Smoke still drifted through the forest as the moon faded behind gathering clouds. The air hung thick with ash, blood, and the distant echoes of something ancient that had been disturbed — and refused to go back to sleep.
Elliot Finn stumbled through the undergrowth, clutching his scorched chest. His tunic was in shreds, his body bruised and broken. But he was alive. And something inside him… had awakened.
His magic — once unstable sparks — now surged through his veins like molten fire. He could feel it crackling beneath his skin, whispering things in a language he didn't understand. Power he hadn't asked for. Power that terrified him.
He collapsed near a dying creek, gasping for breath.
> "She chose them... over me."
The words tasted like poison on his tongue.
He saw her face again — Lyra, with her trembling voice, her silver eyes, her tear that never fell.
A part of him still wanted to believe she had no choice. That she was manipulated. Threatened. Forced.
But the part of him that burned…
...knew she let it happen.
---
Hours passed before the first figure approached.
A tall man, dressed in black armor etched with silver ash-runes, knelt beside him. His face was stern, pale, with a scar running down from his left eye to his chin.
"Still breathing," the man muttered. "Good."
Elliot tried to rise. The man slammed two fingers to Elliot's chest.
The world blinked white.
And then black.
---
He awoke in a cavern — but not like the Whispering Cave.
This one shimmered with faint light and glowing vines that pulsed in rhythm with the earth itself. Warmth surrounded him. He was lying on a cot wrapped in fur, beside a strange blue fire that didn't burn the air.
A girl sat by the fire, sharpening a crystal blade.
Her hair was dark and wild, her skin copper, her eyes glowing faintly violet.
"You're finally awake," she said without looking up.
"Where… am I?" Elliot croaked.
"You're in the sanctuary of the Order of Ash. We saved your cursed ass from bleeding out in the forest." She looked at him now. "You're welcome."
"…Thanks," Elliot muttered, still disoriented.
"The name's Kaelith. I'm the one who carried your heavy body for six damn miles." She smirked. "You've got a fire in you, stranger. But it's messy. Dangerous. Untrained."
Elliot sat up. His muscles screamed.
"Then train me," he said.
Kaelith blinked. "What?"
"I need to become stronger. Strong enough to destroy them. All of them."
Kaelith studied him.
"The Order doesn't take in just anyone."
"I'm not just anyone," Elliot said, his eyes glowing faintly gold now. "Something happened to me. I don't know what I am anymore… but I know I won't survive being weak."
---
Outside, the night wind howled like a warning.
And beneath the stone floor, something ancient stirred… as if sensing its chosen flame had finally been lit.