The Ash Moon still hung in the sky like a watching eye. It hadn't moved. Not once. Not an inch. Just stayed above the black forest as if tied to Coker's fate.
He hadn't slept. The ground beneath his makeshift camp was too warm. The air, too quiet. Even the wind didn't dare blow through these trees.
The mark on his chest pulsed again.
Harder.
Sharper.
It woke him fully, dragging him out of the shallow trance he had fallen into. He stepped out from the hollow tree, barefoot, sword in hand, and stared into the deep woods.
Something was calling.
---
He followed a narrow path lined with dead flowers and bent grass. The trees whispered like old women gossiping. He didn't care.
He had stopped being afraid.
Now he was curious.
He found a stone well hidden behind some roots. No water inside. Only darkness that went down forever. He felt a pull from it — the same as from the mark on his chest.
Then came the voice.
"Are you ready to see?"
It wasn't from the well. It was from everywhere.
"I don't even know what I'm supposed to be," Coker said.
The voice chuckled. Dry. Deep. "You were never supposed to be. That's why you are."
Coker didn't understand. But he knelt. Touched the rim of the well.
*And fell.*
---
He landed in a hallway made of stone and glowing lines. The walls pulsed with soft blue light, and ancient symbols moved like living ink.
A massive door stood at the end.
It had no handle. No lock. But it bled light from the cracks.
The mark on Coker's chest glowed bright.
He stepped forward, and the door opened by itself.
Inside was a round chamber filled with floating orbs — memories.
Scenes.
Flashes of who he once was.
Who he would become.
He saw himself as a child of flame, burning armies with a wave of his hand.
He saw himself chained, screaming as a crown was forced on his head.
He saw Mina — but older — standing in a ruined city, holding a broken sword.
Then… he saw a throne of bones. And himself on it.
A god.
Alone.
Unsmiling.
He stepped back.
"No. That's not me."
A voice behind him:
"It was. It could be again."
He turned.
A man stood there, dressed like a warrior monk. Black robes. Silver hair. Eyes covered in cloth. Yet he stared straight at Coker.
"Who are you?" Coker asked.
"I'm what remains of your first life," the man said.
Coker frowned. "I've only had one."
The man walked closer. "You've had hundreds. But each time, the world reset to forget you. You are the Devourer of Fate. The one who breaks prophecy."
"I didn't ask for that."
"No one asks to be born cursed."
---
The man touched the center of Coker's chest. A surge of energy hit him like lightning. The chamber shook. The orbs blinked out. The walls cracked.
"Remember," the man said.
And then Coker remembered.
He remembered fire.
He remembered battles that tore stars in half.
He remembered faces — so many faces — and the sound of gods begging for mercy.
He collapsed to his knees, panting.
"I was a monster."
The man knelt beside him.
"You were feared because you could not be controlled. But you were never evil."
Coker looked up. "Then why does everyone hate me?"
"Because your existence means their rules mean nothing."
The door behind them shattered.
Black vines poured in, crawling like snakes. They hissed, burning the floor.
"They've found you," the man said. "The Watchers. You have to run."
Coker stood, heart pounding. "Come with me!"
"I can't leave. I'm just memory."
The vines reached.
Coker ran.
---
He leapt through the crack in the wall. Found himself falling again, this time through ash and light.
He hit the forest floor hard, coughing.
The sky was still wrong. The moon still watching.
But now…
He felt it.
The chains inside him had snapped.
Not all.
But one.
The power that woke in his chest now moved through his limbs.
He touched the tree beside him.
It turned to crystal.
He gasped. "What...?"
His fingers pulsed with raw force.
A voice inside him now — his own, but deeper — whispered:
"You are not becoming. You are returning."
---
Far away, in the Kingdom of Halver, the royal seers tore off their robes in panic.
"The Devourer has taken form!"
"Call the Circle of Light!"
"No," said the blind high priest. "It's too late."
In the corner, a girl with silver eyes watched.
And smiled.
---
Coker climbed a hill. Looked back at the forest.
It no longer scared him.
He clenched his hand.
A wave of dust lifted off the earth around him.
His power had begun to stir.
And the world would never be the same.