The ruins were silent.
Hidden deep in the forest of Anin's old quarter, the ancient shrine stood forgotten by most, its pillars choked by ivy, its roof long collapsed. It was here, beneath the cracked stone gaze of carved ancestral faces, that Adiro and Niko found temporary refuge.
The sun barely reached them through the overgrown trees. Their breaths echoed softly in the morning air.
Neither spoke for a long time.
They had just survived an ambush. Discovered the truth of their blood. And now, they were alone in a crumbling sanctuary that hadn't seen a royal footstep in a generation.
"I never thought I'd meet you," Adiro finally said, brushing dirt from his robes.
"I didn't know you existed," Niko replied. His voice was rough, not from hostility, but from confusion. "All this time, I thought I was just… someone."
"You were," Adiro said gently. "You are. But so am I. And now we have to figure out what that means."
They explored the shrine cautiously. It was old, older than either Dakira or Oremi. Tribal symbols decorated the walls in faded crimson, depicting two crowned lions standing on either side of a tree engulfed in flames.
"What does it mean?" Niko asked.
Adiro studied the painting. "I've seen this before. In my grandfather's war room. The Tree of Unity, it was a sacred legend before the kingdoms split."
"Looks more like a warning."
They followed a tunnel beneath the central altar, discovering a narrow stairwell descending into a chamber lit only by faint shafts of sunlight through broken stone.
In the center stood a pedestal, upon which rested two objects: a scroll bound in leather and a pair of golden cuffs.
Adiro reached for the scroll while Niko inspected the cuffs. As Adiro unraveled the parchment, his eyes widened.
"It's written in both Dakiran and Oremian."
"Why both?" Niko asked.
"Because it was meant for both of us."
"In the final age of division, two shall rise from the ashes of forbidden love.
The Flame of Oremi.
The Storm of Dakira.
When the twin bloods meet beneath the Ancestors' gaze, the earth shall tremble, and the crowns shall fall.
Either unity… or destruction shall follow."
They read the words together, line by line, in silence.
"This… this talks about us," Niko said, his voice barely a whisper.
"Or someone like us," Adiro replied. "It could be metaphor."
"It's not."
Niko stepped into a shaft of light. The golden cuffs in his hand shimmered, and the pendant around his neck pulsed with warmth.
Adiro watched, startled. "The pendant... it's responding to this place."
"So is yours."
Adiro pulled his from beneath his tunic. The two dove pendants began to glow, softly, but unmistakably.
The prophecy wasn't metaphor.
It was memory waiting to awaken.
That night, as the wind howled outside the ruins, Adiro shared his story, how he'd grown up in the palace under strict rules, always watched, always expected to be perfect.
Niko listened, nodding slowly. "I grew up in silence. Fishing. I didn't know why I hated the ocean so much until recently. Maybe it was the blood calling me back to land, to the truth."
They both laughed. A small, real sound in a world that had lost its joy.
"I used to dream of a woman with a soft voice," Niko said. "She'd sing to me in a language I didn't know."
"My dreams were of fire," Adiro replied. "Always a burning forest. Always a shadow walking away."
Silence returned between them. Then Niko whispered, "I think it's time we learn the whole truth."
Adiro nodded.
But someone else had already decided to give it to them.
Sefa had been watching from the shadows. She had followed Niko that night, drawn by curiosity and a growing fear.
She cared for him. But she also knew secrets of her own.
She had been raised in the outer rings of Anin by a woman who once served in the palace of Oremi. And she had heard the stories whispered behind closed doors about the forbidden children, the prophecy, the war that never truly ended.
She should have run when she realized who Niko truly was.
But instead, she reported it.
To Commander Zara.
In the palace of Dakira, King Mensah sat with Commander Zara and Elder Kojo.
"The twins are together," Zara reported. "And they've found the shrine."
Mensah's face remained emotionless. "Then the prophecy is unfolding."
"We should move in now," Kojo urged. "End it. Silence them before they return to either throne."
"No," Mensah said slowly. "Let them believe they are safe. Let them come closer to the crown. Then, we cut the bloodline from the root."
"And what of the people?" Zara asked.
Mensah smiled thinly. "The people will believe what they are told."
As the brothers sat near a dying fire, a gust of wind swirled around them, kicking ash into the air. The shrine walls seemed to shift, whispers rising from the stone.
Niko's eyes glazed for a moment.
He stood, walking to the altar. He placed his hand on the stone and suddenly, his body shivered.
Adiro rushed to him. "What is it?"
"I see her."
"Who?"
"Our mother."
Niko dropped to his knees, breath ragged. "She's here, her voice. She said… she said we have to choose."
Adiro knelt beside him. "Choose what?"
"Whether to bring the kingdoms together… or burn them both."
The fire flared behind them.
For a moment, shadows danced on the walls, two lions, one storm-colored, one flame-born, circling the Tree of Unity.
The next morning, the brothers emerged from the shrine, changed.
Adiro looked older. Niko, sharper. Something ancient stirred in their blood.
"We go back," Adiro said.
"To the palace?"
"Yes. To both."
Niko hesitated. "They'll kill us."
"Only if we let them."
Adiro drew a plan in the dirt. "We divide. You go to Oremi. I go to Dakira. We spread the truth. Quietly. To the elders who remember our parents. To those who still believe in unity."
"And when they find us?"
"Then we fight."
Niko's eyes blazed. "Together?"
Adiro held out his hand.
"Together."
They clasped wrists.
And the dove pendants flared, brighter than ever before.