Chapter 183: The Real Name of Her

Chapter 183: The Real Name of Her
Adira’s POV

Ash silently sat next to me, his fingers lightly grazing mine. With just ashes swishing in the breeze, the battlefield behind us was suddenly silent. But I still felt a burning sensation inside.

His eyes searched as he turned to face me. "What did 'your true name' mean to him?"

I turned my head away.

Above, the sky seemed too vast. Too heavy.

I said in a whisper, "I didn't forget it." "It was stolen."

Ash scowled. "Taken?"

"My name was the price when I first became the vessel of the Thirteenth Spark," I said quietly, my voice trembling. I had to give up that aspect of myself to have that much power.

Ash's face became softer. "However, it's a part of your identity."

My eyes began to well up with tears. "I understand. For that reason, I buried it.

He squeezed my hand. Then speak. Adira, say your name. Return it.

I paused.

Then, slowly, I closed my eyes.

And I whispered it into the wind.

“My name is… Ellarien.”

Pain shot through my chest as soon as I said the word. My skin exploded with light. The heavens shook. My knees gave way.

Just before I struck the ground, Ash grabbed me.

"Adira!"

But I couldn’t answer.

Everything turned dark.

I bobbed in the dark.

However, I wasn't by myself.

Sparks were everywhere: murmurs that recognised me, voices without bodies, little incandescent lights.

They waited.

Whispering, "Ellarien." "The name reappears."

I saw a huge white plane when I opened my eyes. In front of me hovered dozens, no, hundreds, of flame spirits. Some were birds. Some were animals. A few appeared to have golden fire skin.

One took a step forward. A towering woman with fire-like hair and light-colored antlers.

She lowered her head.

She declared, "The lost queen has returned."

My throat constricted. "I feel like I'm not a queen."

She said kindly, "You remembered your name." "The first indication of royalty is that."

The ghosts raised their hands. Fire encircled me, rebuilding me, not hurting me.

"You gave us a call," the woman remarked. And we'll respond. Fire was never the lone element of the First Flame. It was recollection. Additionally, you are its final daughter.

My chest began to burn.

I screamed out of power, not pain.

The spirits dwindled.

And after I opened my eyes once more...

I was getting up.

Ash stood against the deepening shadow while I was out.

Like spilt ink, the emptiness swept across the plain. Ash faced it by himself, his flame extinguished, his weapon dull.

He did not, however, run.

"She's not yours," he snarled.

Long tendrils flew toward him as the vacuum hissed.

Ash's blade swung.

On impact, however, it broke.

He fell back with a gasp.

The tendrils writhing like smoke snakes around his arms and chest.

Ash struggled, jaws clenched.

And then—one tendril curled around his heart.

He cried out in a choked voice.

Cold and merciless, the parasite said quietly in his consciousness.

"You extinguished the flame. You will now relinquish your affection.

Ash dropped to one knee, gasping for air.

However, he never took his eyes off the spot where I had landed.

where I was awake.

In a whisper, he said, "Return to me."

I heard him, too.

I got up.

Not the way I had been.

But as more than that.

Like liquid silver fire, my hair drifted about me. The old light radiated from my skin. The stars were mirrored in my eyes.

Once more, I was Ellarien.

The Flame Queen.

I also had a glimpse of him.

Ash—choking, falling, imprisoned by shadows.

My heart tightened.

I took a step forward.

And the ground burnt clean with every stride.

When it noticed me, the vacuum hissed and backed away, but not quickly enough.

"Give him up," I said.

The darkness cried out.

I yelled, "You can't have him."

My voice turned to ash. The sky went white when I screamed.

The nothingness recoiled.

looked at the glass.

And broken.

Ash gasped and fell to the ground.

I managed to capture him.

He was gasping for air when he looked up at me.

“Adira…?”

"No," I said. "Ellarien."

A quivering smile curved his lips.

However, the glass shadows behind us started humming once more.

And a murmur came from somewhere beyond the emptiness:

"She's back. The game starts over.