Chapter 19
Chapter 19: The Hollow Flame
Kaela's scream echoed through the ruined tower, shaking loose dust from the ancient rafters. Her body arched, flame crackling along her limbs—not the gold of her usual magic, but a deep, spectral blue.
Seralyn held her, panic rising with every second.
"Kaela! Stay with me!"
Kaela's eyes rolled back. Her mouth moved—but it wasn't her voice that came out.
"You awakened me," the voice said. "You bared the path. Now I walk it again."
Seralyn's grip tightened. "Yren. You son of a—get out of her!"
Kaela convulsed, then went still. Her body slumped in Seralyn's arms.
And for the first time since they met, Seralyn felt true helplessness.
---
They set up camp beneath the ruined tower, in a sanctuary cloaked by Kaela's wards and Seralyn's blades.
For hours, Kaela didn't stir. Her breathing was shallow, her skin fever-hot.
Seralyn refused to leave her side. She bathed her forehead. Spoke to her softly. Remembered the firelight in her eyes, the way she deflected pain with sarcasm, the way she burned without apology.
When Kaela finally stirred, her voice was a rasp.
"He's inside the Veil. Inside me. He's seen the bond."
Seralyn leaned close. "He'll never take it. I won't let him."
Kaela's lashes lifted. "I saw… what he's building. On the other side. It's not just a tear in the Veil—it's a bridge."
Seralyn felt the blood drain from her face. "A bridge to what?"
"To unmaking. He wants to overwrite reality."
---
They had no choice.
They had to find the final fragment—the Fifth Flame. The one that would complete the bond and seal the Veil, or unleash its destruction.
Their path led them through the Weeping Hollow, where trees bled sap and the air whispered regrets. Each night the dreams worsened. Kaela saw Yren in her sleep, standing behind Seralyn with a dagger carved from stars.
She began to wake screaming. Seralyn no longer slept at all.
Kaela was quieter now, her strength not fully returned. Seralyn supported her without comment, adjusting their pace, scouting ahead, cooking meals, keeping danger at bay.
"You're different," Kaela said one night, voice faint.
Seralyn looked up. "How?"
"You don't hide anymore."
Seralyn nodded slowly. "You burned through all my walls."
Kaela smiled faintly. "I'll build you new ones. Fireproof."
---
They reached the ancient grove known as the Ember Garden—once a sacred ground of the Flameborn priests. Now, it was little more than a graveyard of glass trees and ash petals that hissed when stepped upon.
There, a guardian waited.
It was not made of flesh. It rose from the flame of the garden's heart, its voice forged of wind and memory.
"You come for the final flame," it said. "But your bond is incomplete."
Seralyn stepped forward. "We've faced every test."
"But not yourselves," it replied. "Speak your truths or burn in your lies."
Kaela's shoulders tensed. "We don't have time for riddles."
"Then die with the rest," it said, and lunged.
---
The battle raged.
The guardian struck with mirrored blades of fire and memory. When it slashed at Seralyn, she saw her past—the ambush, the failure. When it struck Kaela, she saw her mother burning again and again.
But they fought.
Side by side.
Seralyn took a blow for Kaela. Kaela burned her own arm to deflect an attack from Seralyn's back. Every movement forged in sync. Every spell and strike guided not by logic, but by something deeper.
When the guardian shattered, it exploded into flame.
And the flame whispered: "You have passed. But you are not yet free."
---
In the center of the garden, they found the Fifth Flame—a shard suspended between two mirrored runes.
It pulsed with potential.
Kaela reached for it, then stopped. "It demands something."
Seralyn's hand hovered above hers. "What?"
Kaela's eyes welled. "One of us."
Seralyn didn't flinch. "Then let it be me."
"No!"
Kaela stepped between her and the flame.
"Seralyn," she said, voice cracking. "I'd rather burn the world than lose you."
Seralyn cupped her cheek. "Then let's find another way."
They looked at each other.
Then stepped forward—together.
Their hands touched the flame.
It accepted them both.
The sigils on their skin blazed gold. The final bond sealed. The Veil pulsed across the sky.
And far away, Yren screamed.
---
They emerged from the grove transformed.
Kaela's flame no longer flickered—it roared with celestial fire. Seralyn's blade moved with unnatural speed, her eyes glowing with twin pupils—one hers, one from the bond.
They were no longer just witch and warrior.
They were bonded.
They were flame and blade. Chosen.
---
On the horizon, the sky split wider.
The rift opened into a second.
Yren had moved first.
He had found the final anchor.
And in three days, the world would end.