After her final breath, there was no pain.
Only silence.
Qi Ming Yue drifted in a space not meant for souls. A black void—soundless, scentless, eternal. She couldn't tell if she was floating or falling. No pulse. No weight. No need to move. It was peace so profound it terrified her.
"Is this what death feels like?"
"Or... what forgetting feels like?"
She had lost everything—name, body, dignity, future. Even her voice had vanished, as if grief itself had stolen it.
Time didn't pass here. There was no clock, no heartbeat, no sky. Only memory bleeding quietly from her bones.
She remembered a chipped bowl scraped of leftovers. Soot between her toes. A quiet sob muffled in her pillow. Betrayal came not as knives, but as indifference.
And then—
A single note. Musical. Shimmering.
A lullaby. Just one line.
"…to light the dark once again…"
Her breath caught—if breath existed here. It felt... familiar.
Suddenly, warmth bloomed. Slowly. A gentle red glow expanded across the void, wrapping her skin like silk unraveling from fire.
A woman in celestial robes emerged from the light, adorned in embroidered gold over blazing crimson. Her eyes held millennia.
Ming Yue gasped—but sound did not return.
The woman spoke, and her voice echoed like bells under moonlight.
"You are not broken. You are paused."
She took a step forward, and with it, Ming Yue's memories shook. Her own heartbeat trembled—returning after silence.
"Child, I know you feel cast aside. But the heavens do not forget blood. You bear mine."
The glow intensified. Flames spiraled around them, dancing without heat.
"Once, I was caged. Until your pain called me. Now I am flame again. And now—so are you."
Ming Yue opened her mouth.
"Why?" she whispered hoarsely. "Why now? Why me?"
The woman's expression softened.
"Because the world burned you unjustly. And fire… remembers injustice."
She touched Ming Yue's forehead. The warmth was electric, divine.
"You brought my power back. And allowed me to intervene. This moment… this balance between death and birth… is the miracle."
There was no warning.
The light fractured. The celestial woman vanished as quickly as she came.
And then—
A rush of memories. A scream. Her own voice roaring through the void:
"I curse you all!"
Pain. Fire. Her skin tearing. Her soul screaming. Her vow echoing through every dimension.
Ming Yue clawed at nothing, begging for a second chance. For vengeance. For dignity.
A force yanked her downward—a cyclone, a divine vacuum. She fell. Fast. Her breath returned. Her heart raced.
"Don't be scared, my child… everything will be fine."
That voice. Softer now. Familiar. Maternal.
A tune hummed through her bones.
"Sleep tight my little moon… with the blessings of the sky…"
Ming Yue's body curled inward. Her skin kissed warmth again—real warmth. Mud beneath her nails. Soot in her lungs. Grass beneath her palm.
She opened her eyes.
Moonless sky. Burnt earth. Her own soot-streaked limbs.
Tears spilled. Her lips trembled. But she smiled. She was back.
"Heavens… paid their debt."
And in the darkness, something sacred rose—not just a girl, but a flame reborn.