Chapter 39: The Twin That Burns
Panic spread like wildfire.
At first, it was whispers — a shadow seen near the outer districts, a heat signature too powerful to be natural. Then came the bodies. Three guards found outside the East Gate. No signs of struggle. Just… scorch marks.
Not like Echo's fire.
Colder.
Controlled.
Precise.
The Omega Flame had awakened — and it had already begun to move.
Echo stood in the inner sanctum of the Sanctuary, her council surrounding her. Kara paced like a caged hawk. Aria was stone-faced. Calder stared at the map with fists clenched.
"We have to contain this," Kara snapped. "We just stabilized the outposts. If word spreads there's a rogue flameborn with Phoenix-level output—"
"They'll riot," Calder finished. "Or worse — revolt."
"And what do you suggest?" Echo asked, calm but firm.
"We find it. And we terminate it."
Aria's eyes flicked toward Echo. "It… or him?"
Everyone went quiet.
Echo straightened. "His name is Kael."
"You named him?" Kara said, voice rising. "You know him?"
"I don't. But I feel him. He's… connected to me. He's not just some science experiment — he's family."
"He killed our people."
"We don't know that."
"We do!" Kara's voice cracked like a whip. "And if you won't act, we will."
Echo looked at her council — her friends — and realized something terrifying.
They weren't asking for her permission.
They were telling her: if she didn't take control, someone else would.
That night, Echo met Ash in the tower's top floor — a quiet observatory where flameborn children used to learn how to control their powers.
Now it was just the two of them.
And the stars.
"I'm losing them," she said softly. "I freed them, and now they want someone to put the chains back on."
Ash leaned on the railing beside her. "They're scared. That's all."
"He's not like me."
"You don't know that."
"He's not like Seraphine, either," she whispered. "His flame… it's not angry. It's empty. Like something else is inside it."
Ash looked at her.
"You think he's the parasite."
"I think he was built for it."
The next day, she set out alone.
No guards. No escort.
Just fire in her hands and questions in her chest.
Kael had left traces — scorched buildings, silence in the minds of local flameborn where warmth should be. He wasn't killing indiscriminately. He was looking for something.
No, someone.
Her.
She found him on the edge of Sector Nine — the ruins of an old transmission tower, half-buried in ivy.
He stood with his back to her, barefoot in the grass, head tilted toward the sky.
He didn't turn when she stepped into the clearing.
"You came," he said.
His voice was like hers — deeper, fractured, but familiar. Like the echo of her own thoughts.
"I had to."
He turned.
His eyes weren't cruel.
They were tired.
"You carry the flame," he said.
"So do you."
"No." He looked down at his hands. "I carry its echo. The part she couldn't control."
Echo's throat tightened. "Seraphine?"
Kael nodded. "She made me to contain what she couldn't destroy. I'm not her heir. I'm her prison."
Echo stepped closer.
"You killed people."
"I silenced fear. Before it spread."
"That's not peace."
"That's survival," he said softly. "And you're going to have to choose soon, Echo. Because they don't want a leader. They want a weapon they can believe in."
He looked at her.
Through her.
"And they'll make you one — unless I do first."
Fire bloomed between them.
For a moment, neither moved.
Then Kael's flames receded.
"You're not ready," he said. "But you will be."
And with that, he vanished into smoke — leaving only scorched grass and silence behind.
Back at the sanctuary, Kara was waiting.
"So?" she demanded. "Did you kill it?"
Echo looked her in the eye.
And lied.
"He's gone."
That night, Echo stood alone in Seraphine's old chamber.
She lit no flames.
She made no speeches.
She simply whispered to the dark:
"I won't be your weapon."
But the dark didn't answer.
Only the mirror did.
And in its surface…
Her reflection smiled back.