[INITIATING EVALUATION]

  [BEGINNING ACHIEVEMENT REVIEW...]

  A pulse of white light throbbed behind Kael’s eyes.

  He wasn’t awake. Not fully. His body floated somewhere between dream and awareness, but the Spine didn’t care. It didn’t need him conscious to pass judgment.

  —

  [ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THE FALLEN BECOME FLAME]

  You leapt into death for someone else. Sacrifice without any expectation is a rare story.

  [ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: TASTED BY THE DEVOURER]

  You gave a memory to a devourer and lived through his hunger. Foolish... and fascinating.

  [ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: WITNESS TO DIVINITY]

  You stood in the presence of two divine forces and were not consumed. Few have seen one. Fewer walk away from two.

  [ACHIEVEMENT UNLOCKED: THE SHARD THAT CHOSE YOU]

  A memory shard selected you of its own will. It sees something in you. We wonder what it is.

  A beat of silence.

  [TRUE NAME FORMING...]

  Kael stirred. His fingers twitched.

  [THE LAST EMBER]

  —

  Kael gasped for air.

  Air tore at his lungs like fire burning him alive. He bolted upright, his limbs flailing around like he was drowning. It took several seconds before he realized he was lying on wood. Solid. Real. Wet.

  Rain.

  Thin, cold droplets spattered against his face.

  The sky above him was black, veiled with a beautiful array of stars. The moon was raised high in the night sky, its pale light shining down on the world.

  Kael stared up at it, breath shallow.

  It looked like the sky he’d grown up with. The one above the fishing village. But it wasn’t. The stars were all wrong. And the moon rose west instead of east. It just felt wrong, different.

  Is this place even real? Was this even the sky? Or just another trick of the Spine?

  He thought of the sea of blood. Of gods watching and doing nothing. Of Maxwell smiling.

  Kael looked at his surroundings. The ship was docked in a port. But not the kind Kael had ever known. It was massive; dozens of ships of all sizes lay swaying in the ocean.

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  He sat up slowly, joints aching. All around him, the world was quiet—but not still. Lanterns swung in the distance. He could hear faint voices, metal clanging, and footsteps on wet stone. The smell of salt lingered, but it was fainter now. Less ocean. More… something else.

  A city. A large one.

  Shapes moved beyond the docks—towers twisted at strange angles. Buildings were stacked atop one another like the roots of a tree. Fires burned behind stained glass. He couldn’t tell if it was night or day. Only that the stars above him didn’t match any sky he remembered.

  He gripped the ship’s railing and stood, wobbling slightly. His chest felt hot, very hot. The shard? He couldn’t tell. It felt like something was inside him; it felt like a fire burning in his very soul.

  “Easy now,” a voice said.

  Kael turned.

  The Captain stood at the base of the ramp, just between where the ship met the docks. His round hat was now soaked with rainwater. His voice was unmistakable—calm, unhurried, and as dry as ever.

  “You made it,” the Captain said. “Barely.”

  Kael opened his mouth to speak, but all that came out was a cough.

  The Captain didn’t seem concerned. He turned to face the city and said, “Welcome to the First Floor.”

  Kael stared past him. And before he could ask what came next, a voice.

  Not the Captain’s, not Maxwell’s, and not the divine one from before, but within his body once again.

  —

  [TUTORIAL COMPLETE] [EVALUATING TRUE NAME PROTOCOLS...] [STATUS: ACTIVE — SUBJECT: THE LAST EMBER]

  —

  Kael’s knees buckled.

  Kael groaned and rolled onto his side. Every bone in his body ached as if something had torn him apart and stitched him back together wrong. His mind was foggy, fractured. He knew his name. He knew his purpose. But so many details… they slipped away when he tried to reach for them.

  His Nan’s face. Gone.

  The name of the boy with the wooden sword. Gone.

  The feeling of dolphins breaking the waves as if he could almost touch them. Almost.

  Gone as well.

  “You’re one of the lucky ones,” he said. “Most who speak with him don’t make it back. But the Spine… seems to like your story.”

  He paused just for a moment.

  “And she helped, of course. Elyria. Must’ve burned more power than she should have to interfere.”

  Still, he didn’t explain. He didn’t have to. Kael understood.

  Kael swallowed hard. “How many others made it?”

  The Captain didn’t answer right away. “Enough.”

  “Rest,” he said. “You’ll need it. This floor is different.”

  He turned to leave—but he paused.

  “Oh. And one last thing. A word of caution.”

  Kael looked up.

  “Keep your name close. Don’t trust anyone in this damned city.”

  The Captain didn’t elaborate. He stepped off the dock, vanishing into the mist.

  And Kael, shivering in the rain beneath an unfamiliar sky, was left once again alone.

  Tears streamed down his face. At first, he didn’t even notice, just a few drops here and there. Then he sobbed uncontrollably, his body shaking with grief he couldn’t understand. He didn’t know why he was crying, but the pain was real.

  He felt broken.

  He felt empty. He felt alone.

  Kael wiped his face with the back of his sleeve. Slowly, he stood.

  The wind hit his body hard as it howled through the air.

  He looked up.

  The sky above was vast and endless. It was filled with strange stars that pulsed like slow heartbeats.

  He wondered if one of them used to be a god. He wondered if one of them was watching now.

  And for a moment, just a moment, he felt something stir deep inside. A fire that refuses to go out.

  Not like this.

  Not yet.