Elliot woke.
Gasping.
Drenched in sweat, body trembling. His eyes snapped open, golden light still flickering faintly in his irises. The fur blankets around him were smoldering, tiny embers dancing off the edge.
He sat up with a grunt.
> "That wasn't a dream."
He could still hear the voice — the flame serpent's warning echoing in his mind. Not a memory, but a presence. Something ancient now tethered to his soul.
The runes on his chest pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat.
"Awake already?" came a dry voice.
Kaelith stood by the doorway, arms crossed. Her braid was messy, and she wore only a sleeveless tunic and loose pants — but her eyes were sharp, alert.
Elliot didn't answer right away.
"I was tested," he muttered. "In my sleep."
She raised an eyebrow. "You had a nightmare?"
"No. I met something… a flame serpent. Svarakar, it called itself."
Kaelith's expression changed. A flicker of recognition—and fear—crossed her face.
"Svarakar," she repeated. "That name hasn't been spoken in the Order in centuries. It's not just any dream beast. It was the guardian of the First Flame, the one the gods chained when they sealed the old world."
"I saw it," Elliot whispered. "It knew me. It said I wore the mark, but didn't understand it. Then it showed me… things."
He didn't say what — not the throne of ash, not Kaelith burning, not Lyra kneeling. He wasn't ready to speak those horrors into reality.
Kaelith stepped forward. "Then it's starting. The bond is forming. The stronger your connection to the flame, the closer you get to whatever lies behind it."
Elliot looked up at her, eyes dark now.
"Am I becoming it?" he asked quietly. "The thing in those visions? The monster?"
She didn't answer right away.
Instead, she sat beside him, pulled out a small dagger, and handed it to him.
"Here," she said. "You're not allowed to lose your mind until you finish your next trial. I don't want to drag another half-dead chosen one out of a burning forest."
A small smile tugged at Elliot's lips.
But deep inside, the words of Svarakar burned:
> "You do not break… but the path ahead will."
---
Far away, in a high tower buried in shadows, a cloaked figure watched flames dance across a map of Eldraya.
The Gate had shifted.
And the chosen flame had awakened.
The time for patience was over.