The Flame Remembers
The tunnel behind the chamber was narrow at first... a jagged path of stone slick with dew, veiled in shifting mist. Elanora walked slowly, each step echoing with a low hum as if the mountain itself whispered secrets in languages too old to understand. The moment she passed through the glowing threshold left by the merged pendants, the cold air thickened into something else. It wasn't just temperature, not even anything but...it was memory, presence, weight.
She paused.
Her hand brushed the stone wall, grounding herself.
Aryan.The ache of separation gnawed at her, even though they had parted only minutes before. But here, in this strange and ancient vein of the mountain, time stretched, twisted. She couldn't tell if it had been moments or hours. She only knew that without his quiet strength, her footsteps felt heavier.
Yet she carried his warmth in her chest....the way he had looked at her before she turned away, eyes full of unspoken love and fear.
"If she's a flame like me, she'll listen," she had said.
And Aryan had replied with that crooked grin of his: "If she's like you, she'll stab first and question later."
A small smile tugged at her lips now. But it faded as the mist around her deepened, swirling faster.
She stepped forward.....and the world shifted.
Suddenly, the stone beneath her feet cracked like glass.
And with a soundless shatter, the walls vanished.
A World of memory .....
Elanora stood in a vast plain, skies choked in twilight, the air tinged with the scent of smoke and lavender. Around her, ashes drifted...not falling, but rising into the sky. And in the distance, a figure walked toward her.
Herself.
No... a version of her. Younger. Wreathed in fire. Eyes burning like twin suns.
The younger Elanora looked at her with something between sorrow and blame.
"You left me," the younger version said.
Elanora's breath caught. "This isn't real. It's a memory."
"Real enough to bleed," the younger version replied.....and her palm opened to reveal fire that licked and snarled.
Then she vanished, becoming cinders.
Another scene bloomed before her....rushing at her like a storm.
A city of white towers, crumbling. Screams. The sky aflame. Elanora,another her...stood with a blade of light, fending off creatures of shadow.
Behind her, a child cried.
A child with fire in her eyes.
Elanora moved without thinking, toward the child,but the vision dissolved again, replaced with stone.
Silence....
She was back in the tunnel.
She gasped, bracing herself against the wall. Her knees shook. "What was that?"
Her pendant pulsed against her chest, dimming, then glowing again. A warning… or a guide?
The air grew warmer. The mist gave way to flame-colored light.... not heat, but luminescence. She followed the flickering glow, heart pounding like a drumbeat.
Whispers curled around her ears. Not threatening....just… familiar.
Names. Places. Laughter. Sobs. Her voice and not her voice, echoing in circles.
She clutched the pendant. "This isn't the first time I've walked this path, is it?"
From ahead, a child's voice answered.....clear as bell chimes. "No. You always come too late."
Elanora froze.
The tunnel widened into a chamber...circular and impossibly vast, its walls shimmering with memories locked in amber-colored crystals.
At its center stood a small figure.
A girl, no older than eight, barefoot, with wild red hair and glowing eyes.
Elanora approached slowly, heart hammering. "You're the child. From the shard. The one who...."
"Who called Aryan brother. Yes." The girl turned. Her gaze cut through Elanora like a blade of starlight.
"I remember you," she said, voice trembling. "You held me once. Then you let go."
Elanora knelt, tears already burning her eyes. "I didn't know. I didn't remember."
"But you do now," the child said. "And he does too. But neither of you came."
The air was thick with unspoken grief.
Elanora reached forward, but the girl stepped back. Fire sparked beneath her feet with every movement, yet the chamber did not burn.
"I'm sorry," Elanora whispered. "I don't know what I forgot… or why… but I'm here now."
The girl stared at her. Then, like a wave breaking, her face twisted.....not in anger, but in anguish.
"You left me inside the seal. You and Aryan. You promised to come back."
Elanora flinched as if struck.
"Why?" the child sobbed. "Why didn't you save me?"
Elanora's own voice broke. "Because we died. We sealed the evil.....and lost ourselves."
The girl's fire dimmed. "Then why am I still here?"
A new memory surged from the crystals.
Elanora saw herself and Aryan, in a life long past. Standing before a gateway of obsidian. Holding the child between them. A promise etched in magic:
We'll come back. We'll find you. You won't be alone.
But the seal had cost them everything.
Their bodies. Their names. Their memories.
And the child had waited.
Time twisted for her. She never aged. She became part of the seal.
Forgotten.
Elanora sobbed, reaching again. This time, the girl let her.
Their fingers touched.
A soft warmth passed between them.
"I can't undo what we lost," Elanora whispered. "But I swear to you, we will not leave you again."
The girl looked up, trembling. "Will he come?"
Elanora smiled through tears. "Aryan never breaks a promise. He's stubborn that way."
The girl blinked. "Do you still love him?"
Elanora didn't hesitate. "I think I always have. Even when I didn't know his name."
A small smile bloomed on the child's face. "Then maybe… I can come back too."
The pendant around Elanora's neck glowed brightly...reacting to the child's presence.
A third flame lit in the chamber....the same pendant on the girl's chest, resonating with Elanora's.
In the distance, the tunnel behind rumbled.
Elanora turned. "He's waiting."
The girl nodded.
But before they could move, a voice echoed through the chamber.
Not a whisper.
A roar.
"She is mine."
The walls trembled. Darkness spilled in tendrils from the edges of the crystal-lined walls.
Elanora stood, shielding the child.
She drew her blade.
"Not anymore," she said.
The girl stepped forward, her flame sparking again.
"Let me help."
Their hands joined.
Light flared.
Far away, under the stars, Aryan felt a heat bloom around his wrist.... the pendant tied in cloth now glowing hot.
He stood, eyes narrowing.
"Elanora," he whispered. Then louder, fiercer.
"I'm coming.