The world was fire.
Not chaos—fire.
Endless, absolute, unbroken.
Magma seas stretched to the horizon, their surfaces rolling slowly like breathing beasts. Lava cascaded from towering peaks in molten waterfalls, crashing into glowing basins below with a soundless fury. The sky itself burned—no sun, no clouds—only layers of heat and ember-red light folding endlessly into one another.
And in the center of it all—
A woman floated.
She sat suspended in the air, knees drawn to her chest, arms wrapped tightly around them as if holding herself together was the only thing keeping her from scattering into the inferno around her. Her red hair drifted weightlessly, strands glowing faintly at the edges, and her entire body was wreathed in fire that did not consume her—only clung, like a second skin.
Her eyes were closed.
Her face was still.
Unconscious.
There was nothing else in this world.
No ground beneath her feet.
No wind.
No sound.
Then—
"Aureliaaaaa!"
