They traveled eastward, where the skies cracked with violet lightning and the ground trembled with quiet dread. The world was shifting — not from war, but from remembering. Forgotten truths rose like fog from the earth, seeping through the seams of reality.
At the edge of the world, where the Aetherian Spires kissed the heavens, a chasm had opened. Not a natural wound — a summoning. Seris had called forth the last remnant of the Hollow Flame.
"It's not a portal," Miraen whispered, as they gazed upon the swirling vortex of smoke and fractured starlight. "It's a memory made real."
"She's unsealing what the Council buried," Aelira said grimly. "The origin of flame. The place where it was first gifted."
The Breach pulsed.
Kael placed a steadying hand on Elara's shoulder. "Once we step through, there's no going back."
Elara nodded. The ember within her flickered with certainty. "We were never meant to turn back."
They crossed the threshold.
Darkness fell.
But not empty — full. Voices echoed from every direction, fragments of truth and pain. A realm untouched by time, where memory formed the landscape. Towers of light. Rivers of fire. Fields of forgotten names.
And at the center — Seris.
She stood barefoot atop a platform of woven flame, her cloak fluttering like wings. She turned slowly as Elara and the others approached.
"You came," Seris said.
"I saw what you left behind," Elara answered. "I know why you sealed your pain. Why you burned everything you loved."
Seris tilted her head. "Then why come, if not to stop me?"
Elara stepped forward. "Because I don't want to stop you. I want to free you."
The air held still.
Then Seris laughed — not cruelly, but sadly.
"Free me? From what?"
"From the weight you never should've carried alone."
The platform shuddered. The realm trembled.
And Seris's fire erupted in a crown around her. "Then show me, Emberbearer. Show me your truth."