Kai didn't speak for a long time after the Memory Core shattered. He sat curled beside Lucien, hands trembling, eyes staring blankly at the cracked stone bowl, where embers still flickered and hissed like dying breath. The underground chamber pulsed softly, like it remembered what had just happened.
Lucien kept one arm around him, his thumb brushing Kai's arm in quiet rhythm.
"He wasn't angry," Kai whispered eventually. "He wasn't even trying to hurt me." Celira sat across the chamber, eyes fixed on the glowing runes that had reawakened along the walls. "Not yet," she murmured. "But something is changing. That Core wasn't just memory—it was a fragment of Ashvryn's soul. And now it's inside you."
Rhydian paced, uneasy. "Then what happens next?" "I don't know," Celira said. "But the seal beneath the tree is weakening. And if the Firebound truly is waking… we'll need to find the rest of the fragments. Or the prison won't hold much longer." Kai stood slowly, still leaning against Lucien. "He loved someone, once. I saw it in the vision. A bond like mine. Like ours."
Lucien turned his head toward him. "You mean with another Alpha?" Kai nodded. "They feared him because of it. Because they didn't understand what that kind of power could mean—two Alphas bound like soulmates."
Rhydian frowned. "Or maybe they feared the power of love itself."
They made camp just beyond the mouth of the chamber, away from the pulsing magic. The sky overhead was velvet black, pierced with stars. Trees stood like shadows around them. The night was heavy with quiet. Kai sat on a thick blanket near the fire, arms wrapped around his knees. His fingers still trembled faintly. He hadn't said much since they left the chamber.
Lucien approached silently, then sat beside him. He didn't speak right away—just waited, like he always did. Kai finally leaned his head on Lucien's shoulder. "It's like he's still there. Ashvryn. I can feel him… in my chest. In my blood. Like a second heart." Lucien reached up and gently stroked Kai's hair. "Is he hurting you?"
"No. Just… pressing. Waiting. Like he wants me to see something else."
Lucien's voice was a low murmur. "Then let me help."
Kai looked at him. "You already are." Lucien reached for Kai's hand, lifting it slowly. "Trust me?" he asked softly. Kai nodded. Lucien placed Kai's palm over his heart. "Feel that?" Kai blinked. Beneath his hand, Lucien's heartbeat was strong and steady—like a drum grounding the earth. Lucien's other hand slid to rest over Kai's chest, just above where the Memory Core's magic had soaked into him.
Two rhythms.
Kai's heart, erratic. Lucien's, calm. Lucien began to breathe deeper—slow and intentional. "Breathe with me. In… and out." Kai followed, shaky at first, but it steadied. A faint light shimmered between them—silver and gold, like moonlight on fire. Their bond shimmered in that moment—not just a magical connection, but an emotional one. A vow. A tether.
"I'm still here," Lucien whispered. "And I won't let you face him alone." Kai swallowed. "Even if I become… something else?" Lucien's hand tightened around his. "Then I'll hold on to who you are. No matter what."
Hours later, when the fire had burned low and the sky began to lighten with pre-dawn haze, Rhydian returned from the forest edge. He carried a strip of bark covered in carved runes, his eyes sharp with focus. "There's another pat," he said. "One that wasn't here before." Celira stood quickly. "Where?"
"Just behind the eastern ridge. There's a row of guardian stones—three of them glowing with the same light from the chamber. The ground's shifting. Magic's responding to something." Kai stood, brushing pine needles from his coat. "Then it's leading us somewhere."
"Not just anywhere," Rhydian said. "It's pointing to a sanctuary. Maybe where Ashvryn was sealed." Lucien looked between them. "We're really going to follow it?" Kai nodded. "We have to."
Celira added, "And if there are more fragments of him… then it may be our only chance to understand what he wants. Before he takes control."
***********
By noon, they reached the guardian stones. Three smooth columns of obsidian, rising from the moss like teeth. Between them, the earth glowed faintly—runes emerging beneath their boots. Celira whispered an unlocking spell, and the stones shifted. A spiral staircase descended deep into the mountain base, hidden by centuries of overgrowth and enchantment.
Kai went first.
The deeper they went, the warmer the air became—like the earth itself held breath. At the bottom, the stone opened into a circular room. A mural wrapped around the walls, aged and cracked—but still powerful. It showed two men—one cloaked in flame, the other in silver and wind—holding hands at the center of a burning city.
The inscription below read:
"Where fire met storm, the bond endured."
Kai stepped closer. Lucien beside him said, "That's you." Kai stared. "No… that was him. But I think… he's remembering through me."
At the center of the sanctuary, nestled between two ancient roots, was another black box. Like the first—but older. Heavier. Kai reached for it. This time, Lucien didn't stop him. As soon as Kai's fingers touched the lid, heat surged through the room. But it wasn't painful. It was familiar. The lid opened. Inside: another crystal shard—this one glowing red-gold, like a living ember. It rose of its own accord, hovering before Kai's chest. And then, it merged into him.
A breath. A heartbeat.
And he remembered.
Ashvryn's voice, clear now, echoed inside his mind.
"I was loved once. I was chosen. But the world said it was wrong. That two of the same kind could not burn together."
"But love doesn't choose sides. It only chooses truth."
"You carry my blood, and my bond. You are my echo."
"And when the fire comes again… it will not be to destroy."
"It will be to heal."
Kai fell to his knees, not from pain—but awe. Lucien was beside him in seconds, arms wrapping around him as if to anchor him to the now. "I saw it all," Kai whispered. "I felt it. His pain. His love. His hope. He wasn't trying to come back to destroy anyone." Rhydian looked on, quiet for once. "Then what does he want?"
Kai's eyes lifted, glowing faintly now. "To remember. To be remembered. And to pass his story through me… before it's lost again." Celira said quietly, "Then the seal breaking isn't the end." Kai nodded. "It's the beginning."