For several seconds, nobody moved.
The stranger stood in the open doorway with Rin's face, Rin's scar, and eyes that held none of Rin's uncertainty.
He looked like someone who had already watched the end of the world and found it disappointing.
"I am the person who taught the World how to obey," he repeated.
Rin stared at him.
"Then you can start by explaining why you look like me."
The stranger's gaze softened.
"That," he said, "is the question I was hoping you would ask."
Kaelith stepped between them.
"Answer carefully."
The stranger glanced at him. "You still stand in front of him as though your body can protect him from every consequence."
Kaelith's expression hardened.
"And you still speak as though you know me."
"I knew you before you became the thing everyone feared. Before you conquered Heaven. Before you learned to turn grief into a weapon."
The archive trembled.
Not because of Kaelith's anger.
