The cavern had gone silent, but not dead.
Every flicker of flame clung to the stone like an afterimage, as though the walls themselves remembered the ritual that had taken place here. The sigil on the floor was gone, but its echo pulsed faintly under my bare feet, a rhythm I could feel in my bones. My tattoos burned like fresh ink. My wings flexed—no longer trembling but heavy with new weight, new strength.
I took a breath and felt the fire stir inside me. It didn’t rush to the surface anymore, didn’t claw at my throat. It waited, coiled, an obedient serpent around my heart.
Iris purred in my mind. Finally.
My lips cracked into a smile that wasn’t entirely my own. “Finally,” I echoed, voice low, alien even to myself. Smoke curled from my tongue.
I am stronger now.. I can fight off all
