The ruins of Vel Ashir rose from the earth like a skeletal cathedral—twisted spires, collapsed bridges, and shattered towers half-swallowed by ash dunes. Long ago, it had been a city of scholars and flamewrights, the beating heart of embercraft.
Now it was a grave.
Mara stepped over a broken statue, its face long eroded. Behind her, Talon scanned the rooftops while Serai consulted a crumbling map scorched at the edges.
"This place feels wrong," Talon muttered. "Like the ghosts are watching us."
"They are," Serai replied. "Vel Ashir was the last city to resist Kael before his fall."
"And now his daughter returns," Mara said quietly. "Carrying the Heart he used to destroy it."
They descended into the shattered plaza where the once-grand Ember Forge stood—a giant circular platform, blackened but still warm to the touch. In its center, a flame still flickered, impossibly alive after all these years.
Someone was waiting beside it.
A tall woman cloaked in red and gray, her face hidden beneath a silver half-mask. She stood barefoot in the ash, untouched by the wind.
"You're late," she said, without turning.
Serai froze. "I don't believe it…"
The woman turned slowly, revealing sharp gold eyes behind the mask.
"Hello, Serai."
"Tessara." Serai's voice was tight with disbelief. "I thought you died in the Ember Rebellion."
"I did." Tessara stepped forward. "But death is different when the flame refuses to let go."
Mara narrowed her eyes. "You knew my father?"
Tessara nodded. "I fought beside him. And I tried to kill him."
Talon raised a brow. "That sounds promising."
Tessara ignored him. "He was a hero… until he wasn't. But even after the flame twisted him, there were moments—moments when Kael remembered who he was. Moments when he fought the flame inside him."
Mara stepped closer. "Do you believe he left this legacy to save me—or to finish what he started?"
Tessara studied her for a long moment.
"I don't know," she said finally. "But I do know this: the Heart doesn't choose lightly. And right now, the Vessel Order is already moving. They've found the second shard—in the Shattered Mire."
Serai cursed under her breath. "Then we're already behind."
Tessara drew a curved blade from her belt. It shimmered with a molten edge. "I'll guide you there. But be warned—one of the Seven Vessels guards it now. And she does not bleed easily."
"Let her come," Mara said, fire crackling at her fingertips. "We're not hiding anymore."
The forge behind them roared to life, sending up a column of fire that lit the broken city in amber and gold.
Vel Ashir had remembered her name.
And so had its ghosts.
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