Reigen's hand was cold when it touched hers — colder than the mud, colder than the world.
But her grip?
Solid. Warm. Real.
He hadn't felt that in years.
As she pulled him up, Reigen's mind was spinning — not from exhaustion, but confusion. Who was this woman? Where did she come from? How was she not Woken, broken, or running?
"Name," she said simply.
He blinked. "Reigen. Reigen Solari."
She didn't react. "Mine's Kael."
He expected more. A title. A reason. A weapon. Nothing came.
Only silence.
Kael turned and walked, barefoot across cracked glass and soaked stone as if the terrain was smooth. Her steps didn't splash. They echoed. Echoes that didn't fade — they looped. Like memory trying to hold onto something it forgot.
"You're not from the Bastion," he muttered, catching up.
"I'm not from anywhere."
That hit harder than it should've.
---
They walked in silence through the drowned district of Eshra, a city once known for its spiraling towers and wind-gardens. Now? Half-eaten by the sky. Buildings floated sideways, and reflections moved before their owners.
Reigen kept glancing at Kael.
No scars. No tech. No visible fear.
Just a girl with feathers in her braid and three metal rings embedded in her spine. Not mechanical — ceremonial.
And she was humming.
"You're not afraid of the Woken?" he asked, his voice low.
"I already died once," she replied without missing a beat.
His breath hitched.
"What do you mean by—?"
"They can't kill what doesn't dream anymore."
Reigen didn't know if she was poetic or broken. Maybe both. Maybe that's what surviving meant now.
---
Eventually, they reached a wide clearing where the water fell up into the sky like a reversed waterfall. At the center stood a skeleton of a building — bones of steel, ribs of stone, and an open ceiling that pointed to the stars.
Kael stepped in and sat on the edge.
"This is where I wait for architects," she said.
"…Architects?" Reigen's heart pounded.
She nodded. "Ones who remember the old shapes. Who still believe the world can be... remade."
He pulled out his blueprint again.
Kael reached for it slowly. "You still carry it?"
"It's all I have."
She studied it with unreadable eyes. Then smiled — just a little.
"Then we start here. With your memory. With your guilt. With your ruin."
Reigen's lips trembled. "Start what?"
Kael looked to the heavens. The stars were flickering. Some began to fall, others rewound back into place.
She whispered:
"The Stairway to the Sky doesn't exist yet. But it will. Because you're going to build it. With me."
And for the first time in years…
Reigen believed her.