The fire could not reach the edge of nothing.
And that's where it came from.
Beyond the realms of gods, beyond Hell's darkest corners, beyond the reach of even Lina's flame—something stirred. Something old. Something that had once whispered to the stars before the first gods ever gave them names.
It had watched her rise.
It had watched her burn the Heart.
And now—it remembered her.
—
In the throne room of flame and ash, Lina felt it first.
A coldness. Sharp. Primal. It didn't creep. It cut.
She stood quickly, heart flaring with alarm. The flames along the walls sputtered—not out of fear, but confusion. Even fire didn't know how to burn against that void.
Andra entered the chamber moments later, sword already summoned. "What did you do?" he asked, voice taut.
She shook her head. "I didn't do anything." Then, softer, darker: "But something's coming. Something that knew me before I ever existed."
The demon king narrowed his eyes. "That's impossible."
Lina's gaze turned toward the sky. "So was I."
—
That night, the stars in Hell disappeared.
One by one.
And in their place came a crack.
Not in the sky. Not in the ground.
But in reality.
A rift.
Black, endless, and whispering her name like a lover who had never forgotten betrayal.
Lina stood before it, alone. The court dared not follow. Even the bravest demons held back.
From the rift emerged… a shape. Humanoid. Cloaked in dark silk that seemed to drink light, its face ever-changing.
It did not speak with a mouth. It spoke straight to her bones.
"You were mine, once."
Lina clenched her fists, fire rising on her skin. "I was never anyone's."
The thing didn't move. But the world tilted slightly around it. "You burned the Heart. You shattered the seals. You woke the parts of yourself that should have stayed dreaming."
She swallowed. "What are you?"
It smiled without lips.
"I am what the gods feared you would become."
Andra appeared at her side, his power coiling protectively around her. "She's not yours," he growled.
"No," it said. "But she could be."
Then—just as quickly as it came—it vanished.
But the rift remained.
And so did the feeling.
That something worse than the gods was now watching.
And it didn't want to destroy Lina.
It wanted to consume her.