Ethan instinctively took several steps back.
The ground beneath him began to tremble. Sand shifted and rolled like waves, as if the entire world had just taken its first breath in ages.
A deep, resonant rumble echoed from far below.
Before his eyes, the barren desert began to change—visibly, rapidly. Dunes collapsed. Cracks split the earth. Moisture surged up from underground, and vegetation spread like wildfire.
Forests burst from the soil. Oases pooled in the lowlands.
But this wasn't natural rebirth.
Every new leaf, every blade of grass, every drop of water shimmered faintly with blood-red flame patterns—subtle, but unmistakable. The fire was fierce yet stable, dangerous yet strangely ordered.
Flame, by nature, was destruction.
But here, it had become the medium of rebirth.
Ethan's breath slowed without him realizing.
