Chapter 62
The battlefield lay in ruin.
Ash drifted like snow.
And in its center, Kael—no, Caedros—knelt, coughing violet embers from his lungs, eyes flickering between two lives.
He had pushed Valtheron back…But the cost had begun to tear him apart.
Eliendara hovered beside him, one arm around his shoulders, her other hand pressed against his chest—trying to keep his flame from collapsing in on itself.
"You're not stable," she said. "The fire's eating through you."
He didn't argue.
Because it was true.
Every time Caedros released his full power, it didn't just burn the enemy—it burned Kael.
The man she loved.
The man still buried beneath that god-forged soul.
Ravien arrived with grim news.
"The western wall's gone. Shadowborn are flooding in."
Matira added, "Our people are calling for Caedros to finish it."
Eliendara turned away.
Because if he finished it…
He might not come back.
In the inner sanctum, she stared at the last relic of the Mirror of Flame—a single, glowing shard, still pulsing faintly.
She whispered to it:
"Is there another way?"
The shard responded with a flicker—not of fire—but of memory.
Her memory.
A moment—Kael, laughing under stars, before the war, before gods, before fate.
And in that second, she knew:
There had to be a choice.
She rushed back to him, where he stood preparing for the final confrontation.
"I'm going with you," she said.
He shook his head. "If I fall, you'll fall with me."
"I don't care."
"I do."
He reached out, cupped her cheek.
"I don't want you to remember me only as fire."
Tears glistened in her eyes.
"Then let's write an ending no one expects."
He stared at her… and slowly nodded.
Together, they stepped into the flames.
Together, they approached the edge of the world.
Where Valtheron waited—smiling.
Because this time…
He wasn't fighting a god.
He was fighting a bond.
And that was something even he didn't understand.
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 63: What the Flames Forgot
The final clash begins.
Caedros unleashes everything—but Eliendara holds a secret,a memory powerful enough to rewrite fate itself.
But memories burn too…
And not all of them are meant to survive.