Two embers retrieved.
But time was running out.
The sky began to split.
Elydrith watched from afar—always watching.
And in the final ember's vision, Miraen saw the truth:
Aeliana had struck a bargain with the void to escape her prison.
But in doing so, she left a piece of herself in every realm she crossed—pieces the void fed upon.
Only if Miraen gathered them all and restored Aeliana's soul could the Convergence be averted.
But the final ember?
It lay in Elydrith's crown.
And to retrieve it, Miraen would have to face herself once and for all.
The night before the final ascent, the sky over Aeylith bled silver. Stars fell upward like tears returning to forgotten heavens, and time itself seemed to slow. Around the fire they had kindled in the ruined sanctum of the last mirrored temple, no one spoke for a long while.
Miraen sat beside Elyon, their shoulders barely touching. He stared into the flames, his brow furrowed with the weight of unspoken thoughts.
