The crimson hue of dusk spilled across the skyline, painting the broken towers of Ashenreach in bloody light. Elira stood at the edge of a shattered rooftop, her gauntlet still faintly glowing from the last flare of energy. The city below simmered with tension, quiet in a way that felt unnatural. It was the kind of silence that came before something dangerous erupted.
She exhaled slowly.
Beneath the flame-colored strands of her hair, her blue eyes scanned the remnants of a once-glorious capital. The Council had abandoned it. The people left behind had learned to survive without laws, without light. Just like her.
Kael's voice still echoed in her mind from earlier that morning.
"Elira, you're slipping further into vengeance. Don't let it consume you like it did me."
He didn't understand. No one did.
Vengeance wasn't consuming her.
It was sharpening her.
The gauntlet at her side pulsed. She flexed her fingers and flames danced along the edges — controlled, precise. Not the wild bursts of anger she'd known as a child. This was different. Her intent was clearer now. Focused.
She turned as footsteps approached behind her. Dante.
Of course.
The guy moved like a shadow — never loud, never clumsy, always watching more than he spoke.
"Elira," he said, his voice steady. "I tracked one of the enforcers that survived yesterday's ambush. He's headed to the Outer District. Fast."
Her eyes narrowed. "Was he alone?"
"No," Dante replied. "There was another presence. Magical. Strong. They were cloaked, but I felt the pressure. They're not normal."
Elira's heart thudded once. She knew what that meant.
The arcane hunters had returned. The same faction responsible for burning her home, for taking her parents. She clenched her fists until heat simmered between her knuckles.
"Then it's time we greet them properly," she said.
Dante didn't smile. He never did. But his eyes glinted with a spark of shared purpose. "You sure you're ready?"
She turned her back to the dying sun. The flame-colored sky reflected off her gauntlet like a silent promise.
"I've never been more ready."