"I just verified a few theories with this Fire Keeper." Yelena held the delicate staff she never went anywhere without—the thing had broken once before, but Miss Surtr had repaired it. She gently turned the staff, and as the stored Originium was activated, snowflakes formed from thin air around her as the temperature dropped.
"Her and I... We verified the structure of this shell of mine, Surtr." Yelena sounded slightly awkward when she said the word "we." "And then... I confirmed the form of my existence in this world."
She clenched her fist.
"It's a shadow. The form of my existence in this world is like a shadow beneath the sun."
"A shadow?" Surtr tilted her head in confusion. If she had a pair of cat ears on her head, they would surely be twitching with curiosity right now.
"To explain it in terms you're more familiar with, 'projection' might be a more appropriate term." The Fire Keeper on the other side offered an additional explanation. "As the flame approaches extinction, the structure of space-time tends toward instability. Wills from different times and spaces will have the opportunity to cross through space-time and act upon this land in the form of various spirits. Miss Yelena's situation is similar to that."
She extended a hand and inscribed a line of letters glowing with golden radiance on the ground—the script passed down from the era of the ancient Sun King. Its content was the honorific name of a deity.
Filianore—the line of ancient characters pointed toward that target. Yet the words merely flickered faintly before silently dispersing like ink dissolving into water.
Surtr was still wondering who Filianore was. She felt as though she had some strange impression of her.
"But one part is different. Look," the Fire Keeper explained. "The flame