The Keeper's footsteps echoed through the canyon of ash.
Amina followed, the others trailing behind in tense silence. The land they now walked on was not marked on any map. It was carved in memory, in legend—in flame.
All around them, the air shimmered with heat that didn't burn. Ghostly images flickered in the distance—visions of battles past, fallen heroes, and the great Sundering that had split their world centuries ago.
Kai kept his voice low. "I don't trust him."
Ashar glanced at him. "He hasn't led us wrong yet."
"He's been alive since Amariel's time," Kai muttered. "That's not a blessing. That's a curse."
Ahead, the Keeper paused at the edge of a cliff. Beneath them yawned a void of molten rock and dancing flame—impossible, yet real. At its center stood an island of obsidian, and upon it… a blade.
The Flame-Splitter.
It hovered above a dais, suspended in golden light, its hilt glowing with symbols none of them recognized.
"The sword awaits the one who will remake the choice," the Keeper said.
Amina's gaze locked on the blade. "Remake what choice?"
"The one Amariel made. To seal the Flame. To bind the Abyssal. To sacrifice everything."
Lumeah stepped forward. "And if Amina takes it?"
The Keeper's expression turned grave. "She will see everything Amariel saw. Suffer everything she suffered. It may grant her power. Or it may burn her from the inside out."
Kai scoffed. "So it's a gamble."
Ashar put a hand on Amina's arm. "You don't have to—"
"I do," she said quietly. "He's still in there. Valec. And I won't let the Abyssal win."
Without waiting, she stepped into the fire.
The flame parted for her—only her—and she walked across the molten path with purpose. Heat clawed at her skin. The air itself screamed.
But her resolve was unshakable.
At the center, she reached the blade.
It hovered before her, vibrating with memory.
She reached out.
The moment her fingers touched the hilt, the world vanished.
Inside the Flame…
She stood in Amariel's last memory.
The sky bled gold and violet. Bodies of fallen guardians lay everywhere, their flames snuffed. The Abyssal—before its full corruption—stood in human form, speaking to Amariel with sorrow in his eyes.
"You don't understand," he said. "This isn't destruction. It's release."
"And I say it's death," Amariel spat, blade in hand.
"You can't kill what was never alive."
"No," she whispered, eyes wet. "But I can seal you… even if it means sealing myself."
Amina cried out. "No! There must be another way!"
But the memory couldn't hear her.
Amariel drove the blade into the world's heart—and was consumed.
Amina fell to her knees.The vision faded.
The sword now pulsed in her grip—alive, awakened.
Ashar shouted from the cliff's edge. "Amina?!"
She rose, eyes glowing with both golden light and flickers of black fire.
"I saw it," she said. "I know now. Amariel didn't kill the Abyssal… she became its prison. The sword is her flame made solid."
Kai stepped back. "And now that prison's inside you?"
She nodded. "Which means I'm running out of time."
The Keeper bowed. "Then you must hurry. The Abyssal has begun to stir in your world—and in the void, your friend's soul is fading."
Ashar gripped his sword. "Where to next?"
Amina turned toward the horizon.
"To the Silent Reach," she said. "Where the world thins, and the Veil is weakest."
She looked at the blade in her hand.
"If I'm going to bring Valec back, I'll need to cut a hole through reality."