The sky split like shattered glass, and from the heart of the rift came silence—not the peaceful kind, but the devouring one. It swallowed light, swallowed hope, and for a heartbeat, the entire realm forgot how to breathe.
Amina stood at the base of the crystal tree, golden flames flickering uncertainly around her. The Flameheart pulsed once—then dimmed. Even it seemed to fear what was coming.
The void whispered.
Not in words.
In memories.
Kai's knees buckled. His mind filled with the sound of his sister's last breath, the guilt he buried deep.
Valec gritted his teeth, but the whispers pierced through his darkness, unraveling old scars—his mother's face, begging him to stop.
Even Nytheris faltered, her icy armor cracking, her eyes wide. "It… remembers us."
The child whimpered.
Amina turned, placing herself between the rift and the girl. "No. Not again. I won't let it take her."
From the void stepped a figure.
It had no face.
No form.
Only a reflection of whoever looked upon it.
When Amina met its gaze, she saw herself—not Amariel, not a warrior. Just the frightened girl who once ran from the fire that marked her.
"You are not real," she said, fists clenched. "You are the lie we left buried."
The Void laughed.
It sounded like her mother's voice, like Kai's laugh, like Valec's roar.
"I am what you forget to fear."
Lightning cracked across the horizon. The realm around them began to collapse, like pages of a burning book curling into nothingness.
The crystal tree shuddered.
Lumeah screamed, "We have to flee!"
"No," said Amina. "We face it now."
"But we're not ready," Kai shouted, struggling to rise.
"Neither was Amariel," Amina said quietly, "and yet she stood."
She turned to Valec. "You once said fate made you its weapon. Today, choose to be a shield."
Valec's jaw tightened. "This isn't my fight anymore."
"Yes, it is," she said. "Because it knows your name."
Valec's breath caught. The Void's gaze turned to him.
He saw the version of himself he feared most—a tyrant, crowned in ash, standing atop a world of ruin.
Amina stepped beside him. "We all carry darkness, Valec. But we also carry the match that can light a new dawn."
And then, she reached out—
And took his hand.
The golden flame wrapped around them both.
Kai stood too, his wind and starlight swirling.
The child, now glowing with the soft brilliance of unity, whispered a single word:
"Hope."
A symbol bloomed in the air—ancient, forgotten, etched in flame and frost. The mark of the first oath.
But the Void surged forward.
It would not let them unite.
It screamed—a wail that cracked mountains and tore through the sky.
And in that moment, Amina leapt.
Into the void.
Alone.
Kai shouted. Valec tried to follow—but the rift sealed behind her.
Inside the nothingness, Amina floated—flames guttering.
And the Void whispered again—
"Burn for me, or be forgotten."
She opened her eyes, and whispered back:
"No. I will burn through you."