The silence after the storm was worse than the battle.
They had fled Bloodroot Hollow under cover of a dying twilight, the air thick with smoke and something fouler—something unnatural. Their dragons had circled above for a time, but even they sensed it. The Hollow had changed. What slept beneath it was no longer sleeping.
Now they camped in the shell of a ruined watchtower several miles east. Moss clung to the crumbling stone, and vines twisted through old arrow slits. The tower had once been a beacon of light for travelers—now it was a tomb of forgotten history. The sky overhead was veiled in clouds, moonlight filtering through in tattered streaks.
Elyra sat near the fire, cross-legged, her fingers curled into fists in her lap. She hadn't spoken since they'd stopped. Her cloak was soaked with sweat and blood, her hair tangled with leaves and ash. Every breath brought back the Hollow—the screaming wind, the flash of red light, the voice that wasn't a voice.
You carry my spark.
She couldn't un-hear it.
Kael sat on a low stone nearby, his back against the broken wall. He cleaned his blade with precise, almost meditative focus. His armor was dented, streaked with dried black blood, but he wore it like second skin. Unlike Elyra, he didn't look shaken. He looked like a storm waiting to happen.
Vespera hadn't taken a seat. She stood watch in the archway that once held a great iron door. Her eyes scanned the shadows beyond with the intensity of a hawk on the hunt. She hadn't said a word to either of them since they'd escaped the Hollow. The air around her simmered with restrained fury—and something else. Something brittle.
For a long while, no one spoke. The fire crackled, sending sparks spiraling into the cold night. Somewhere in the distance, a wolf howled.
Finally, Elyra broke the silence. "He called me his. Said I carry his spark."
Her voice was hoarse. Hollow.
Kael didn't look up. "You don't."
"But what if I do?" she whispered. "What if I wasn't chosen by the Flame? What if I am the flame? What if everything I've done... was never really me?"
Kael set down his blade. "You made your choices. You saved villages, shielded innocents, fought beside me and Vespera. Whatever's inside you—it didn't make you do that. You did."
Elyra stared at the fire. "I felt it down there. It knew me. Like we were... tethered."
"And I've felt darkness too," Kael said. "It whispers. It tempts. But it's not the whisper that defines us. It's what we answer with."
Vespera turned, her expression unreadable. "You say that like you've never wondered. Like you know for sure she won't turn."
Kael stood slowly. "I know Elyra."
"You know what you want her to be," Vespera replied, voice cold. "That's not the same thing."
Elyra rose, eyes flashing. "Say what you're really thinking."
"I don't trust you," Vespera said flatly. "Not completely. Not after what I saw."
"I didn't ask for this," Elyra snapped. "I didn't want this goddamned spark in me."
"No," Vespera said. "But it wants you. And that's worse."
Kael stepped between them. "Enough. We're not doing this here."
Vespera didn't budge. "There are three more seals. If one is broken, the others will follow. We don't have the luxury of trust issues right now. Either we're together, or we're dust."
Elyra's jaw clenched. "Then maybe you should go."
Vespera turned sharply. "Maybe I should."
Kael's voice cut through like steel. "Stop it. Both of you."
He looked at them both, hard. "We walked into Bloodroot Hollow as a team. If we let what happened tear us apart, the Herald's already won."
Vespera hesitated, then turned back toward the darkness beyond the archway. She didn't leave—but she didn't stay, either. She hovered in that liminal space, like a ghost too stubborn to pass on.
Elyra slumped beside the fire. Her hand drifted to the spot just below her collarbone, where the ember-shaped mark still glowed faintly beneath her skin.
You were always meant to.
She didn't know what she was anymore.
But she knew what she had to do.
"I'm going to stop them," she said quietly.
Kael knelt beside her. "Even if it means stopping yourself?"
She looked at him, eyes gleaming. "Even then."