Chapter 2: Flame and Steel
The dead lunged.
Seralyn's blades sang free of their scabbards in a single motion, twin arcs of silver flashing in the dim light of the ruined plaza. Wind magic crackled down their length, wrapping the sharpened steel in a ghostly blue flame that hummed with her heartbeat.
The first revenant reached her a skeletal warrior still clad in fractured bronze armor, its mouth stretched in a silent scream. She ducked beneath its jagged sword and drove her blade up through its ribs. The enchanted steel tore through bone like butter, but there was no blood, no cry. Just a burst of red mist and the scent of burnt air as the creature dissolved into ash.
They didn't die like normal undead. These were bound with something deeper, older. The corruption here wasn't necromancy it was something else.
"Hold formation!" she shouted.
Her unit answered with disciplined fury. Rhayen cleaved through two revenants at once with his greatsword, while Sentinels Lureth and Myla protected the flank, wind and frost magic shimmering around them in layered shields. The others drove the encroaching circle of undead back, but for each one that fell, another clawed up from the cracked stone.
Kaela stood at the center of it all, untouched.
The ritual had marked her as something sacred or cursed. The revenants didn't strike her. They flowed around her like water around a rock.
She turned slowly to face Seralyn again, eyes gleaming, fire licking at her fingertips. "You're looking a bit overwhelmed, Commander. Shall I step in? Or do you want to keep playing hero?"
"You did this," Seralyn spat, ducking a revenant's swipe. She rolled forward, slicing its legs at the knee and coming up in a crouch. "You summoned them!"
"I awakened them," Kaela corrected, casually strolling through the chaos. "They've always been here. Sleeping beneath your pretty Dominion for centuries. I just said the right words."
Seralyn surged forward with a growl, blades slicing a path toward her target. "I should silence you before you say another one."
Kaela's grin widened and then the fire came.
With a flick of her wrist, a whip of flame snapped through the air. Seralyn twisted, letting it graze her side instead of catching her full in the chest. Her armor steamed, and the edge of her cloak burst into flame. She tore it off and charged.
Kaela's other hand lifted. A blast of red fire spiraled toward her, but Seralyn was faster. She spun past it, blades flashing, striking for Kaela's exposed side.
The witch danced back with inhuman grace, twisting away at the last second, her cloak billowing like shadow.
"Impressive," Kaela said, eyes glittering. "You've improved since last time. Less hesitation."
"Last time, I gave you a head start."
"Then let's see what happens when you don't."
Kaela raised both hands and the ruin shook.
The earth beneath them cracked as pillars of flame erupted from the summoning circle, shattering stone and sending debris raining from above. Old support beams groaned and snapped. A section of the ceiling gave way with a thunderous crash, splitting the plaza in half.
Seralyn barely leapt to safety as a wall of stone cut off her Sentinels.
"Commander!" Rhayen called from beyond the rubble, his voice muffled. "We're blocked!"
"I'll find another way," Seralyn shouted back, chest heaving, sweat stinging her eyes.
She turned and Kaela was already sprinting deeper into the ruins.
Coward.
Seralyn growled and gave chase.
They raced through narrow, winding corridors lined with cracked mosaics and forgotten murals. Dust and magic thickened the air. Seralyn ducked through archways, leapt over broken statues, and kept her eyes on the flickering ember of Kaela's cloak just ahead.
Kaela moved like fire itself fast, unpredictable, impossible to grasp. She flung bursts of flame behind her as she ran, forcing Seralyn to dodge or deflect them. One singed her shoulder; another nearly melted the hilt of her blade.
But Seralyn didn't slow. She was wind and steel and vengeance.
At last, the corridor opened into a vaulted chamber a relic vault. A pedestal stood in the center, bathed in a beam of unnatural light. Upon it sat a crystalline orb, veined with gold, glowing softly.
Kaela reached it first.
Seralyn skidded to a stop as Kaela lifted the orb from its resting place. The light pulsed, as if in recognition.
"That doesn't belong to you," Seralyn growled, stepping into the room.
Kaela turned, orb cradled in her hand. "It doesn't belong to anyone. This temple predates your Dominion, your laws, even your gods."
"You don't know what it is."
"Oh, I know exactly what it is." Kaela's voice softened. "It's a Veil Fragment. The old kind. The kind your people erased from every record they could find. I've been looking for it since before we ever met."
She looked at the orb like it was something holy.
Seralyn advanced slowly. "Hand it over."
Kaela's grip tightened. "You'll use it to feed your endless war."
"We'll protect it."
"You'll bury it, like you buried everything that didn't fit your version of history."
Seralyn struck.
In a blur of movement, she launched forward, blades aimed for the orb. Kaela cursed and flung a column of flame in defense. The chamber exploded in light and heat. Stone shattered. Runes lit across the walls.
Seralyn ducked low, rolled beneath the blast, and came up right in front of Kaela.
Their eyes met gold and violet.
Then Seralyn knocked the orb from her hands.
It tumbled through the air
and Seralyn caught it.
The moment her fingers touched it, the world shifted.
The orb flashed with blinding brilliance, engulfing them both.
Magic roared like thunder.
Sigils carved themselves into the stone floor. A circle of ancient runes spiraled outward. Symbols burned across the ceiling, the walls, and their skin.
Seralyn screamed as the light seared her palm.
Kaela cried out, staggering back. "No no! It wasn't supposed to bind!"
They both collapsed as the magic pulsed once, then again, then sank into them.
When the light finally faded, Seralyn lay on the cold stone, chest heaving. Her blades had scattered. Her arms shook. She felt the mark on her palm before she saw it a glowing sigil, circular, layered, elegant and ancient. It pulsed with a heartbeat that wasn't hers.
Kaela sat against the far wall, a matching sigil burned into the skin of her chest, just above her heart.
Seralyn stared. "What did you do?"
Kaela was pale. Shaken. For once, speechless.
She looked at her mark, then at Seralyn's, horror dawning in her eyes.
The chamber trembled. The air grew heavy.
Then the sigils spoke.
A voice not human, not elven, not anything alive echoed across the stone like thunder wrapped in silk. The words slithered through the air, impossibly old and incomprehensibly clear:
"Opposed Flame and Blade. Chosen of the Rift. Bearers of the Veil."
"Your fates are entwined. Your bond shall mend… or break the world."
Then silence.
Seralyn couldn't breathe.
Kaela pressed a hand to her mark, blinking. "This wasn't… it wasn't meant to bind like this."
"You summoned it," Seralyn hissed. "You planned this."
Kaela shook her head. "No. I wanted its memory. Not its curse."
"We're connected."
"Yes." Kaela looked up, face unreadable. "Gods help us both."
The ruins began to groan. Dust fell from the ceiling. Cracks spidered through the walls. The chamber had been activated awakened. The entire ruin was reacting to their bond.
"We need to move," Seralyn said, dragging herself up. "Now."
Kaela hesitated.
Seralyn met her eyes. "We'll kill each other later."
That got a grin, faint but real. "Can't wait."
They ran.
Behind them, the vault collapsed, the pedestal splitting in half, the last echoes of ancient power fading into dust.
But the mark remained.
Burning.
Alive.