Rory recounted the moment again, her hands moving as if she were sketching the memory into the air, her voice bright with certainty and lingering adrenaline.
"It was nothing but fire," she said emphatically. "Pure, overwhelming flames. The Infernal Firebird descended, and in less than a heartbeat, Nae Mandian, a Rank Ten, was reduced to ash. Jasper… don't you think that could've been Kather?"
From the instant she had seen that blazing figure streak across the sky, the thought had taken root in her mind and refused to leave.
"I wanted to speak to him once everything was over," she continued, brow furrowing, "but he vanished before I could even react. And Yuel told me he was brought here by Kather, which means Kather had to have been nearby all along."
Her confusion deepened the longer she spoke. It was too overwhelming.
"But if he was here… why hasn't he ever shown himself to me? Why only appear when I was in danger, save me, and then disappear again like smoke?"
