There is a place at the edge of creation.
Not outside.
Not below.
But beyond.
Where light forgets to return.
Where names fall silent.
Where even truth frays at the edges like burned scrolls.
The end of heaven.
And in its center, a single ember pulses.
It should not exist.
But it does.
And as Xu Shen stepped forward—
It opened its eye.
He was no longer in a realm.
He was in a memory denied.
And across from him stood a figure.
Not massive. Not monstrous.
Just… wrong.
Like someone had painted a soul using rules that no longer existed.
Skin like cracked obsidian.
Voice like broken promises.
Eyes—his own.
It spoke.
"You burned me."
Xu Shen didn't answer.
Because he remembered now.
Before the Devourer.
Before the rebellion.
Before the first hesitation—
There was a moment when he almost created something else.
A path of stillness.
A legacy of obedience.
Of forgetting instead of remembering.
This being—this thing—was the version of himself he refused to finish.
"You were the fire I feared," Xu said quietly.
"Not because you were strong."
"Because you were acceptable."
The creature's voice warped:
"I was safe."
"I was allowed."
"I would have been loved by the gods."
"You chose the flame that would be hunted."
Xu stepped forward.
The ember in his chest burned gold.
"Because the only love worth having—"
"Is one that remembers."
The being screamed.
And the sky around them folded into ash.
It launched forward—not with fists, but with regret.
Xu killing those he failed to protect.
Xu abandoning those who begged.
Xu choosing power instead of peace.
Xu burning everything just to survive.
But he didn't flinch.
He didn't block.
He didn't even draw his saber.
He let the strikes pass through him.
Because they were true.
"I was all those things."
"And I still chose to return."
"That's why you can't kill me."
His hand reached out.
Grasped the broken flame at the being's heart.
And whispered:
"I remember you."
"But I'm not you."
The false flame shattered.
The creature—his discarded self—dissolved without rage.
Only relief.
"Thank you…"
The space beyond heaven lit for the first time.
Not in conquest.
But in completion.
Xu Shen turned toward the path ahead.
No gods.
No judges.
No devourers.
Just the echo of a new fire.
And the future it might ignite.