The morning never came.
The sky hung heavy, painted in shades of crimson and smoke.
The rain had stopped, but the world was still trembling.
Elias stood on the edge of the city's ruins, his clothes torn, his blade stained with light instead of blood.
He looked up at the horizon, where the clouds had begun to twist into spirals of fire.
Every instinct told him to run.
But his heart whispered the opposite.
Aiden was out there.
And something ancient was waking inside him.
Elias started walking. His boots splashed through shallow puddles that glowed faintly with reflected flame.
He followed the heat, the pulse, the memory of a promise made lifetimes ago.
Aiden stood at the center of the desolate street.
The air around him shimmered like glass in the sun. The mark on his wrist had spread, lines of red light tracing up his arm toward his throat.
He looked at his reflection in a cracked window.
For a moment, he saw her again Ariselle, the woman who once commanded armies and burned kingdoms for love.
Her voice echoed faintly in his head.
Do you feel it? The world remembering you?
He whispered, "I don't want to be you."
The reflection smiled sadly.
You already are.
The glass shattered, scattering flame and dust into the wind.
Elias arrived minutes later, breathing hard.
When he saw Aiden, he froze.
The boy who had once trembled beneath his touch now stood wrapped in light, his hair glowing faintly, his eyes gold.
The ground beneath him was cracked and molten, every step he took leaving trails of embers.
Elias whispered, "Aiden."
Aiden turned. His gaze softened when he saw him, but the fire didn't fade.
"You shouldn't be here."
Elias took a step closer. "And leave you to face this alone? Not again."
Aiden shook his head. "You don't understand. It's spreading. The Flame is remembering what it was meant to do."
"What do you mean?"
Aiden lifted his hand. The red light pulsed stronger.
"The world thinks I'm her again. It's calling me to finish what she started."
Elias clenched his fists. "Then let it call. You're not her. You're Aiden. You're mine."
The words hit him like warmth through the storm.
But before he could answer, the sky cracked open.
A pillar of red light fell from the heavens, striking the ground with a roar.
The city shook. The air turned to heat and ash.
From the center of the blast rose a figure tall, crowned in fire, wings of molten glass unfolding behind them.
Aiden's voice trembled. "What is that?"
Elias stared, his face pale. "That is the true Flame. The will of Ariselle that refused to die."
The being's eyes opened, burning like suns.
Its voice filled the air, deep and echoing.
"Child of my heart, return what was stolen."
Aiden fell to his knees, clutching his chest. His heartbeat throbbed with pain, the mark on his wrist searing.
Elias ran to him. "Fight it. You're stronger than this."
Aiden gasped, "It's inside me. She's inside me."
The being smiled faintly. "You are me. You always were."
The ground split, fire bursting upward.
Elias pulled Aiden close, shielding him from the blast.
He whispered against his hair, voice steady even as the world burned around them.
"Then we'll burn together again, if we must."
Aiden looked up at him, eyes glowing through tears.
"Do you really mean that?"
Elias smiled, the kind of smile that held centuries of sorrow and devotion.
"I always did."
Their hands intertwined. The flames rose higher, swallowing everything.
But somewhere deep inside the fire, two heartbeats found the same rhythm again.
And as the red sky opened fully, the heavens watched in silence.
The world was remembering its first sin.
Love.