Amina's vision blurred. The battlefield was a swirl of snow, mist, and silent screams. The wound on her shoulder pulsed with pain, yet inside her… something stirred.
"Let them seal your flame…" Amariel's voice echoed.
The words seemed like betrayal—but Amina understood now. This was not surrender.
It was rebirth.
From where she knelt, the icy chains slithered toward her once more. Nytheris raised the Blade of Frozen Flame high, its edge catching the pale shimmer of a dying sun.
"End this," Nytheris whispered—to Amina or themselves, no one could tell.
But before the blade could fall—
Boom!
A shockwave burst outward from Amina's chest. Not of heat, but memory.
Nytheris staggered back.
The icy chains evaporated into blue dust.
Amina rose, flames not igniting around her, but within her skin—dancing beneath the surface, like veins of molten gold. Her eyes… were no longer hers. They burned with Amariel's fire.
"You were right," she said calmly. "The child is the balance. But it is my destiny to shield her, not silence her."
Nytheris' gaze narrowed. "You carry her soul."
"I am her soul," Amina answered.
She raised her hand—and the crystal tree reappeared, no longer an echo. It grew from the ground itself, roots of molten light, branches of mirrored fire.
At its peak, a single fruit gleamed—pulsing with life.
Lumeah gasped. "The Flameheart…"
Kai blinked. "I thought it was lost to time."
Valec took a step back, awe breaking through his usual grimness. "No. It was waiting."
Nytheris hissed. "You don't know what you're awakening—"
"I know exactly what I'm awakening," Amina interrupted, reaching toward the tree.
Her fingers brushed the Flameheart.
A jolt raced through her body—every memory of Amariel, every trial, every death, every rebirth—compressed into a single heartbeat.
Suddenly, her fire ignited—true, ancient, and untamed.
But this fire did not burn the world.
It understood it.
And as Amina stepped forward, wrapped in golden flame, Nytheris staggered for the first time. Their blade shook. The ice cracked beneath their feet.
"You cannot undo what has been sealed," Nytheris warned, voice shaken.
"No," Amina replied. "But I can finish what she began."
Behind her, the child stood—no longer afraid.
The mist receded.
The wraith-kings paused, unsure.
And then, the child lifted her hand—and flame and frost twisted together in a spiral of harmony.
Balance.
For the first time in centuries, fire and ice did not war.
They danced.
But just as hope bloomed—
CRACK!
A dark rift tore open in the sky.
From it… he descended.
Valec's expression twisted. "No…"
Kai's voice dropped. "It's too soon."
Amina turned, her golden flames flickering.
The true enemy had awakened.
Not fire.
Not frost.
But void.
And from the rift, eyes without end stared down at them.