That night, beneath the cracked moon and embers flickering in the stars, Mara dreamed.
She stood in a void of ash and gold, suspended in silence.
No ground beneath her. No sky above. Only flame—slow and ancient—rising like a tide through the emptiness. It did not burn. It remembered.
"Mara," a voice whispered.
She turned.
A figure emerged from the fire—tall, crowned in flame, eyes glowing with the weight of eons. It wasn't her father. It wasn't human.
It was the First Flame.
Not a god, but a memory given form. The origin of the ember, the pulse behind every spark that had ever existed. Its voice did not speak with words, but with knowing.
> "You seek truth.
You carry our prison.
You burn and do not understand."
"I want to," Mara said, voice steady.
The flame circled her, revealing visions in flickers:
A young Kael raising the Ember Heart in defiance before a dying queen.
The collapse of Vel Ashir as fire consumed its scholars.
Serai, bloodied and weeping over a burning library.
Tessara kneeling before a pyre of her own soldiers.
Talon as a child, locked in a cage of glowing embers.
And then—
Mara, as she had never seen herself: standing atop a mountain of ash, cloaked in red and gold, the full Heart blazing in her chest.
Around her, cities burned. Behind her, the Primordial Flame was free.
Mara gasped. "Is that what I become?"
The First Flame pulsed.
> "That is what you could become.
Unless you learn.
Unless you choose."
It lifted a hand.
From the fire, a third shard emerged, flickering with violet light. Unlike the others, this one bled shadow.
> "The next piece lies beneath the world,
where light cannot reach.
Beneath the Cradle of Hollow Stone.
Guarded by those who have forgotten death."
Mara reached out—but the flame withdrew.
> "You will not survive what comes,
unless you break the chain."
"What chain?" she asked.
The First Flame did not answer.
Instead, it reached into her, and for a moment, Mara saw something impossible—
A glimpse of the being inside the Heart.
It was vast. Burning. Alive. Awake.
And it knew her name.
Then the vision shattered.
---
Mara woke with a scream.
Talon was beside her in a flash, blade drawn. "Nightmare?"
"Worse," she whispered, clutching her chest. The Heart was still glowing faintly—warmer now. Restless.
Serai leaned closer. "What did you see?"
"Another shard," Mara said. "But more than that. I saw... what's inside the Heart. Not just a flame. A mind. A will."
Tessara's face went pale. "Then the legends were true."
"We're not just holding a power," Mara said slowly. "We're holding a prisoner."
Talon cursed under his breath. "And if we reunite the shards…"
"We break the cage," Serai finished.
Mara stood slowly, eyes fixed on the dark horizon.
"We need to reach the Cradle of Hollow Stone," she said. "Before the Vessel Order does. And before the thing inside the Heart starts whispering louder."
The others nodded, their faces grim.
For the first time, Mara wasn't afraid of the fire.
She was afraid of what came after it.
---