CHAPTER SIX: Echoes of Fire
The forest stood still.
ws
Unmoving. Watching.
Kael pressed his palm harder against the bark of the Hollow Tree, trying to push through, to feel her—Riven's presence, her scent, her heartbeat. But it was as though the tree had swallowed her whole and grown a thousand years older in seconds.
Behind him, Fynn shifted nervously.
"It's like the thing sealed itself with her inside. Are you sure she's… not in danger?"
"No," Kael said quietly. "I'm not sure of anything anymore."
The wind howled. But it wasn't natural. It carried whispers—soft and fractured.
The mirror has no mercy.
Kael's eyes narrowed. "She's being tested."
---
Riven knelt in the chamber of obsidian.
Her reflection in the silver mirror rippled without touch. Her real self trembled—every breath shallow, every heartbeat loud.
"Why me?" she whispered.
Iliah stood behind her, silent.
"I didn't ask to be born this way," Riven said, louder this time. "I didn't ask to be your key."
"No," Iliah replied. "But neither did the world ask to be broken. Yet here we are."
Riven's reflection began to shift again. Images twisted. Faces surfaced.
She saw Kael—his expression etched in pain, watching her as a child, as a baby.
Then… her mother.
A woman with hair like wildfire, eyes dark with sorrow… and strength.
"Elira," Riven whispered.
The reflection changed again.
And this time, it was herself, but older. Taller. Cloaked in white fire. A crown of ash on her head. And at her feet, an empire burning.
"What is this?" she asked.
Iliah's voice was barely a whisper. "A future. One of many. One you might choose."
"I don't want it."
"You don't get to want. You get to decide."
Suddenly, the chamber shook. A deep rumble echoed through the stone. Iliah turned sharply.
"They've found her."
---
Outside, Kael stepped back as the roots of the tree snapped outward.
He drew his blade just in time.
Figures emerged from the mist—cloaked in crimson, bearing the sigil of the High Council.
"Don't move," one of them barked. "Step away from the Hollow Tree."
Fynn raised his hands slowly. "Whoa, easy—"
But Kael didn't budge.
"You've been following us," he growled. "Tell me why."
The leading figure removed her hood.
A woman, middle-aged, with silver-streaked black hair and a scar running from temple to jaw.
"We were never following you," she said. "We were following her."
"She's just a child," Fynn snapped.
"She's a god's wound," the woman replied coldly. "A splinter lodged in the heart of the old world. And if she isn't contained, she'll reopen the Gate."
Kael's expression darkened. "What gate?"
But she didn't answer.
Instead, she raised her hand.
Dozens more soldiers emerged behind her—surrounding them.
"By order of the High Council," she declared, "you are under arrest for treason, Kael Voryn."
Fynn cursed. Kael didn't move.
"You have three seconds," she said.
Kael looked at the tree again. His eyes flickered golden.
And then—
He howled.
Not like a man. Not like a soldier. But like something older. Wilder.
The soldiers hesitated.
And that's when the ground exploded beneath their feet.
---
Inside the Hollow Tree, Riven gasped as the chamber shook again.
Iliah turned toward the roots.
"They're fighting for you."
"I didn't ask them to."
"No," Iliah said. "But pain always draws a crowd."
Riven stepped toward the mirror again. Her older self still stared back—this time weeping.
Not tears of sorrow.
Tears of rage.
"I won't become her," Riven whispered.
The mirror spoke.
But she is already inside you.
And just like that, Riven's hands ignited.
Not fire. Not light.
Something darker.
Something ancient.
She screamed—not in fear, but in defiance.
The mirror cracked.
And a burst of violet light shot out from her chest, lighting up the entire chamber.
Iliah stumbled back. "You've awakened it."
"What?"
"The blood," Iliah gasped. "Your core… it's rejecting your bindings."
Riven's vision blurred.
Pain sliced through her skull.
Voices flooded her mind.
Burn them. Bleed them. Break the chains. Become what they fear.
"No," she growled, gripping her head. "I'm not your monster."
She slammed her palm against the mirror.
And it shattered.
---
Outside, the light exploded from the base of the Hollow Tree.
The soldiers stumbled back, shielding their eyes.
From within the roots, a figure emerged slowly—walking through dust and power.
Riven.
Her eyes glowed faintly.
Her palms smoked.
And her presence… shifted something in the air.
Kael's breath caught in his throat.
"Riven?"
She looked at him—really looked.
Then at the soldiers.
Then at her hands.
"I… I don't know what's happening," she whispered.
The silver-haired woman stepped forward, cautiously.
"You've awakened your inheritance," she said. "That power doesn't belong in your hands."
"It's mine," Riven said quietly. "It's always been mine."
Kael moved to her side.
"Riven, we need to go."
But the soldiers moved first.
Too fast.
Too confident.
One drew a blade, lunging—
Riven turned.
And without touching him…
She unmade him.
He crumbled into dust mid-motion, disintegrating in a scream of light.
Everyone froze.
Even Riven.
"I didn't mean to," she whispered.
Kael stared at her—not with fear, but with something worse.
Recognition.
"Riven," he said slowly, "what else did they put inside you?"
And for the first time since she'd escaped the tower…
She was afraid of the answer.
---