SOLMARIS—BENEATH THE CITY
Kael descended into the heart of the Fissure.
Stone cracked beneath his feet, the air warping around him like breath held too long. The closer he moved toward the rift, the more it bled not just light or shadow—but memory. Each step carried echoes: Lyra's laughter, Drayke's rage, Zera's warnings. His brother's betrayal.
And above all, the whisper of the System unraveling.
The second Kael stood motionless at the center. He wasn't a reflection.
He was real.
Identical in face and form, but his Ashenflame was jagged, darker. His eyes—hollow, like all the light had been burned out of them.
"Who are you?" Kael asked, his voice echoing against the walls of the rift.
The figure finally moved. A single step forward. When he spoke, the voice was his, but deeper. Older.
"I'm what you'd become if you stopped choosing."
Kael's breath caught.
"I am the version of you who embraced the Crownless Core without restraint. The one who said yes to every evolution, every instinct, every flame."
Kael's grip on his blade tightened. "Then why are you here now?"
"To finish what you started. Or remind you what you're becoming."
The doppelgänger raised his blade, and the Fissure flared—memories lashing out like tendrils, slicing through Kael's mind.
He saw it all.
Cities burning under his hand. The Wyrmkin following him like zealots. Zera, broken. Drayke—dead. Lyra, sacrificed. And Kael himself, crowned in ash, no longer a guide—but a god.
"No," Kael whispered, staggering back. "That's not who I am."
The doppelgänger surged forward. Blades clashed—Ashenflame against its darker twin. The impact echoed through the Fissure like thunder.
The battle wasn't just physical. With every strike, Kael felt memories being pulled from him, drained—moments of doubt, of kindness, of mercy. The other Kael fought with the conviction of one who had stopped doubting.
"You hesitate. That's why you'll lose," the dark Kael hissed. "You want to lead without control. You think you can change the world without owning it."
"I don't want to own it!" Kael shouted, flames coiling around his blade. "I just don't want anyone to suffer like I did!"
For the first time, the doppelgänger faltered. Just a flicker. But enough.
Kael drove his blade forward—an upward arc, igniting into Ashen Soulflare.
The strike burned not just through the enemy's weapon, but through the memory tethered to it. Through that possible future.
The figure collapsed, blade shattering to dust, whispering as he faded:
"You'll see. One day, they'll make you choose again."
Kael stood alone once more in the heart of the Fissure. Breathing hard. Vision blurring.
But the tear was closing. He'd passed the test.
Not with absolute power.
But by choosing not to become everything he could.
LIRAEL'S DIVIDE—ZERA VAELITH
Zera shivered as the Temple's mirror shattered into silver ash.
"He chose," she whispered, curling her fingers around the fractured Wraith Bell. "Flamewalker."
The air shifted behind her. A shadow stepped from the wall—hooded, faceless. One of the unseen observers. The Remnants.
"Now the others will awaken," the voice said, like wind scraping stone. "The Architect will not stand idly."
Zera's eyes narrowed. "Neither will we."
EMBERDEEP—DRAYKE
"They're turning on each other," one of the Wyrmkin scouts said, panting.
Drayke stood at the edge of the molten terrace, watching the camp below fracture into riots and chants. Some still prayed to Kael. Others rejected him.
"We can't let them become another Eternal cult," Drayke muttered. "Kael wouldn't want that."
"What do we do?" the scout asked.
He slammed a gauntlet to his chest.
"We remind them he's a man, not a god."
SOLMARIS—SURFACE
Lyra waited by the edge of the ruined city as the ground ceased its rumbling. A pulse of white fire surged from the Fissure, and Kael emerged—scarred, soot-covered, but whole.
Her eyes met his, and something eased.
"You made it back," she said.
Kael nodded, eyes heavy with something she couldn't quite name. "It wasn't just a fight. It was a warning."
"From what?"
"From me," he said quietly. "Or what I could've been."
She reached out, touched his arm. "Then let's make sure you never become him."
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time since the battle with the Eternal, he nodded.