The sky wept fire.
From the highest peak of the broken continent to the shattered spires of Lithris, people looked upward in awe and terror as streaks of golden flame rained down like falling stars. But these were not meteors.
They were tears.
The Ember-Child, born in a cradle of heat and soullight, hovered in a cocoon of smoldering feathers. It had no name, no voice—but each breath it took sent ripples across the fabric of the realm. Planes shifted. Barriers strained. Somewhere in the Weave Between Worlds, a god flinched.
And in the center of the Aether Vault, Amina gasped.
She had felt it.
A part of her—ripped free.
A part of Amariel—reformed.
Kai turned sharply as Amina fell to her knees. "What was that? That sound. That pull."
Ashar stepped forward, grim. "A tear in the celestial womb."
"No," Lumeah whispered. Her eyes were distant, wide. "A birth."
The Warning
Elaron's flame flickered, darkening. "It has begun."
Valec's hand tightened on his sword hilt. "What has?"
"The child," Elaron answered. "The one born of fire and choice. Neither Amariel, nor Amina, but something forged from the broken future."
Kai's voice dropped to a harsh whisper. "Is it a threat?"
"Yes," said Elaron. "And no."
Ashar narrowed his gaze. "You speak in riddles."
"Because you still see time as a line," Elaron said. "But this child sees it as a sea."
Elsewhere: The Hollow Flame
In the distant realm of Nur'Mirath, deep within the obsidian chambers of the Hollow Flame Sect, a pale-eyed seer jerked upright from her trance.
"Another spark?" her acolyte whispered.
The seer's eyes blazed like mirrors. "No. An ember-born. And it weeps."
"What does it mean?"
She turned slowly, eyes fixed on a long-locked door at the back of the temple. "It means we are not the only ones watching anymore."
With a whisper, the door creaked open. Inside, bound by wards older than gods, a charred figure began to stir.
Amina's Choice
In the Vault, Amina stood again, steadier now.
"I saw it," she said. "The child. It came from me. From Amariel. But it's not me."
Elaron nodded. "It is a potential, given form. A possibility that should never have existed… yet now does."
"Can I reach it?"
"You must, before others do."
Kai stepped forward, his voice unreadable. "And what if it's already tainted?"
Valec glanced at him. "By who?"
Kai didn't answer. But his silence was telling.
Amina met Elaron's gaze. "Where is the child now?"
Elaron opened his hand, revealing a burning map of the realms—each marked with fire except one place, dark and cold at its center.
"There," Elaron said, pointing to the void. "In the Silent Spiral. The place where even the gods refuse to tread."
Ashar paled. "That's where the Red Priests were exiled."
"No one who goes there returns," Lumeah said.
"Then we'll be the first," Amina said, fire rising behind her eyes.