A crown flickered to life above Sylas' head.
Before it could properly form, it vanished and another took its place, then another after that, one crown cycling into the next so quickly that their shapes began to blur together.
Sylas recognized them. He had worn these crowns before, manifestations born from the various Titles he accumulated throughout his path, but all of them should have disappeared when the Grim Reaper Title formed.
At the time, the system had been quite clear that the others were stripped away, their separate existences lost beneath the new Title. Yet as one crown after another flickered above him, Sylas realized that hadn't been entirely true.
They hadn't disappeared. They had been swallowed, their power and meaning folded into something greater even if the system itself hadn't seemed willing to acknowledge it that way. Or maybe it had simply been wishful thinking on its part.
The flickering finally stopped.
