The air in the Conclave's sanctum was thick with the scent of burnt parchment and the metallic tang of old blood. The walls, carved from black basalt, pulsed with faint golden runessigils of containment, of power, of lies. Raine's crystallized arms ached, the shards embedded in her skin humming in resonance with the chamber' oppressive energy.
Beside her,Kaios stood rigid, his silver hair now entirely white, his temporal dagger a mere shard of its former self. The weight of Elysa's revelation pressed upon them both: the Rift was no accident. It was a *birth*.
And Raine was the midwife.
High Elder Veyra rose from her kneeling position beside the void pool, her robes tattered, her skin threaded with the same void-black veins that had consumed Elysa. Her hollow eyes locked onto Raine, and for the first time, there was no disdain in her gazeonly hunger.
*You see it now, don't you?*Veyra's voice was a whisper, yet it filled the chamber like a thunderclap. *The Rift was never ours to control. It was ours to* serve."
The pool at her feet rippled, its surface twisting into visions of the past: Conclave elders chanting over a child*Raine's face, Raine's eyes*strapped to an altar.
Needles of gold piercing her skin, drawing forth not blood, but*light*. The same light that now thrummed in her crystallized arms.
*They split you,* Kaios murmured, his grip tightening on her wrist. *One to bear the Embers. One to* control *them."
A tremor ran through the sanctum. The runes on the walls flickered, their glow dimming as the Rift's presence swelled in the air, thick as smoke.
*Where is she?" Raine demanded, her voice raw.
Veyra smileda-grotesque stretching of lips over teeth stained black.
*Where she has always been. Waiting."
The ground beneath them *split*.
---
The hidden chamber was smaller than the sanctum, its walls lined with cages of gilded bone. At its center stood a second altar, its surface carved with the same runes as Raine's crystallized arms. And chained to it, her wrists bound by sigil-etched manacles, was a girl.
*Raine's twin.*
Her hair was shorter, her frame thinner, her skin unmarred by crystalsbut her eyes were the same. Amber, like smoldering embers.
"You're late," the girl said, her voice hoarse from disuse.
Raine's breath caught. The Embers in her veins *reacted*, their energy surging toward the girl like rivers to the sea. The crystals in her arms flared, their glow shifting from emerald to a searing, unstable violet.
*They called me Lyria," the girl continued, her chains clinking as she shifted. *The* control *to your chaos. The anchor to your storm."
Kaios's dagger was in his hand before Raine could blink, though the blade trembled. *What did they do to you?*
Lyria's laugh was a broken thing. *The same thing they did to* her. *Only I was the* failure." She lifted her arms, the manacles glowing brighter. "f couldnt hold the Embers. But I could hold* you."
The truth struck Raine like a physical blow. The visions in the void poolthe needles, the light, the splitting *it wasnt just a metaphor*. The Conclave had*divided* her essence, her power, her *soul*. One half to wield the Embers. One half to leash them.
And now the Rift wanted both.
*You feel it, dont you?" Lyria whispered. *The pull. The* hunger. *It's in me too. Were two halves of a key. And the door is already open."
The sanctum trembled. The ceiling cracked, dust raining down as the Rift's voice roared through the chamber, no longer a whisper but a *command*:
***BRING HER TO ME.***
Veyra's smile widened. *The Conclave never wanted to seal the Rift. We wanted to* harness *it. To remake the world in our image." She stepped toward Lyria, her fingers twitching like a spider's legs. *But we needed the perfect vessel. And now, at last, we have her."
Raine's gloves *burned*. The Fire Ember ignited in her palm, its flames licking up her crystallized arm. The Earth Ember's power grounded her, the Wind Embers energy sharpened her focusbut the Void Ember's absence*ached*, a hollow space where the final piece should be.
*You're wrong," Raine snarled. *t'm not your vessel. I'm your* mistake."
She *lunged*.
---
The world dissolved into chaos.
Veyra's void-black veins *erupted*, tendrils of shadow lashing out like whips. Kaios intercepted one, his temporal dagger slicing through itbut the wound*regrew* instantly, the darkness knitting itself back together.
Lyria's chains *screamed* as she strained against them, her eyes wild.*Rain ethe altar! Break the* runes!"
Raine dodged a tendril, her crystallized fist slamming into the altar's edge. The impact sent cracks spiderwebbing through the stone, but the runes*held*, their glow intensifying.
*Theyre tied to her blood!" Kaios shouted, ducking another strike. *You have to"*
Veyra *moved*.
One moment she was across the chamber. The next, her hand was buried in Lyria's chest.
Lyria *screamed*asound that wasnt entirely human.
Raines vision *whited out*.
The Embers in her veins *detonated*, their energy surging through her in a torrent of fire, wind, and earth. The crystals in her arms *shattered*then*reformed*, their edges sharper, their glow blinding.
She *remembered*.
Her mother's hands braiding her hair. The Conclave's needles piercing her skin. The moment they *tore her in two*
And then-
*Choice.*
Raine *wrenched* the Fire Ember from her glove and *drove it into the altar*.
The explosion was silent.
For a heartbeat, the world *unmade itself*.
Then-
*Light.*
The runes *shattered*. Lyria's chains *melted*. Veyra *howled*, her body convulsing as the void veins within her *recoiled*, retreating like scorched insects.
Lyria collapsed into Raine's arms, her breath ragged *You idiot," she choked out. *Now were both* free."
The sanctum trembled. The ceiling *split*, revealing the Rifts gaping maw above themno longer watching.
*Hungering.*
Kaios grabbed Raine's shoulder, his voice urgent. *We have to go. *Now.*"
But Lyria's hand clamped onto Raine's wrist, her grip iron. *You feel it too,* she whispered. *ft's not just calling you anymore. It's calling* us."
The Rift's voice echoed, not in their minds, but in their *bones*:
***COME HOME.***
And for the first time, Raine *wanted* to answer.