The flames danced, wild and hungry.
Orange and gold licked at the wooden beams, smoke curling like ghost fingers across the attic ceiling. But Ava couldn't look away from the two figures in front of her—her resurrected mother, and the Man Without a Name.
Both untouched by fire.
Both watching her.
Her knees buckled as the floor shook beneath her boots, but she didn't fall. Damian's voice echoed from the comm in her ear:
"Ava, get out of there! The cabin's going to collapse!"
But she couldn't move.
Because what she saw next changed everything.
A Mother Reborn
Vera Romanov walked through the flame—no hesitation, no pain. Her dress fluttered in the firelight like a black wing, her shadow stretching across the floor like a predator.
Ava's voice cracked. "How are you alive?"
Vera's expression didn't waver. "Because death is for mortals, Ava. You are not one."
"I don't understand—"
"You will."
Suddenly, Vera reached out—and sliced Ava's palm with a silver blade drawn from her sleeve.
Ava gasped as blood welled up…
But instead of dripping, it sizzled.
Her blood glowed.
Molten red, like liquid ember.
She stared at her hand. "What the hell—?!"
Vera's voice was calm. "You're a Romanov. We carry fire in our veins."
The Man Without a Name stepped forward. His pale eyes narrowed. "You see now, Ava. You were never just a mother. You were bred to become a flame strong enough to burn the past."
Outside the Cabin
Damian crashed through the tree line, Levi close behind.
"Where is she?" Damian shouted.
Smoke billowed around the cabin, but no heat. No crackle. No collapse.
Only silence.
Until Levi pointed. "There—on the roof!"
They looked up.
And there she stood.
Ava.
Her silhouette framed in firelight, her eyes glowing gold.
In her hand: the dagger Vera gave her.
Her old self—scared, buried, uncertain—was gone.
Damian whispered, "What happened to her?"
Inside the Cabin – Moments Earlier
Ava turned to Vera. "Why now? Why reveal this to me?"
Vera placed the dagger in her daughter's palm. "Because your blood is the key. And he," she gestured to the Man Without a Name, "needs a vessel to unlock the Door of Ashes."
"What door?!"
He answered for her. "A gate beneath the earth. Sealed centuries ago by your ancestors. It holds the last true ember. The one that can unmake fate itself."
Ava shook her head. "I don't care about ancient embers. I care about Lily."
The Man Without a Name smiled coldly. "Then you'll come with us. Or she will be the first to burn."
He tossed something onto the floor with a sickening clunk.
A tiny pink shoe.
Lily's.
Still warm.
💥 Cliffhanger Hook
Ava's scream tore through the attic as she lunged forward, blade drawn—
But Vera blocked her, whispering:
"You cannot save Lily… until you awaken the fire inside you."
Behind them, the floor caved in.
And Ava fell—
Through fire, through darkness, through memory—
Landing in a catacomb of ash and bone, far beneath the cabin.
Alone.
And across the chamber, rising from the dark—
A second version of her mother.
But this one was bound in chains.
Eyes wild.
Lips sewn shut.
She had been imprisoned there the entire time.