Arena XXXIII

The Pact of Becoming had begun.

The first to arrive was the Mourning General, a being of fireless ash and armor forged from grief. Once, it had led a kingdom that ruled from the inside of stars. It had been erased by a truth-devouring lie during the First Forgetting. Now, it knelt before Aiden, head bowed in silence.

"I don't remember my own name," it said.

"I do," Aiden replied. "You were called Vaelorn. You bled so your people would not."

The General raised its head. A silent flame flickered within its visor. A vow reawakened.

The second was a child-shaped god known only as Ink-Echo. Its laughter was a melody once used to hold the seams of bedtime dreams in place. It had died when dream-language itself had been hunted into extinction by the Waking King. No body had ever been buried. No monument had ever been built.

But now, Aiden opened his arms, and the echo found flesh again.