The firefly jar sat beside him, its tiny lights pulsing in the dim cell like dying stars. Their soft glow barely reached the edges of the damp stone walls, swallowed by the darkness that pressed in on him. The girl had left as silently as she had come, but her questions lingered, curling in his mind like smoke.
She had wanted to know the truth.
And he had let it slip.
A mistake. A weakness.
He clenched his fists, nails biting into his palms. The Yuruke Gift still burned against his skin, its mark a deep red brand carved into his wrist. It pulsed like a wound, smothering the power that had once made men whisper his name in fear.
A villain. A monster. A thief.
That was what they had turned him into.
A sudden, sharp pain shot through his wrist. His breath caught.
The mark—glowing. Flickering like dying embers.
Then—
The chains rattled.
The air shifted. The weight of something unseen crushed against his chest, pressing into his ribs like an iron vice. Before he could react, raw energy surged through his body. His back slammed against the cold stone floor as a searing heat tore through his veins, burning him from the inside out.
He choked on his breath. His vision blurred.
The mark—it was waking.
And something was calling it.
Footsteps.
Slow. Measured.
The cell door creaked open.
His head snapped up. His golden eyes, sharp even through the haze of pain, locked onto the figure standing in the doorway.
Not the girl. Not a guard.
Someone else.
A shadow stepped forward, the dim light from the firefly jar casting jagged shapes across the walls. The air turned heavy, charged with something old, something familiar.
A voice, smooth and cold as steel, cut through the silence.
"You've been quiet for too long."
The figure stepped closer, the glow of his wrist reflected in their dark, knowing eyes.
"It's time to remind the world who you are."
His pulse pounded. His chains shuddered.
A part of him wanted to fight it—to stay buried in the silence of this cell, to let the past rot where it belonged.
But the firefly light flickered.
And the chains binding his fate began to break.