The air outside the temple was thick with the scent of smoke, a faint trace of the destruction that had just unfolded within its walls. Amina stepped into the open, her senses on high alert. The world felt different now, as though something had shifted, a force that she could neither see nor fully understand. But she could feel it—deep in her bones.
Behind her, Valec and Kai followed, the sound of their footsteps muffled against the dust-covered ground. The silence that stretched between them was heavy, laden with unspoken questions and the weight of the unknown.
Amina could still hear the figure's voice in her mind, its cold words echoing through her thoughts: The flame is not something you control—it controls you. No matter how much she tried to push them away, those words lingered in her mind, like a haunting refrain.
"We need to talk," Kai finally broke the silence, his voice calm but edged with concern. "That figure… he wasn't just some random entity. There's something about him—about what he said—that doesn't sit right with me."
Amina nodded, her gaze fixed on the horizon, where the sun hung low, casting long shadows across the broken landscape. "I know," she said, her voice steady but laced with uncertainty. "He's not just a shadow or a ghost. He's tied to the flame, to its origin. And that's something I don't fully understand."
Valec stepped beside her, his face grim. "You've faced this flame before, Amina. But something about what that figure said—it wasn't just a threat. It was a warning."
She turned to face him, the weight of his words settling over her like a heavy cloak. "A warning about what?"
The look in Valec's eyes was serious, his usual confidence replaced with a somber resolve. "About you. About what you've become."
Amina swallowed hard, feeling the sting of his words more than she wanted to admit. "I'm still the same person, Valec. I'm just... changed. The flame didn't break me. I've learned to control it."
"Is that what you believe?" Valec countered, his voice low and cautious. "You've only just begun to understand its true power. The figure was right about one thing: the flame doesn't just burn—it consumes. It's ancient, older than we can imagine. And I fear that it's not done with you yet."
Amina flinched, her hands trembling slightly at her sides. She had feared this moment, this realization. The flame had always been unpredictable, always beyond her control in ways she couldn't fully comprehend. But to hear it out loud, to have it acknowledged so bluntly, made her feel smaller than she had in a long time.
"I don't want to be consumed," she said, her voice barely above a whisper. "I don't want to lose myself to it."
"You're not alone in this," Kai said, stepping closer. His eyes were filled with a quiet determination. "We'll help you. We'll figure it out together."
But Amina wasn't sure if that was enough anymore. How could they help her with something like this? Something as vast and uncontrollable as the flame?
"I'm afraid I don't have all the answers," she admitted, the weight of the truth settling heavily on her chest. "I've been chasing them, trying to piece together the fragments of this curse that the flame carries with it. But I've only uncovered more questions."
"We need to find the source," Valec said, his gaze unwavering. "We need to understand what started this flame, what really lies at the heart of it."
Amina nodded slowly, taking in his words. "The temple… it was just a starting point. There's more to this. I can feel it. The figure, the darkness—it's not just a relic. It's a part of the flame's history. I have to know what it was trying to tell me."
"But where do we go from here?" Kai asked, the uncertainty creeping back into his voice. "How do we find the answers when they keep slipping further from our grasp?"
Amina's gaze hardened as she looked out across the barren land. She could sense it—something was calling to her. A whisper in the back of her mind, like a trail of smoke drifting just out of reach. The answer wasn't here, not in the temple or in the remnants of their past struggles. The next piece of the puzzle lay somewhere else, somewhere beyond the reach of the present.
"I think I know where we need to go," Amina said, her voice steady as the resolve inside her grew. "We need to go to the place where it all began."
"The origin," Valec said, his voice thoughtful. "Where the flame was first ignited."
Amina nodded. "The ancient city of Lithris. It's where the flame's true source lies. If we can find it, we can learn everything we need to know."
The name echoed in the air like a distant memory, a forgotten place that had long since fallen into legend. Lithris was more than just a city—it was a myth, a place that only the oldest of stories spoke of. A place where the first flame was said to have been born, where the power that now consumed Amina's life had been unleashed.
Kai looked uncertain. "And how do we get there? Lithris has been lost for centuries."
"We don't know for sure that it's lost," Amina said, her mind already racing with possibilities. "But I have a feeling that the flame will guide us there. The path is hidden, but I know we'll find it. We have to."
Valec hesitated, looking at her with a mixture of admiration and concern. "You're sure about this? Lithris is dangerous—if it still exists, there's no telling what kind of power is left there."
"I'm sure," Amina said, her voice unwavering. "We have no choice. If we don't find it, we'll never understand the flame—or the darkness that follows it."
She turned toward the horizon, the sun now sinking beneath the distant hills, casting the world in shades of crimson and gold. The flame within her still burned brightly, but it was no longer the uncontrollable force it once was. Now, it was a beacon, a guide to what lay ahead.
And ahead lay Lithris—an ancient city shrouded in mystery, waiting to reveal its secrets.