Transmigrated into Fractured Dawn as the Awakened Cinder

The forest was still again. The fight had torn through it, scorched bark and shattered roots marking where blades had clashed.

Riven lay slumped against a twisted tree, his chest rising unevenly, his skin still steaming faintly from the Ember Lash Requiem. His hands trembled, the rune on his arm pulsing weaker now.

His breaths dragged, heavy and raw.

"You really had to make me use it," he muttered again, voice rasping into the wind.

Footsteps approached—not the clank of silver armor, but the soft, padded crunch of boots on damp moss.

"You idiot," Veyla's voice broke through the silence, tight with restraint. "You left without saying a damn word."

Riven chuckled dryly, eyes still shut. "Didn't want to wake you up. You seemed quieter than now."

She stared at him like she was going to rip his throat out, but she couldn't do anything to him.

"Don't fuss over it, I'm fine anyways," he said, still laying there like a lifeless body.

"Yeah, right," she sighed, staring around the forest. Everything seemed battered, like a battle had just occurred.

She saw the large crater left after Riven activated the Ember Lash Requiem that nearly destroyed the whole place.