Dawn never came.
Only a dim, lifeless glow crept across the sky, barely strong enough to separate earth from horizon.
The forest had thinned, its ruins giving way to open stretches of cracked land where nothing dared to grow.
Aerin walked without sound.
The night's battle had left no wounds upon her body… but something within her felt quieter than before.
Colder.
The absence of feeling lingered like a shadow she could not escape.
Her steps slowed.
Ahead, the land dipped into a shallow hollow surrounded by broken stones — remnants of something ancient, something forgotten.
She stopped.
Her breath caught… for the first time in many years.
She knew this place.
Not from memory alone.
From pain.
"…Here."
The word slipped from her lips, fragile as glass.
This was where it had begun.
Her first death.
The wind stilled, as though the world itself held its breath.
Aerin stepped forward.
The ground beneath her feet felt heavier, as if it carried the weight of the past.
Fragments of burned wood and shattered stone lay half-buried in ash, preserved by time's indifference.
And at the center of the hollow…
A faint mark remained.
A scorched imprint upon the earth — barely visible, yet unmistakable.
She knelt slowly beside it.
Her fingers hovered above the blackened soil.
Then—
The world shifted.
—
Flames roared across the forest.
The sky burned red, split apart by streaks of unnatural light.
The air was thick with smoke and screams.
Aerin stood there again — younger, trembling, her bow clutched tightly in her hands.
Around her, the last defenders of the High Elves fought desperately against an overwhelming tide.
Arrows of light clashed against shadows that moved like living nightmares.
Steel rang. Magic exploded. The ground itself cracked under the weight of destruction.
"Aerin!"
The voice came from behind her.
She turned.
An elder — wounded, barely standing — reached out toward her.
"You must run!"
"I won't leave you!" she cried, tears streaming down her face.
"We can still fight!"
The elder shook his head, blood staining his robes.
"This is no longer a battle we can win…"
A deafening roar split the sky.
A massive wave of fire descended from above, swallowing everything in its path.
The elder pushed her.
"Live."
The world became light.
Blinding.
Burning.
Aerin felt her body break beneath the overwhelming force.
Heat consumed her senses.
Pain tore through every part of her being.
And then—
Nothing.
Silence.
Cold darkness wrapped around her like a distant dream.
For a moment — a single, fleeting moment —
She felt peace.
This is the end…
But the end refused her.
Light returned.
Not the warm glow of life… but something colder.
Something unnatural.
Aerin's eyes snapped open.
She lay alone in the ashes.
The battlefield was gone.
The screams were gone.
The forest was gone.
Only ruin remained.
Her body was whole.
Unburned.
Unbroken.
Alive.
"…Why?"
Her voice trembled as she struggled to her feet.
She looked around desperately, searching for survivors.
There were none.
Only the dead.
Endless… silent… unmoving.
Her breath hitched.
"No… no…"
She ran.
Through the ashes. Through the destruction. Through the remains of everything she had ever known.
But every path led to the same truth.
She was alone.
Her legs gave out.
Aerin collapsed to the ground, hands clutching the earth as her voice finally broke into a scream.
"WHY?!"
The sky gave no answer.
The world gave no answer.
Only silence remained.
—
The memory shattered.
Aerin stood once more in the present, her hand still hovering above the scorched mark.
Her fingers trembled.
That was the moment everything ended.
And everything began.
Her first death.
Her first resurrection.
The beginning of an eternity she never chose.
A slow breath escaped her lips.
"…I remember now."
But remembering did not ease the pain.
It only made it clearer.
She rose to her feet.
The hollow behind her faded back into stillness, as though the past had once again buried itself beneath layers of time.
Ahead, the forest finally began to thin.
Beyond it… the world waited.
Aerin did not look back.
She could not afford to.
Because now she understood the truth she had tried to forget—
Death would never take her.
And time would never save her.
So she would walk.
Until she found something that could.