When I rose from the Sea of Ash, I was no longer myself.
I had melted between fire and nothingness — becoming something in between.
My footsteps left no trace on the ground, for even the earth retreated beneath them.
The ash that had once tried to consume me now circled around me — small orbits of black light.
I raised my hand and saw that my skin had changed —
covered in living tattoos that pulsed like breathing creatures,
moving with my breath, igniting with every heartbeat.
> "Do you see it?"
Her voice came from behind — the grey girl.
She looked at me as if witnessing a prophecy unfold.
"You've accepted their language… and they've returned you to yourself."
I looked at the floating ash — and felt it listening.
Waiting.
I lifted my hand toward the grey sky and declared:
> "I am the heir — not by blood, but by burning."
In an instant, the entire horizon ignited.
Not with fire, but with radiant ash, spreading like black wings across the sky.
And from within that ash, countless voices rose —
all speaking the same name: "The First Heir."
The grey girl stepped closer, her eyes reflecting the dark flame coursing through me.
> "You've passed the first trial," she said, her tone trembling with awe.
"But beware… what you gained is not a gift, but a vow.
Each ash that bears a name within you will one day demand its price."
I was silent for a moment, then said quietly:
> "Let them ask.
For I am the one who no longer burns."
For a brief instant, my features shifted —
the tattoos extended into my eyes,
and black flame escaped my breath like sacred smoke.
Something within me was rewriting my very existence.
That was the birth… of The First Heir of Ash.