The temple's shattered walls seemed to close in, cold despite the rising sun. Elira kept her gaze fixed on the hooded stranger, heart pounding—not just from fear, but from the weight of too many unraveling truths.
"You say you're an enemy of the Hollow Flame," Ash said, blade still drawn. "But I've heard those words before. They usually mean someone wants to use her."
The figure lowered their hood.
Beneath it was a woman—older, skin like bark, eyes burning with a quiet fury that made Elira's breath catch.
"My name is Sael," she said. "I served in the Flame's inner circle before it devoured everything I loved."
Elira stepped closer. "Then you know what I am."
Sael's gaze turned to her. "You're not what they made you. But their mark is on you all the same. I felt it when you touched the ruin."
Ash shifted beside her, visibly uneasy. "What do you want from her?"
Sael didn't flinch. "To give her a choice."
A choice. The word lodged in Elira's chest like a shard.
"For too long," Sael continued, "you've walked in darkness, stripped of memory and truth. But there's a place—deep in the Hollow's territory—where the fire cannot lie. A remnant of the old world. It shows you what was, untainted by time or manipulation."
Ash's expression darkened. "That place is cursed. You can't control what it reveals."
"I don't intend to," Sael replied. "But Elira must see for herself. Without the illusions. Without you filtering the past."
Ash flinched as if struck.
Elira's eyes darted between them. "Why didn't you ever take me there?"
Ash looked at her—really looked—and something inside him seemed to break.
"Because I was afraid," he said. "Of what you'd remember. Of what you'd hate me for."
Elira swallowed hard. The fire inside her stirred, confused and restless.
Sael stepped forward, holding out a small stone vial, stoppered with wax. Inside, black liquid shimmered like ink under moonlight.
"This will shield your mind while you walk the path. Without it, the Hollow's memories could drive you mad."
Elira reached for it, but Ash's hand caught hers.
"You don't know what it'll show you."
"I need to know," she said quietly. "Because if I don't, I'll never know what was real… or who I am."
She took the vial and tucked it into her cloak.
Sael gave a small nod. "We leave at first light tomorrow. You'll need rest—and resolve."
She turned and vanished into the temple's shadows.
Ash didn't speak as they made camp beneath the ruins. When Elira finally lay down, her eyes fixed on the broken spire reaching skyward, one thought burned behind them:
What if the truth is worse than the lie?
But deeper still, beneath the fear, was something fierce and growing—
She would no longer be a flame someone else controlled.