She's not just flame reborn.
She's a storm come to collect what's been lost —
and warn what's coming.
-
Smoke curled from the sanctuary walls,
ashes thick in the air, blood not yet cooled.
And in the heart of it —
stood Liora.
Her wings glowed like sunfire, cracked with ancient burns that hadn't healed.
Her eyes — gold, bright, wrathful — locked onto Seraphina.
For a moment, the battlefield paused.
As if the world itself remembered her name.
> "You were dead," Seraphina whispered.
"I felt you break."
Liora tilted her head, fire licking the corners of her cloak.
> "I did break," she said.
"But the flame remembers. And when the Cradle calls, the fallen rise."
Ravon stepped forward, his eyes scanning her, cautious.
> "Why now?" he asked.
"Why return now?"
Liora looked to him, and for a flicker of a second — a sorrow passed her face.
> "Because the veil is already bleeding.
The child inside her burns with something even I do not understand.
And the enemies gather what was once mine."
---
A Brief Flashback — What Liora Saw
When Liora fell, her flame should have vanished.
But it didn't.
Instead, she descended into a realm of forgotten fire — where past Ashbornes sleep, and broken Cradlekeepers whisper from beneath the world.
There, she saw:
The Cradleless forging a weapon from broken prophecy
The Silent King speaking with something beneath the Mirror Tombs
And a glimpse of Seraphina's unborn child — a light not even the stars could name
> "I saw her," Liora whispered to Seraphina.
"Your daughter. She's more than flame. She's more than blood.
She is the spark that ends the wheel."
---
Back in the Present
Seraphina's hands found her belly.
It was glowing — faintly, like golden frost.
> "What do you mean ends the wheel?"
Liora didn't answer directly.
Instead, she turned to the shattered gate of the sanctuary.
> "The Cradleless aren't coming.
They're already here.
And now... they have help."
---
Final Scene — The Betrayer
From the forest outside the sanctuary walls, a figure approached.
An Ashborne — marked.
Flame-weaved cloak. Familiar. Trusted.
But his eyes… were wrong.
He knelt before the Hooded Woman in secret.
> "I have seen the child.
I have heard her breath.
I know how to kill her."
The Hooded Woman smiled.
> "Then go back.
And finish what you never should've let begin."