The Flame and the Curse

The flames roared, licking the midnight sky, casting a demonic glow upon the ancient stone courtyard. The crowd had gathered, eyes wide with fear and awe, watching the girl bound to the wooden stake. Her long hair, once golden like sunlight, now hung in charred clumps. Her eyes—still burning with unnatural light—met each of their gazes, one by one.

"I warned you," she said, her voice echoing like a ghost, though her body burned. "I warned you all… and now you call me cursed?"

The High Priest raised his staff. "Mira Elowen of House Thorne, you are hereby sentenced to death by fire, for heresy, for witchcraft, and for cursing the Royal Lineage."

But Mira only smiled.

"A curse?" she whispered, as flames consumed her legs. "No… This is a promise."

And as her scream tore through the sky, the heavens cracked open with thunder.

---

Three Hundred Years Later…

The village of Eldershade was peaceful, mostly. Nestled between silver-leaved trees and quiet brooks, it seemed untouched by time. But tonight, the wind was restless. And inside a tiny cottage on the forest's edge, a girl screamed into the night.

Eira jolted awake, drenched in sweat.

The dream again. The fire. The name.

Mira.

But her name wasn't Mira. She was Eira. A healer's apprentice. An orphan. A nobody.

Or so she thought.

Until she looked into the mirror… and saw golden eyes staring back.

Eyes that weren't hers.