The light from the shattered Mirror of Flame still shimmered in the air, casting amber hues across Ember's face as she stood motionless, eyes fixed on the glowing key now nestled within the molten pool. The silence that followed the explosion was thick—too thick.
Orin broke it first. "We need to move. That flare… it wasn't just a beacon for us."
Ember nodded, still transfixed by the key. "It's the last piece," she murmured. "The last shard. The gate to the Heart of the Flame won't open without it."
Lysra knelt and retrieved the key, the heat dissipating as her hands wrapped around it. "This is it. Once we place this in the Circle of Ash, there's no turning back."
The ruins around them seemed to shift with their decision, as if the city itself sensed what was coming. The path to the Circle of Ash, the legendary chamber hidden beneath Iralith's foundations, had long been sealed. It was said only the full power of the Flameborn could awaken it—and with the final key in hand, Ember was closer than any Flameborn since the Cataclysm.
They descended deeper into the heart of Iralith, past temples carved in obsidian, past crypts of fallen heroes and tyrants. Whispers danced through the corridors—echoes of voices long dead. Ember could feel the past pressing in on her: the agony, the pride, the betrayal. The Flameborn had not simply fallen. They had destroyed themselves.
"What if we're wrong?" Eryssa asked quietly as they reached the sealed gate marked with ancient runes. "What if opening the Circle awakens something worse?"
"We're already walking in the ruins of their mistakes," Ember replied. "But if we don't open the way… we'll never stop what's coming."
Orin raised his blade, ever vigilant. "Then let's end it on our terms."
Ember stepped forward, lifting the final shard and pressing it into the seal. The stone trembled. Fire raced along the carvings like veins awakening after a long sleep. The gate split apart with a groan that echoed through the city.
Behind it was darkness… and the long-forgotten path to the Heart of the Flame.