The wind stirred with whispers as Liora descended the ridge, the last glow of the godfire fading from the horizon. She could still feel it pulsing inside her, a quiet ember against the cold. It didn't hurt—but it hummed, like an echo of something long buried and newly awakened.
Elestria walked at her side, silent and watchful. The Gilded Wilds loomed ahead—a place thought lost to time, veiled in illusion, protected by ancestral flame. Its borders shimmered like heat waves, bending light and memory alike.
Ashara muttered a glyph under her breath. "We cross into the hidden flame now. Stay alert. The Wilds test more than just strength."
Kael scanned the woods warily. "What exactly do they test?"
"Worth," Ashara replied. "And sometimes... regret."
They passed through an ancient archway carved from living vines. As they entered the Wilds, the air thickened—lush and golden. The trees shimmered as if caught in perpetual sunset. Birds with ember-tipped wings flitted above. Strange vines recoiled from their steps, and light fractured across the branches like broken dreams.
Liora felt the ember inside her stir. Something here recognized her.
Elestria's eyes didn't leave the towering silver tree at the forest's heart. "This grove remembers what the world has tried to forget. It sees you."
At the base of that glowing tree sat a girl no older than thirteen, hair like moonlight and eyes like wildfire.
"You came," the girl said softly, standing. Her voice rang like a bell struck by starlight.
Liora knelt instinctively. "I felt you. Through the ember."
"I'm Elestria," she said. "I've been waiting. The flame said you would come."
Ashara knelt beside Liora, awe in her gaze. "You're bonded to it. Like her."
Elestria nodded. "But I'm not the only one."
She led them into a hidden glade carved into the forest floor. Murals lined the curved stone walls—images of flamebearers raising cities, sealing void rifts, sacrificing themselves for peace. One by one, their embers vanished into myth.
"But the ember remembers," Elestria said. "And now it calls you to finish what was started."
Kael crossed his arms. "We can't fight the Queen alone. Even together."
"No," Elestria said. "But there are more. Another flame sleeps in the north. Cold and forgotten. The last emberborn before the purge."
Liora looked toward the icy peaks drawn in one of the murals. "We'll find him."
Elestria extended her hand. "Then make the pact. The Kindling. A bond that lights what time tried to extinguish."
Liora grasped her hand.
A golden flame encircled them. Glyphs rose into the air, marking them both with sigils older than language. The trees shimmered in response. A faint pulse resonated beneath their feet—as though the forest itself exhaled.
Elestria's eyes sparkled. "You're not alone anymore."
Ashara smiled faintly. "The ember has chosen unity."
Kael stood apart, his hand on the hilt of his sword. "Then we'd better move fast. The Queen won't ignore this."
Liora turned to him. "She already knows."
In the distance, a bell tolled once—clear and haunting. Elestria's smile faded.
"That's the ward alarm. Something crossed into the Wilds."
Ashara quickly drew her staff. "We're being watched."
They raced back to the entrance of the glade. A single black feather drifted to the ground, dark as obsidian.
Kael picked it up. "One of the Queen's seers."
Far above, in the clouds cloaking the mountains, a shadow stirred. A hawk made of smoke and steel turned and soared into the night.
Miles away, a crystal glowed in Queen Iridell's chamber. She touched it gently and smiled.
"So the Kindling begins."
Her voice carried like frost across the floor.
"Then let the hunt commence."
Back in the Wilds, Liora stood beneath the silver tree, her thoughts spinning. The ember was no longer just power. It was memory. Legacy. A choice.
"I can feel them," she said softly. "The other bearers. Like sparks in the dark."
Elestria nodded. "They're waiting for your light to reach them."
Ashara wrapped her cloak tighter. "Then we travel north. The frostlands await."
Kael's gaze lingered on the treetops, on the place the shadow had disappeared. "And so does the Queen."
As night fell over the Gilded Wilds, the silver leaves shimmered once more. But beneath their glow, the path ahead had darkened.
And the flame that once flickered now burned with purpose—and defiance.