Chapter 194: The Rebirth of Ellarien

Chapter 194: The Rebirth of Ellarien
Adira’s POV

Everything returned quickly.

Faces, names, decisions, failures, love, death, and hope.

As well as him.

With his eyes fixed on me as if I were a holy object, Ash stood in front of me, his flame steady yet muted. I felt the weight of every universe we had experienced together as my fingers remained on his cheek.

My name was Adira.

No, my name was Ellarien.

Like thunder and melody, the name reverberated in my chest, like something timeless and ageless at last returning home.

The universe shuddered beneath us the moment the name hit my soul. Power vibrated across the air. My flame surged, yet it was deeper, hotter, and brighter than before. It was no longer wild. It was complete.

It was astonishment, not weakness, that brought me to my knees.

This flame was more than just mine. It was all of it. The start. The recollection. The reality.

Ash, panting, knelt next to me. "Your light... your voice..."

I started to say something.

"Ellarien," I said in a whisper.

Furthermore, the sound was light rather than sound.

It gleamed out of my mouth like the first light of day. Fire blossomed again wherever it touched, as it swept across the shattered sky and dying stars. In the distance, the parasite let out a screech, as though my words had caused it to burn.

Ash's fingers were shaking as he reached for my hand. "You're evolving."

I looked down.

White, like the first flame before colour ever touched the planet, flowed in my veins instead of golden or silver. I was more than simply fire.

I was the precursor to fire.

I was still me, though.

The silent world trembled with each step I took, like thunder responding to its queen.

"Ellarien..." Ash gasped, nearly frightened.

However, I grinned.

And like rain, illumination poured from my smile.

In the field of broken starlight, Solenne emerged, her face wise and weathered. Something tiny, shimmering, and softly throbbing like a heartbeat was in both of her palms.

The final ember.

The last one.

She approached me gingerly, as though she wasn't sure if I was still the person she knew.

I was able to meet her halfway. With tears streaming down her face, she said, "You remembered."

"I did," I said. She looked back at me after glancing at the ember. This is the final spark from the start. It waited to be held by someone deserving.

She held it out with trembling hands. I looked at the light and said quietly, "I'm not worthy." "I'm too burned out."

"No," Solenne said softly as she held the ember in my hands. "You've already burned enough."

Everything changed when the ember touched me.

It blended with me rather than sinking into my flesh. As if it had been forgotten, yet always a part of my heart. Its rhythm pulsated through my entire body. My spirit anchored to something much bigger than myself, my light blinding, my blaze soaring higher.

I witnessed the birth of stars.

In a quiet emptiness, I witnessed the first flame to emerge.

And I heard a voice, but it wasn't Solenne's or mine. It was the flame itself.

It declared, "You are no longer merely a queen." "The flame that remembers is you."

Fire formed wings of white light around my back, and I gasped. In the breeze of a thousand lives, my hair soared as if it were floating. My flesh turned to live fire, and my skin glistened like glass.

Solenne took a step back and sobbed quietly. Incredulous, she said once again, "You're not just a queen." "Now you're the first flame."

The heavens split.

The sky rang with a scream.

The parasite was on its way.

Ready as a second sun, I turned to face the sound. However, I had a gut feeling that one of us wouldn't make it back after what happened next.

As he stood before me, Ash's eyes were filled with wonder and dread.

He had always blazed beside me. Even in the dark. Even when you're dead. Now, though, I was more than simply fire. I was fired.

I was aware that he was questioning whether I still required his help.

I walked slowly toward him. Beneath our feet, I made bright footprints in the sky with every stride. The sky had turned into a light floor. With each breath, my body throbbed—unstoppable, everlasting, but still me.

Adira, still.

Still Ellarien.

Ash lowered his gaze to his hands. Once more, his flame flickered. Going dark. Too many wars had drained the spark inside him too thinly.

He said, "I'm not strong enough to follow you." "No longer."

"You are," I said. The last of the ember still blazed like a dying star when I touched his chest.

“Let me help,” I whispered. Light exploded out of my palm and poured into him, weaving rather than devouring. His fire did not go out. It changed. His gold became silver and ultimately white, just like mine. The ember inside him blazed brighter. More powerful. Complete.

Fire rushed through him once more, shared, not borrowed, and he gasped.

He collapsed on the ground.

His voice cracked as he said quietly, "Ellarien." "You bound us once more."

"No," I said quietly as I knelt next to him. "We made a new decision."

I watched tears—real ones—burn down his cheeks as he met my look.

The world held its breath for a moment.

The sky then let forth a shriek.

Like someone tearing open time itself, a fissure ripped across the heavens. Black and broken, lightning crackled. The stars died and flickered. The temperature dropped to below that of death.

Here was the parasite. But not in the same way. It was no longer concealing.

It arrived like a memory-based hurricane. Shadow and forgotten love in a twisted shape. It had a hundred different faces. Mine. Ash's. We had lost everyone. Everything the flame had ever attempted to forget was used to make it.

It also detested us.

Ash rose slowly, the light now illuminating his body. With wings of fire ascending higher, I rose alongside him.

Together, we turned toward the rift.

We were stronger together.

We emerged into the shattered sky from the field of stars.

Behind us, our fires burned like twin comets. The wind shattered. The sky shuddered. To greet us, the emptiness opened wider. The parasite twisted into a thousand broken gods and snarled. We were already climbing past it when it lunged.

Ash grabbed my hand. "I agree with you," he declared.

As before, our fingertips connected, and our flames mingled once more. However, the fusion was painless this time. It recovered. No longer were we merely two spirits.

We were a balance.

A firm hand for each fire.

For every firestorm, a quiet sigh.

We rose higher, toward the centre of the emptiness, where the final recollection of the First Flame lay, protected by sadness and darkness. The parasite grew furious and shrank in size as it followed. It knew it was over.

However, we were aware that it didn't. Our purpose was not limited to combat.

We were supposed to complete it.