The flame on Amina's palm flared gold, then blue, then black.
A sharp chill swept across the chamber.
Ashar, Kai, and Lumeah watched in stunned silence as her aura began to twist—threads of light and shadow winding around her like twin serpents, neither dominating, neither yielding.
"Amina," Lumeah whispered, "what… what did you bring back?"
Amina looked down at her hand. The spark of Amariel still pulsed, but something else pulsed with it—darker, colder, something ancient and unfinished.
"He followed me," she said softly. "Not Valec. The Abyssal."
Ashar's blade was in his hand in an instant. "You mean the creature is—"
"Not here," Amina interrupted, "but a part of him… it slipped through. A shard. It's inside me."
The room went silent.
Then Kai stepped forward. "You should've let the seal close."
Amina's eyes flashed. "And leave him there? Let Valec vanish?"
Kai didn't flinch. "He chose that. You risked everything for one man—and now that thing has a foothold in our world."
"I won't argue with you," she said, stepping past him. "Not when I still hear his heartbeat inside the flame."
Ashar moved to her side. "What do we do?"
"We find the Flame-Splitter," Amina said, voice calm but iron-clad. "The only weapon that severed gods from the world. Amariel said it was buried beneath the Temple of First Fire."
Lumeah's brows drew together. "That place hasn't existed for a thousand years. It sank during the Sundering."
Amina turned to her with a grim smile. "Then we better start swimming."
Elsewhere…
Darkness churned beyond the veil.
Valec floated between moments. Not dead. Not alive. His soul tethered by threads of memory and flame.
He could still see her—Amina—flashes of her face, her voice echoing through the void.
But he wasn't alone.
A shadow moved nearby. A mirror of him. Same face. Same eyes. But twisted, smirking.
"I am the piece she couldn't burn," the shadow said. "And you… are the piece she couldn't let go."
Valec stared at him. "You're the Abyssal's echo."
The shadow nodded. "And now, I am you. Or will be, soon enough."
Valec's eyes narrowed. "Not if I find a way back first."
"You think you can escape me?" the shadow whispered, stepping closer. "You can't even find yourself."
But deep within the void, a single golden spark hovered.
Valec reached for it.
The shadow screamed.
Back in the world…
Amina jolted. Her flame flared.
"Amina?" Ashar called.
She blinked, breathless. "He's fighting. Valec… he's still fighting him."
Kai scoffed. "And what if he loses?"
Amina turned to him, fire blazing. "Then I'll burn the Abyssal from both worlds if I have to."
Kai fell silent.
Then, from the door, a new presence arrived.
An old man—hooded, robes dusted with ash, eyes glowing with ancient fire.
"The Flame-Splitter isn't lost," he said.
Ashar raised his blade. "Who are you?"
The old man removed his hood.
"I am the Keeper of the Temple," he said, voice like burning parchment. "And the last time I saw Amariel… she told me you would come."
Amina stepped forward.
"Then lead us," she said.
The man smiled faintly. "Are you prepared to die?"
Amina's voice was steady. "No. I'm prepared to finish what she started."