We stood above the corpse of Aldrich, the foul mire that once rushed through her ancient veins now lay dark and forlorn across the stones. Or'do stood with greatsword slung over his shoulder, blood like clotting pitch flowing along its keen edge.
"This is useless." He murmured, his smooth baritone startling me, so seldom had he employed it.
"What you mean?" I was perplexed if not bewildered. "We just slew the last Lord of Cinder that stood between us and the Kiln of the First Flame!"
"And when you reach the First Flame, what will you do?"
"Link it of course!"
"Then..?" He pressed, obviously expecting some damning response on my part.
"Then I am reborn again in a new world, to slay once more the traitorous Lords and link the Flame once more." I wondered now, dared hope even, that perhaps he shared my distaste in this endless cycle.
"And you see no fault in it?"
"Should I?" I elected to stride carefully here; certainly, this was a path with as many crippling pitfalls as cobblestones.
"Yes!" Flame blazed in the molten depths of his silver eyes, which glinted like poured mercury as he gestured emphatically. "You are a slave to their whims, Aleorn! There is no end to these parallels, no end to the Kilns and no end to your fight. Do you not tire of it all?"
A strange, anxious heat swelled in my breast. I exhaled, steam roiling over my parched lips, and dared for the first time speak without falsehood or avoidance.
[Listen to this]
"Every day." My tone was grim, hard as the steel of my sodden blade, and just so dangerously keen. "I've long yearned to end this cycle, to break free of the shackles with which I was born and must forevermore live."
"Then do it!" He clasped my shoulder, his strength flowing through me like the ember's warmth that pulsed through my ignited skin. "We can break free, Aleorn. You and I, can change this world."
I smiled beneath my helm. "Perhaps I am going mad, Or'do, for I believe you."
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