The storm's fury still echoed in Raine's bones as she and Kaios staggered away from the ruins of Garr's workshop. The air reeked of scorched metal and the acrid tang of void energy, a reminder of Dermont's parting threat. The Earth Shard pulsed in her grip, its emerald light flickering erratically, as if sensing the weight of what lay ahead.
Kaioss silver hair, now bleached nearly white at the roots, whipped around his face like a tattered banner. His temporal dagger hung loosely in his hand, its edge dulled from the fight. The Earth Ember,"
he muttered, his voice hoarse. If Dermont reaches it first"He wont."
Raine tightened her grip on the shard, the crystals in her arms humming in response. The vision from the Abyssal Maze haunted herthe mountain split in two, the shadow coiled around its heart. The Earth Ember wasnt just hidden. It was *guarded*.
The ground beneath them trembled, not with the aftershocks of the storm, but with something deeper, something *alive*.
---
The path to the Shattered Peaks was a graveyard of forgotten gods.
Towering monoliths, carved with runes so ancient even the wind dared not touch them, lined the narrow pass. The stone itself seemed to breathe, exhaling whispers of a time before the Conclave, before the Rift, when the world was still whole.
Kaios's steps faltered as they reached the precipice. Below, the earth yawned openachasm so deep its bottom was swallowed by darkness. But it wasnt empty.
Something *moved* down there.
The first god's grave,"Raine whispered.
The legends spoke of Arkalos, the primordial titan who had shaped the realms before the gods tore him apart. His heart, they said, still beat beneath the earth, and the Conclave had buried the Earth Ember atop itto keep it silent.
To keep it *contained*.
Kaios's dagger trembled in his grip. Were not just here for the Ember, are we?"
Raine didnt answer. The truth was a blade in her ribs. The Embers werent just keys to seal the Rift. They were fragments of Arkalos himself. And if Dermontor worse, the Conclaveclaimed them all...
The ground *shuddered*.
A sound like grinding stone erupted from the chasm, and the monoliths*screamed*.
The earth *split*.
A hand, larger than a fortress gate, clawed its way out of the abyssfingers of blackened stone, veins of molten gold pulsing beneath its surface. Then another. Then the *head*, a faceless behemoth with a maw of jagged crystal, its hollow eyes fixed on Raine.
*Arkaloss remnant.*
The titan hauled itself free, its body a patchwork of shattered rock and seething void. Where it stepped, the earth *rotted*, crumbling into dust.
Kaios grabbed Raine's arm. Run. *Now.*"
But the titan's voice boomed, shaking the mountains.
**YOU CARRY MY FLAME. MY STORM. MY TIDE.**
Its gaze locked onto the Earth Shard in Raine's hand.
**GIVE ME BACK MY HEART.**
Raine's gloves *burned*. The Fire and Wind Embers flared in response, their energy surging through her veins. The crystals in her arms *shattered*then*reformed*, their glow shifting from amber and blue to a searing, primordial *green*.
The Earth Shard was reacting.
*Calling.*
The titan *roared*, and the world *broke* around them.
...
Kaios's temporal dagger flashed,carving a rift in reality itself. Raine! The Ember*tse it!*"
She didnt hesitate.
She *plunged* the Earth Shard into the ground.
The impact sent a shockwave of emerald light rippling across the chasm, striking the titan square in the chest. For a heartbeat, the beast *stilled*the n it *screamed*, its body fracturing as the light consumed it.
But it wasnt enough.
The titan *resisted*.
Its void-black veins pulsed, fighting the Embers pull. The earth beneath Raine's feet *split*, tendrils of shadow lashing at her legs, dragging her toward the abyss.
Kaios lunged, his dagger slicing through the tendrilsbut more rose in their place.
Its not working!"he snarled.
Raine gritted her teeth. The Embers light was *fading*. The titan was too strong,
Then-
A whisper. Not hers. Not Kaioss.
*Her mothers.*
**The choice, Raine. Always the choice.**
She *understood*.
The Embers werent tools. They were *sacrifices*.
And so was she.
Raine *wrenched* the Earth Shard freeand *drove it into her own chest*.
---
*Agony.*
The world *shattered* into emerald light.
She saw Arkalos whole, saw the gods tear him apart, saw the Conclave bury his heart beneath lies. She saw her mothers face, her hands braiding Raines hair, her voice soft:
*The crystals in our blood arent a curse. Theyre a choice."
Then-*Power.*
The titan *howled* as the Ember's energy *merged* with Raine's blood, her bones, her *soul*. The crystals in her arms *exploded*, not outward, but*inward*, weaving into her flesh like roots into soil.
She wasnt holding the Earth Ember.
She *was* the Earth Ember.
The titan *collapsed*, its form dissolving into the earth, its voice a fading echo:
**YOU ARE THE HEART NOW.**
Then-
Silence.
---
Raine gasped, collapsing to her knees. The chasm had sealed, the monoliths standing sentinel once more. The Earth Shard was gone*absorbed*but its power thrummed in her veins, a steady, grounding pulse.
Kaios knelt beside her, his dagger clattering to the ground. His silver hair, now streaked with fresh white, brushed her shoulder as he gripped her arms. What the *hells* did you just do?"
She looked down. The crystals had spread, but they were no longer jagged, no longer *painful*. They gleamed like polished jade, their surfaces etched with the same runes as the monoliths.
i made a choice,"she whispered.
The ground tremblednot in warning, but in *acknowledgment*.
Somewhere, far below, the earths heartbeat synced with hers.
And the Rift *shuddered*.