chapter 8

Flames Between the Stars

Night fell like a velvet curtain, torn only by the glow of the two moons.

A campfire crackled in the ruins, throwing gold and ember against the cracked stones.

Lyra sat between them —

Caelum, silent and watchful.

Malric, distant yet burning.

The fire was the only thing separating their blades.

---

> "You said you died for me," Lyra whispered.

"Both of you… speak as though I broke you."

Neither answered at first.

But then Caelum said, without looking up:

> "You didn't break us, Lyra.

The war did."

Malric's voice followed, low and cracked:

> "No. I broke her.

And I've been bleeding for it ever since."

---

Memory stirred again — soft this time, like falling snow.

She saw:

A coronation bathed in rose gold.

Caelum swearing fealty, his lips pressed to her hand.

Malric's fingers brushing her cheek as she wept over the ashes of her mother.

So much love.

So much loss.

> "I trusted both of you," she said.

"And I still don't know who destroyed me."

Caelum stood.

> "It was him," he said sharply.

> "It was the prophecy," Malric replied, rising too.

"And the Oracle who twisted it."

Their voices clashed.

Accusations. Guilt. Regret.

Lyra rose, and with a single gesture, the fire turned white.

Both men froze.

> "Enough," she commanded.

"We can't change the past tonight. But I need to survive tomorrow."

She looked at them both.

> "You've had your chance to protect me before.

You failed.

Don't fail me again."

---

Later, as the fire died and the moons climbed higher…

Lyra sat alone, staring at the stars.

Caelum approached, silent as shadow.

> "I stayed," he said softly.

"When everyone else gave up. I waited for your soul to return."

She looked at him, and something fragile passed between them.

Then — Malric's voice echoed from the stones:

> "You weren't the only one who waited."

He stepped out of the darkness, cloak dusted with ash.

> "But I didn't wait in silence.

I burned."

---

The triangle of pain, love, and memory shimmered in the night.

And somewhere deep beneath the ruined land,

the Temple of the Third Moon stirred awake —

its seal weakened by Lyra's awakening.

A whisper crawled into her dream that night.

> "Come, Moonfire.

Your destiny waits below.

And it remembers everything you've forgotten."

---

To be continued…

---