POV: Kael đđ„đ©ș
By the time they reached the village, the sun was setting â if you could call it that.
The sky here didn't darken gently. It ignited.
Fiery streaks painted the clouds, casting the mountaintop settlement in a crimson glow. The houses were built into the cliffs themselves, wooden bridges connecting ledges over dizzying drops. Lanterns swayed from ropes above, their glass etched with strange symbols that shimmered faintly.
"It's like the sky's bleeding," Jax said, craning his neck. "Pretty, in an apocalyptic kind of way."
Lyra narrowed her eyes. "No guards. No villagers outside. This place feels... watched."
Kael kept his hand close to his sword.
And he kept his eyes on Ariya.
She was quiet. Too quiet.
She hadn't spoken since the seal in the forest. Her movements were stiff. Her right hand trembled when she thought no one was looking. But he noticed.
He noticed everything.
They were met at the village gates by a woman in a flame-orange robe, her face lined with age but her eyes sharp.
"Travelers rarely come this far," she said. "But the sky knows your steps."
Kael tensed, but Ariya stepped forward. "We seek shelter. Just for a night."
The woman studied her with a gaze like burning coals.
Then, slowly, she nodded. "You may stay. But know this â when the flame-star rises, none may walk the bridges. Or you'll hear the voices of the sky."
Kael exchanged a glance with Lyra, who whispered, "Creepy old mountain rules. Great."
They were given a room carved into the cliff face. Stone floors. No windows. A single lantern flickered by the door.
Kael waited until the others slept.
Then he turned to Ariya, who sat on the edge of her cot, fingers clenched in her lap.
"Let me see it," he said quietly.
She didn't argue.
She slowly pulled aside the fabric at her ribs.
His breath caught.
The wound wasn't healing. It should've. With her fire, with rest â it should've mended days ago. But the skin around it was blackened, the mark glowing slightly.
"It's poisoned," he murmured.
"Not poison," Ariya said. "It's something from the trial. A piece of the Warden's flame. I took too much in."
"Why didn't you tell us?"
She looked away. "Because if I fall apart... who else holds this together?"
Kael knelt in front of her.
"You don't have to hold it all. You have us. You have me."
She met his eyes â and for a second, the wall between them cracked.
"I'm scared, Kael," she whispered. "Not of dying. Of breaking."
He reached for her hand.
"Then let me be the one who catches you."
Outside, the sky shifted.
From the cliffs, villagers gathered in silence â all facing the horizon. The flame-star had risen, a second sun that glowed deep red and unmoving.
And from it, a faint song echoed across the wind.
Ariya heard it from her bed.
A voice⊠calling her name.
Far away, Ruvan stood before a glowing orb in his citadel, watching the star's rise.
"She hears it," he said quietly.
Corven stood at his side. "And if she answers?"
Ruvan smiled, slow and cold.
"Then she walks right where I want her."