They crossed the border of Verdane at dusk, where the woods turned black with time and the birds refused to sing. Cael led the way, every step weighted by memory he could not fully trust.
"Theralyn isn't on any map," Elira murmured, adjusting the black cloak around her shoulders. "It was scrubbed from records, stories… even dreams."
"That's because it was meant to be forgotten," Cael replied, eyes narrowed. "But curses don't die. They sleep."
They rode in silence for hours until the trees gave way to a barren expanse of gray rock and withered earth. The Vale of Ash.
A wind howled, not like breath but like mourning. Elira dismounted and stepped forward.
"I remember this place," she said quietly. "It was where my mother burned her name."
Cael stared ahead. "And mine."
They entered the vale at moonrise.
Black stone arches jutted from the ground like ribs of some ancient beast. Firelight flickered in the distance, and figures began to emerge—robed men and women with eyes like hollow moons.
"Elira Verdane," a voice called.
She stepped forward, chin high. "No. I am Elira Theralyn, daughter of the Phoenix Line, and I have come to answer your summons."
Whispers.
One of the robed figures approached. She was tall, cloaked in red, her face lined with soot.
"I am Matron Neria. Keeper of the Flame Vaults. You have your mother's fire."
Elira nodded. "And my father's silence."
"Then you are both welcome and condemned," Neria said.
Cael stepped beside her. "I go where she goes."
Neria's eyes flickered over him. "You were once ours. The Knight-Soul. Your flame was extinguished, yet it flickers again."
"I want answers," Cael said.
"And you shall have them," Neria replied. "But first, you must both enter the Flame Vault. Alone."
Elira glanced at Cael. "If anything happens—"
"I'll find you," he said.
They were separated by the Flamebearers and led into different vaults—each door marked with their bloodlines.
Elira entered a chamber of obsidian and light.
Floating above a pedestal was a flame—silver and alive. It pulsed as though it had a heartbeat. Her reflection shimmered in it, not as she was now, but as a girl—innocent, laughing, holding a dagger too big for her hands.
"Elira," a voice echoed.
She turned. A vision appeared—her mother.
"You've come to the last place I ever called home."
Tears burned her eyes. "You left me with a name and a curse."
"I left you with a choice," her mother replied. "To reclaim what was lost—or burn for what you inherit."
The flame began to rise, spiraling above Elira's head.
"You are the flame reborn. But the fire is hungry."
Meanwhile, Cael stood before a mirror made of ash. His reflection twisted—flashing between his knightly form and the cursed creature he feared.
"Who am I really?" he asked the silence.
A voice answered. "You were the guardian. The shield of the Phoenix Line. You were meant to love her and die for her."
"But I'm alive."
"Then fate has changed," the voice said. "But the binding remains."
The mirror cracked.
A chain appeared around his wrist—ghostly, red-hot, and pulsing.
"You are bound not just by love, Cael. But by design."
Hours passed.
Outside, the Vale remained still.
Then the vault doors opened.
Elira emerged first, her eyes rimmed in silver fire.
Cael followed, paler, clutching his wrist.
Neria waited. "You have seen. You have heard. Now you must choose."
"Choose?" Elira echoed.
"Theralyn does not ask for rulers. It demands vessels. You must burn away your other name—Verdane—and take your place here."
Elira looked at the horizon. "And if I don't?"
"Then the curse will consume not just you, but those you love. The balance is broken. The fire must be fed."
Elira's voice was steel. "Then I'll find another way. I won't become what killed my mother."
Cael stepped forward. "And I won't serve a flame that demands her soul."
Neria narrowed her eyes. "Then you defy the old laws."
Elira drew the dagger Lucien had given her. "Let them try to bind me again."
They left the vale by dawn.
Behind them, the vault doors slammed shut.
And in the wind, a new whisper rose:
"The Phoenix does not serve. She rises."