The wind howled like a starving beast through the broken steel towers of Elyvorn, the last city of man — or what was left of it.
Ash fell from the sky like snow, silent and endless, coating the ruins in shades of sorrow.
Kairo Vantheon stood alone on the shattered edge of a skyscraper, staring down at the flickering remains of a city that once touched the stars. His long coat, torn and dust-stained, clung to his body as if even the fabric refused to let go of him.
He pressed two fingers against his chest.
The mark was still there — faintly glowing beneath his skin, pulsing like a second heartbeat. Ancient symbols, twisted and alive, etched themselves beneath the surface like they were carved by fire itself.
> "They called it the Immortal Code... but they never told me what it cost."
Kairo turned, footsteps crunching glass, and faced the burning skyline. Behind him, shadows slithered in the alleyways — not men, not quite machines. Harvesters. Sent by the Obsidian Order. Sent for him.
He could run. He should run.
Instead, he closed his eyes… and remembered.
A blade. A girl with silver eyes. A war that shattered worlds.
A name that wasn't his… but always had been.
> "If you remember who you were… you become who you were meant to be."
When Kairo opened his eyes again, they weren't the same.
The ash around him swirled like it recognized its master.
And for the first time in twenty years… he summoned the flame.