind didn't dare move.
Then… she heard it.
A faint hum.
Soft, fragile, but alive.
Elara lifted her head, eyes wide.
The mark on her wrist shimmered — and for a second, she saw him.
Lucien.
Standing in front of her.
But not really there — more like a shadow made of light, flickering in and out, as if struggling to exist.
"Lucien?"
"Elara…" his voice trembled, echoing like a memory trapped between worlds. "You shouldn't have stayed."
"I'm not leaving you again."
"You can't save me this way. The Genome doesn't bring back the dead — it rewrites the living."
She took a step closer, reaching out, but her hand passed through him like smoke.
"Then let it rewrite me."
Lucien shook his head slowly. His golden eyes dimmed.
"If you do that, you won't be you anymore. You'll be what I was made to be — a weapon."
"And if that's what it takes to bring you back?"
"Then I'd rather stay dead."
The words hit harder than a blade.
For the first time, Elara felt real anger — not at him, not at fate, but at the world that kept taking everything away.
"You don't get to leave me in the dark again, Lucien. Not this time."
The mark on her skin flared, burning white-hot.
Lucien's shadow recoiled, his voice growing faint. "Elara—don't!"
But it was too late.
The ground beneath her cracked as the golden light burst from her chest, spiraling outward. The entire forest lit up like dawn.
She screamed, her voice blending with the roar of power.
And in that moment, the fire remembered him — but it didn't stop at remembering.
It became her.
The world bent.
The rain turned to steam.
And when the light finally faded… she wasn't the same.
Her hair glowed faintly in the dark, strands streaked with fire. Her eyes burned with gold. The mark that once belonged to Lucien now wrapped around her entire body like armor.
And standing where Lucien had been — only his echo remained, whispering through her veins.
"If you can hear me… then promise me one thing."
"What?"
"Don't let the fire use you."
"Then help me control it."
"I'll try… if you still remember me."
The echo faded into her heartbeat.
Elara stood alone, trembling — not from fear, but from the weight of what she'd become.
The wind shifted. Behind her, shadows moved — hunters. Dozens of them, their armor gleaming red in the faint light.
One of them raised a blade.
"The Fire-Bearer lives," he said coldly.
"No," Elara whispered, her eyes blazing. "She's reborn."
The flames rose again — not gold this time, but white, pure, merciless.
And as the first wave of light burst through the night, the hunters saw her face — a reflection of the boy they'd once feared, now living inside the girl they couldn't destroy.
The fire had learned to cry.
And in its tears — the world began to burn again.