The Man who Forget to Die

Chapter 20: The Ember Will

The letter still smoldered when Zero read it again.

You won.

So why do I still exist?

No return address.

No signature.

But the heat on the paper wasn't illusion.

Flame had left something behind.

Not a weapon.

A will.

And it was waiting.

Zero packed nothing.

Lin didn't try to stop him.

She just handed him her old locket—silver, heart-shaped, humming with memory.

"If you forget again," she said, "this will remember for you."

He walked for three days.

Through forests that remembered recursion.

Past rivers that shimmered strangely at sunrise.

Until the air grew cold and dry.

And the soil cracked beneath his feet.

Here, time itself felt wrong.

Here, the Ember waited.

It wasn't a building.

Not anymore.

Just a crater—circular, vast, pulsing with faint warmth.

In the center, a single chair.

And in it—

Him.

But older.

Ash-white hair. Hollowed cheeks.

Eyes still burning.

"Hello again," Flame said.

Zero stood across from him.

"You're not real."

"I never was," Flame said. "But I was true."

They stood in silence.

The air didn't move.

Neither did the world.

Only the voice inside both of them.

"I wasn't your enemy," Flame said.

"You killed thousands."

"So did you. You just cried afterward."

Zero flinched.

Flame continued.

"I wasn't your shadow. I was your spine.

The only part of you willing to do what had to be done."

Zero clenched his fists.

"I rebuilt the world without you."

Flame nodded.

"And it's beautiful. But it's also fragile. Because you refuse to remember the pain."

A long silence.

Then Zero asked:

"So why are you here?"

Flame's voice softened.

"To give you the last piece of yourself."

He held out a flame—small, golden.

Not hot.

Not wild.

Just steady.

"It's not rage," Flame said. "It's will. Yours. The one you buried when she died."

Zero stepped closer.

Felt the warmth.

And the grief.

And the clarity.

"She loved you," Flame whispered. "But you couldn't protect her. And so you built a world that never lets her die."

Zero looked at the ember.

Then at Flame.

And asked:

"Can I protect her now?"

Flame smiled.

"Yes. But only if you remember everything."

Zero took the flame.

It sank into his chest.

Burned clean.

Not cruel.

Just real.

And suddenly—

He remembered.

Every loop.

Every failure.

Every victory.

Every choice.

All of it.

Flame stood.

Already fading.

"Goodbye, Zero."

"Wait—what happens to you?"

"I was you. Now you're whole. I go where all forgotten selves go."

Flame stepped into the light—

And was gone.

Zero stood alone at the cradle.

Whole.

Remembered.

Burning quietly.

And far away, Lin opened her eyes in the middle of the night.

She smiled.

Whispered:

"He's back."

To be concluded…