Chapter 3: First Evolution

The spark fed on cinder-fruit and grew heavier each night, until Tan could no longer sleep through it.

The change came at dawn, wrapped in heat and white smoke. What stood up from the ashes was taller, quieter, and watched the horizon the way soldiers watch a border.

Every evolution is a memory, the old license manual had said. Shen Lie was starting to wonder whose memories they were.