Elira awoke to the sound of stone grinding against stone.
She sat up fast — the fire had died again. No smoke, no ash, no heat. Just cold and a faint red glow pulsing from the path ahead.
Ash was already up, sword drawn. Lira was at his side. Kale was gone.
"Where is he?" Elira whispered.
They didn't have to search long.
They found Kale standing alone before a strange altar embedded in the wall — obsidian and crystal twisted together like veins of fire. A glowing sigil hovered above it, rotating slowly.
Kale's hand hovered near it.
Ash called, "Don't touch it!"
Kale didn't flinch. "It called to me."
"That's what it does," Lira growled. "It's a Binding Sigil. It feeds on uncertainty, on fear."
Elira stepped forward. "Kale, please. Don't."
His hand wavered, eyes flickering with something — not fear. Guilt.
"I've seen this before," he muttered. "In my dreams. Before I met any of you."
He lowered his hand, and the sigil pulsed once more — then vanished.
Elira reached him. "What did it show you?"
Kale hesitated. Then: "You. Dead. Ash gone. Me… alone."
A shiver passed between them all.
---
Later, Elira sat by the cave mouth, watching the stars burn above twisted trees.
Ash joined her again.
"You don't trust him anymore," he said.
She didn't answer right away.
"I trust he wants to protect us," she said. "But I don't think he knows what that means anymore."
Ash nodded slowly. "Sometimes, protecting someone means choosing them over the world."
She turned to him, brows furrowed. "And would you?"
"Choose you?" he asked, meeting her eyes. "I already did."
Something unspoken passed between them, stronger than before — not just emotion, but memory. Connection.
He started to lean closer—
But a shout cut through the night.
Lira.
They ran back to the altar. This time, it wasn't just glowing — it was burning. Flames licked out of the stone itself, and the sigil twisted into something grotesque.
Moren's voice echoed through the blaze:
"You remember now. Good. Then you know you cannot stop what's coming."
Ash shouted, "Show yourself!"
But the flames collapsed inward, leaving behind scorched earth… and a new path leading east.
Carved into the wall behind the altar were the final words:
The fire will take one.
The betrayed will burn.
The keeper will choose.