Lira dreamed of fire.
But it wasn't the kind that destroyed — it was the kind that remade.
Flames didn't lick her skin; light did. It pulsed through her veins in ribbons of gold and red, moving like liquid sunlight. Around her, the ground was carved with runes that glowed the same colour as her blood, humming softly in rhythm with her breath.
She stood barefoot in that circle, calm despite the storm in her chest. Voices echoed around her — low, ancient, steady. Chanting words in a language older than the world, and somehow, she
understood them.
"Eternum sanguine. Vitae memoriam."
"Blood eternal. The memory of life."
Her pulse matched the chant, faster, louder, until it wasn't just sound — it was inside her. The world split open in gold light—
And she woke gasping.
The dream shatt
