Chapter 40: Fracture
It started with whispers.
Nothing concrete. Just questions, murmurs in the training yards, flickers of doubt beneath respectful nods.
"She let him go."
"She knew he was there."
"She's hiding something."
Echo felt it like pressure behind her eyes. Not rage. Not betrayal.
Disappointment.
And that was worse.
Aria was the first to confront her.
They stood alone in the solar greenhouse, where new flameborn were learning to cultivate energy with heat and light. Life, not destruction.
"You lied to us," Aria said, voice low.
"I told you what you needed to hear."
"That's not the same thing."
Echo leaned on the railing overlooking the sunlit garden. "He didn't attack me. He didn't want to fight. He was—"
"Lost?" Aria cut in. "So were we. So were you. But we didn't burn people alive looking for answers."
Echo flinched.
"I had to know if he could be saved."
"And now what?" Aria stepped closer. "You protect him? Lie for him? What happens when Kara finds out?"
Echo didn't answer.
Because she already knew the answer.
She wouldn't let Kael die.
Even if it cost her everything.
Elsewhere, in the old observatory towers, Kael stood before a group of flameborn exiles — those cast out during Seraphine's reign. The unwanted. The forgotten.
"You were told to suppress it," he said, his voice steady. "That your power was a curse. That only one flame could rule."
A murmur rippled through them.
Kael raised his hand.
Flames danced across his skin — not wild, not destructive.
Elegant.
"Your fire isn't meant to be caged."
One of the exiles — a girl no older than fifteen — stepped forward. "They said we were dangerous."
"They were right," Kael replied. "You are. But only to the ones who still think they own you."
The following morning, a message arrived for Echo.
Not on flame protocol channels. Not through official networks.
Old-world tech.
Simple. Direct.
"You lied to us."
"We want the truth."
"Tonight. Midnight. North Courtyard."
She knew who it was from.
Not enemies.
Not rebels.
Her own people.
Midnight fell like ash.
The North Courtyard was cold — no ceremonial flames, no guards, no illusions.
Just a circle of twenty flameborn. Some leaders. Some teachers. Some children Echo had helped rescue months ago.
Calder stood with them. Aria, too. Kara did not — she was likely sharpening blades.
"Did you meet him?" one asked. A boy named Fen. "The Omega?"
Echo looked at each of them.
"I did."
"Did you fight him?"
"No."
"Why not?" another asked.
"Because I wanted to understand."
A silence hung in the air.
"You protected him," Fen said.
Echo didn't deny it.
And that, somehow, was enough.
Half the crowd turned away.
In the sanctuary's control chamber, warning alarms suddenly blared.
Ash sprinted in, breathless. "Echo. We've got a problem."
She spun. "What is it?"
He showed her the data feed.
An AI lock had activated beneath the southern sector.
Label: PHOENIX FAILSAFE — SERAPHINE/FINAL PROTOCOL.
Targeting parameters: All flameborn with unstable sequences.
Including: Kael.
And Echo.
"No," Echo whispered. "Shut it down."
"We can't," Ash said. "It's air-gapped. Not even I can override it from here."
"What is it going to do?"
Ash's voice dropped.
"Wipe the city."
Kara burst in minutes later, blade strapped to her back, eyes burning.
"You triggered a Protocol?"
"No," Echo snapped. "Seraphine did. It's a last resort. A purge."
"Then we purge it first."
"No," Echo said. "We don't destroy it."
Kara stared at her like she'd lost her mind. "It's coming for you."
"And for Kael."
"Then give him up!"
"I can't. He's part of me."
Kara looked between her, Ash, and Aria.
Then walked out without a word.
That night, Echo stood atop the flameglass dome, the wind clawing at her coat.
Ash stood beside her, silent.
"You ever feel like you're standing in the center of everything," she murmured, "and no matter which way you run, the whole thing cracks?"
Ash touched her hand.
"I think you're the only thing holding it together."
She looked at him, something breaking behind her eyes.
"I don't know how long I can."
Beneath the city, gears began to turn.
The Protocol was waking.
And somewhere in the shadows…
Kael opened his eyes and smiled.
"Let them come."