The mountain path behind them disappeared beneath a veil of mist and cold silence. Surya trudged beside Kaelen, every step harder than the last. The boy—possessed, now unconscious—was cradled in a flame-threaded sling that floated at Kaelen's side. He hadn't stirred.
But the presence from the cave still lingered.
Surya couldn't shake it. The voice that had spoken through the child hadn't just taunted them—it had known him.
The Flame stirs again… just as He foretold.
"Kaelen," Surya said quietly, his voice low enough not to wake echoes. "That thing in the cave… it knew me."
Kaelen didn't look at him. "Yes."
"That wasn't just a coincidence, was it?"
Kaelen stopped at the edge of a rocky ledge, eyes scanning the horizon. The wind carried a whisper of ash and static.
"No. That was a message."
He moved again.
They reached a narrow grove by a broken stream, where wild emberroot trees grew twisted and faintly glowing. Kaelen laid the unconscious boy down, then began carving containment sigils into the ground.
Surya watched from a distance, the fire inside his core coiling restlessly. It no longer lashed out without warning—but it burned hotter now, more aware. Responsive.
He knelt beside the stream and opened his palm. A small flame flickered to life. It danced, elegant and sharp, as if testing him.
He shaped it into a spear. Then a ring. Then a hand.
The flame obeyed. But only just.
Kaelen approached, crouching beside him. "You're trying to command it. It's not a weapon, Surya. It's a conversation."
"I am talking to it," Surya muttered.
Kaelen smirked faintly. "Then you need to listen more."
Behind them, the boy stirred in his sleep. A whisper—too soft to hear—escaped his lips.
Kaelen's expression darkened. "The corruption hasn't left him."
Surya looked over, the flame in his palm extinguished. "You're going to kill him if it comes back, aren't you?"
Kaelen didn't answer.
That was answer enough.
They set off again before dusk. The sky had darkened unnaturally fast—clouds swirling violet above distant peaks.
Surya glanced up. "That storm… it doesn't feel right."
"It's not," Kaelen said. "Elemental storms don't form this far inland without cause."
"You think it's coming because of me?"
Kaelen didn't say yes.
But he didn't say no.
They followed a barely visible trail up a narrow ridge of fused obsidian. As they climbed, the air changed—denser, laced with pressure that hummed against Surya's skin.
Then they saw it.
A shattered monolith, cracked in half, protruding from the mountainside like a blade. Its surface was covered in ancient runes, most long faded—but some still glowing faintly.
Kaelen's breath caught. "This wasn't here before."
"You've been here?"
"No. But I know what it is."
Surya stepped forward, his mark pulsing. The runes brightened.
The monolith shuddered.
And a seam split open.
A hidden doorway formed, revealing stone steps leading down into the mountain.
Kaelen looked at Surya. "Your Flame's resonance opened this. Which means it was meant for someone like you."
"Or someone like Him," Surya said, swallowing hard.
Kaelen nodded grimly. "We'll go together."
The steps led into a vault-shaped chamber, the walls lined with statues—figures wreathed in elemental symbols. At the center stood a dais. Upon it floated a shard of raw, shifting essence—red, blue, green, white… and something else.
A shimmer between all things. The fifth.
Kaelen whispered, "Origin essence."
Surya stepped forward. The shard responded.
Flames erupted in his chest—not burning, but roaring like a forge being lit.
He touched the shard.
Visions engulfed him.
A tower of fire collapsing in slow motion.
A beast of ash breaking chains forged from star-metal.
A throne in the void. And a figure rising from it—cloaked in shadow and spiraling flame.
Then: a whisper.
"You are waking too fast."
Surya collapsed.
When his eyes opened, Kaelen was kneeling beside him, face tight with concern.
"You shouldn't have done that," Kaelen said. "The shrine... responded to you. That's not supposed to happen without Harmony."
"I saw something," Surya murmured. "A throne. A figure. And a voice. Said I was waking too fast."
Kaelen stood, gaze distant. "It's not just your Flame anymore. Something old has bound itself to you."
Outside, the storm shifted direction. As if sensing the awakening below.
In the darkness, the boy stirred again.
And in a far-off land of black stone and fire, the masked figure opened a scroll and traced Surya's mark in ash.
"The trial has begun," he said.
And the sky cracked open.