CHAPTER 77: KEEPER OF THE LAST FIRE

We evacuated the Academy.

Students first. Then wounded. Then the last standing professors.

I walked last.

The walls whispered as I passed: thank you, goodbye, remember us.

The sky above was dim, flickering between realities.

I walked into the old chamber beneath the east wing, where it all started.

The First Flame waited there.

No longer bound to runes. No longer asking permission.

It was me.

I stepped forward.

And for the first time in my life, I didn’t cast a spell.

I just spoke a truth: "I’m ready."

The flame surged.

And the world shuddered.