Chapter 202: The Eternal Flame

Chapter 202: The Eternal Flame
Adira’s POV

Like a door shutting and then opening again.

"This marks the end," I said.

Ash, whose eyes mirrored every star we had salvaged, nodded next to me.

However, I was not depressed.

Since fire never goes out.

All it does is change.

And something else was starting, far away from here.

A silver-haired girl opened her eyes for the first time far away, in a planet yet gentle with morning, in a kingdom not yet formed. She looked at her hands, blinked slowly, and then looked up at the stars.

She also grinned.

She introduced herself as Ellarien.

The region had no name yet, and no map indicated its shape, but the breeze was mild where she stood. Above her, the sky seemed clear and limitless, as if someone had erased all recollection from the stars. She has no history. No mother to rouse her. Her name cannot be spoken by her father. She wasn't scared, though.

Slowly, as though the light itself were new, she opened her eyes. Silver as moonlight, it danced in her irises, and as she blinked, the air reacted, tilting flowers, swaying trees, and even leaning closer to listen.

The girl did nothing but breathe for a long time. She held her hands up and palmed them up, observing the way the sunshine coiled her fingers. Something burned beneath her white clothing, which had no crown, insignia, or power mark. A soft warmth. A flicker, a knowledge.

Before now, something had happened.

There had been a person standing in flame.

Someone had been in love.

And for her to be able to stand here now, unburdened and untouchable, someone had sacrificed all.

The girl's feet brushed the soft ground as she moved forward. Her long, silver hair bobbed as if gravity had never touched it. The ground beneath her feet brightened as she walked, small glowing shoots emerging in the soil like stars.

When she reached a quiet lake, she crouched down next to it and looked into her reflection.

She initially only saw her face.

Then—flickers.

A burning hand extending out.

Tears and burning filled the eyes.

Between lovers, a name was said.

A world on fire.

And given a new life.

The weight of it was there, like music from another existence, even though she didn't understand it yet. Her chest grew heavy, and her heart began to race—not because of dread, but with purpose.

She raised her look to the stars, which were now softly throbbing above her. Her image glistened. She gasped.

Then she finally said something.

The first sound to ever pierce this nascent world's quiet.

Clear and steady. It's true.

"Ellarien is my name."

And the skies responded as she said it.

Overhead, a lone phoenix flew by, its golden wings trailing stardust.

The fire was still going strong.

It had just started over.

I stood under a fire-filled sky somewhere between memory and time.

This fire, however, did not burn. It glistened—like music. Like something old that has been suppressed for too long. The stars swirled around me. Galaxies beat in time. Like dancers bowing to a queen they had forgotten, comets rushed across the sky.

I didn't have a crown on.

I wasn't a king or queen.

Nevertheless, the realm bowed in silent respect around me.

Ash, which now appeared to be composed of flame and starlight, stood next to me, silent, and flickering dimly at the edges. He remained silent. He was not required to. The warmth of his presence allowed me to sense his thoughts. We were charred. Together, we had burned. We stood now, unaffected by time or destiny.

In front of us, the stars opened.

Everyone who had been dark suddenly glowed with fresh fire. Our story was set on fire as the stars gradually twisted into symbols that spanned galaxies. With its gold-carved wings, the phoenix rose once again. The Queen of Crimson. The initial flame. The Prophecy Child. The Age of Ember.

The newest constellation formed in the centre.

A girl with silver hair and one hand extended toward the future.

I gasped. "She'll surpass us in importance."

Ash gave a nod. "As a result of what we provided her."

The stars then started to sing.

It was a song of memories more than words. Of all the names uttered in combat. Every tear that falls next to a dying fire. Every pledge. Each autumn. Every rising. The flame itself recalled.

The music filled the silence. The realms bowed.

And the ember at the centre of me pulsed once in that silence.

Again. Once and for all.

I raised my look to the sky lit with fire and said—not as a goddess or a queen, but as the girl who had been forgotten.

"Allow the Eternal Flame to start."

And someplace, in a young world where the stars had only started to appear...
"I remember," a girl with grey hair said quietly back.