It had been two days.Maybe three.Ethan had stopped counting.
His throat was dry, lips cracked. His stomach twisted painfully, but he welcomed the pain. It reminded him he was still here — even if no one else remembered.
He sat alone beneath the shattered arch of the ruined temple, drenched in rain and silence.The sky never cleared.The clouds never moved.
It was as if even time itself had left him behind.
He spoke to no one now.Not because there was no one to talk to…But because he was afraid someone might answer.
And the only voice he wanted to hear — Irelia's —was the one he feared most.
Not because of what she'd say.But because of what she wouldn't.
She wouldn't apologize.She wouldn't cry.She wouldn't even hesitate.
She had already moved on.
A crow landed on the edge of the temple wall.Its feathers were pitch black, soaked from the storm.It stared at him with soulless eyes.
Then another.And another.
Within minutes, there were seven.They made no sound. No calls. No wingbeats.
Just staring.
"Are you here to watch me die?" Ethan whispered.
They didn't move.
And then something shifted.
Not in the sky.Not in the world.
Inside him.
A flicker. A pull. A shiver in his bones — cold and unfamiliar.His body was broken. His heart was hollow.But something… else… was alive inside.
Not hope.Not strength.Something darker.
A whisper.
Faint.Not from outside.
From inside his chest.
It wasn't a word. Not at first.More like a memory that wasn't his.A shadow of someone else's grief…
"You were right to cry.""They were wrong to leave you.""You gave them everything... and they gave you nothing."
The crows began to circle, slowly.
Ethan pressed his back against the stone, breathing fast."Who—"He choked on the word. His voice barely worked anymore."Who are you?"
Silence.Then—
"I am the answer to your pain.""I am what is born when love dies.""I have always been here... waiting."
Ethan's hand went to his chest, shaking.
There was something cold beneath his skin now.Not metal. Not flesh.Something ancient. And grieving.
Something betrayed.
It wasn't a curse.It wasn't a blessing.
It was a reflection.Of everything he had buried. Every tear. Every scream. Every word he never said.
"Let me carry it for you.""Let me be your voice.""Let me hurt for you... and they will listen."
The wind fell still.Even the rain paused.
And for the first time since they left him behind...
Ethan felt something looking back at him.
Not a god.Not a monster.A mirror.
His fingers curled against the wet stone floor.He could barely breathe. Not from fear.But because for the first time in days…
He wasn't alone.
And deep beneath the ruins —something opened its eyes.
Not in the world.In him.