She dreamt of ash again.
But this time, it wasn't Hell's.
It was the end of everything.
Lina stood in a field of white fire—so hot, it made reality shiver. Cities burned without smoke, stars fell like dying birds, and somewhere in the void, a voice whispered a truth she had spent lifetimes denying:
> "You were born in destruction. Not to end the world… but to be the last thing standing when it's gone."
She woke gasping, slick with sweat, fire pulsing beneath her skin. Andra stirred beside her instantly, hand reaching for her, protective even in sleep.
"What did you see?" he asked.
She looked at him, her eyes glowing dimly in the dark. "Not the future. Not the past."
A pause.
"…Me."
—
They returned to the Rift.
This time, she didn't come to confront.
She came to remember.
The entity waited there, its form darker than before, shaped now in a twisted mockery of her own silhouette. It smiled.
"You begin to see."
Lina stepped forward, unafraid. "What are you to me?"
It cocked its head. "The piece you tore away. The first fire. The soul you buried to be human. I am what you locked in the Heart and forgot."
The truth hit like a blade.
Lina staggered. Not from fear. From recognition.
She hadn't just sealed her power long ago. She had split herself.
Left behind the monstrous part.
The unrelenting hunger.
The chaos that wanted to watch creation bleed.
And now it had come to reunite.
"I'm not her anymore," Lina whispered.
The Void stepped closer, eyes glowing like a black sun. "You will be. Or you will burn trying not to be."
It lifted a hand—and suddenly, she saw. Visions poured into her: a world where she chose the void, where she became fire incarnate, where Andra knelt before her in chains, worshipful and terrified.
Her heart thundered.
She tried to pull away—but the truth clung to her ribs.
There was a part of her that wanted it.
To rule. To consume. To own him.
—
Andra grabbed her hand, grounding her, yanking her back from the vision.
"Don't listen," he growled. "You are not that. You are mine. And you've already burned for your freedom."
Lina's fire blazed through her again—hotter, wilder, not angry, but furious with clarity.
She faced the Void.
"You want me whole? Then you'll burn with me."
And she attacked.
Flames erupted, not just from her body—but from her soul. And for the first time, the entity stumbled, shrieked, retreated.
It wasn't gone. But it had tasted her defiance.
And it knew: Lina would not be consumed.
She would be reborn again—and again—until nothing could take her flame.