The First Brand remembered.
Sunrei's fingers fused with the jagged metal as memories that weren't his own flooded his mind
A thousand towers rising from a thousand seas.
A thousand Sunreis kneeling on a thousand shores.
A thousand voices whispering the same vow:
Next time, I'll break the cycle.
The vision shattered as Kaelis tackled him, her knives flashing toward the brand's connection point. Let go!
Sunrei couldn't. The First Brand had become part of him, its edges weaving through his flesh like roots through stone.
Not-Lithriel watched with ancient eyes as golden light erupted from the joining point. Too late, she murmured. The remembering has begun.
The Pillar's walls trembled. The chained Sunreis stirred as one, their hollow eyes snapping open
Violet.
Glowing.
Hungry.
Kaelis's knife found Not-Lithriel's throat. Stop this!
Black blood bubbled from the woman's lips as she smiled. I'm not doing anything, little healer. This was always his choice.
Liri grabbed Sunrei's wrist, her silver hair turning gold where it brushed the First Brand. It's rewriting you!
Sunrei felt it the brand's power surging through him, overwriting his cells, his memories, his soul. The golden light spread up his arm in jagged lines, forming patterns too terrible to comprehend.
The chained Sunreis spoke in unison:
Join us.
Their brands pulsed violet.
His burned gold.
Same prince.
Different choices.
Same end.
Sunrei gritted his teeth. Not this time.
He pulled
And the First Brand screamed.
The chamber dissolved into memory:
A younger Lithriel pressing the first brand to his wrist.
This will hurt, she whispers.
He meets her gaze.
It's supposed to.
The scene shifted
The Maw's shadow looming.
Liri's small hand in his.
A vow: I'll come back for you.
Again
A thousand battles.
A thousand brands.
A thousand failures.
The visions came faster, harder, until Sunrei couldn't tell where he ended and the other princes began. Their voices merged with his, their memories becoming his, their
No.
Sunrei wrenched back from the abyss.
He was himself.
Here.
Now.
And he remembered everything.
The First Brand's light shifted from gold to violet and back again, its form writhing in Sunrei's grip. The chained princes strained against their bonds, their hollow eyes fixed on him.
Not-Lithriel collapsed to her knees, her form flickering between young and old, whole and broken. You see now, she gasped. The brands were never chains. They're anchors tethering you to this moment, this choice, again and again.
Kaelis's knife hovered at her throat. Then how do we end it?
The answer came not from Not-Lithriel, but from Liri.
You don't.
She stepped forward, her hands outstretched toward the First Brand.
You change it.
Sunrei expected resistance as Liri touched the brand.
Instead
Clarity.
The First Brand's light stabilized, the violet fading to pure gold. The chained princes stilled, their hollow eyes clearing to brown.
Not-Lithriel gasped. You... you shouldn't be able to...
Liri's silver hair gleamed in the golden light. You forgot something, Lithriel. She placed her other hand on Sunrei's chest. The brands need a vessel. But a vessel needs a heart.
The First Brand shuddered.
Then
It splintered.
The explosion of golden light should have killed them.
Instead, it unmade.
The chained princes dissolved into mist. The Pillar's walls crumbled to sand. The sea outside turned from blood-red to clear blue.
Not-Lithriel stared at her hands as they began to fade. What have you done?
Sunrei knew.
He'd done what none of the other princes could.
He'd shared the burden.
Liri collapsed against him, her breathing ragged. The First Brand was gone not destroyed, but transformed, its power diffused between them.
Kaelis caught them both as the last of the Pillar fell away. It's over.
Sunrei looked at his wrist.
The golden brand remained, but its light was softer now.
Shared.
Free.
The ship waited in calm waters.
Ryna and her crew stared at the empty horizon where the Pillar had stood, their tattoos faded to scars.
Sunrei helped Liri aboard, his golden brand pulsing gently where it brushed her skin.
Kaelis studied the unmarked horizon. Where now?
Sunrei smiled.
Home.