🌓 Night of Unease
The Bloomfire Citadel was quiet.
Too quiet.
Not the peaceful hush of rest… but the tense silence of a held breath.
Somewhere in the western wing, Bran snored like a thunderstorm. Nira whispered lullabies to her latest explosive creation ("No boom tonight, darling. Mama needs you intact.") Dusk, as always, was a shadow among shadows.
But Lumiera?
She couldn't sleep.
The Oracle's words gnawed at her like a flame too quiet to be trusted.
> "The flame that blooms will be asked to choose…"
"The one she saved… or the one who saves her."
She sat by the flamevine window, breathing slowly as petals bloomed and curled toward her.
Behind her — a sudden whisper.
> "You look at the sky too much, Lu."
She turned.
Rael stood in the hallway… except—
he wasn't wearing the same clothes he had gone to bed in.
His hair was wet.
His eyes were a deeper red.
And he was smiling… in a way he never smiled.
> "Rael?" she said cautiously.
The figure tilted its head.
> "Something like that."
---
⚡ Split Flame
In the throne chamber, the real Rael woke up, gasping.
His body ached. His skin glowed faintly, sigils pulsing across his arms — marks he hadn't carved.
He stumbled to the mirror.
Behind him, just for a second, a figure matched his movement — but not quite.
Same face.
Same body.
But grinning.
Rael's own reflection whispered:
> "You crowned a flame too wild, brother.
Now it splits."
---
🩸 Attack at Midnight
Screaming shattered the air.
Bran crashed into the courtyard — eyes wide.
> "It's Rael!" he shouted. "He's attacking Nira's lab!"
> "No," Lumiera said instantly. "It's not him."
She burst into flame, flying toward the west wing, Dusk close behind.
There — among shattered alchemy shelves and broken sigil-glass — stood Rael's double.
He turned as Lumiera landed.
> "You always liked the soft version of him," he said, voice half-familiar, half-corrupted.
"But I'm the one who actually gets things done."
He raised a hand — and blasted a beam of violet fire at her.
---
⚔️ Lumiera vs. the Echo
They clashed, spell to spell, fire to fire.
Her bloom magic resisted his chaosfire — petals shielding light against madness.
But he was fast.
Too fast.
He fought like Rael used to — reckless, furious, without restraint.
> "Who are you?" she screamed mid-duel.
> "I'm the king that should've been!" the double roared.
"He locked me away when the Dreamfire gave us power. But now… I'm awake."
He charged — blade aimed for her heart.
And then—
The real Rael arrived.
---
🔥 King vs. Shadow
The two Raels clashed.
It wasn't like fighting a mirror. It was like fighting a wound that wouldn't close.
Every move the real Rael made, the double anticipated.
Because he remembered every choice Rael had ever considered.
> "I'm you," the Echo hissed. "The part that would have killed Caelen faster. The part that would've burned the Council sooner. The part that doesn't cry every time she's hurt!"
Rael blocked him. Punched him. Bled from the jaw.
> "You're not me."
The Echo laughed.
> "No. I'm the king."
And he vanished into smoke — not defeated, just departed.
---
đź•Ż Aftermath: Fractured Flame
Back in the war chamber, the Court gathered, bruised and confused.
Lumiera stood beside Rael, arms crossed, voice low.
> "Why didn't you tell me?"
> "Because I didn't know," Rael said softly. "Not fully. I thought… it was just dreams. Doubts. Echoes."
> "He's not just in your head," Dusk muttered. "He's in your flame."
Ashren stepped forward with a trembling scroll.
> "I found this in a banned scroll vault. It talks about… Arcane Duplication. Rare. Lethal. Born when too many souls share one Crownfire."
> "He split when the Pact was made," Lumiera whispered.
"The Crown made two Raels."
> "One that chose mercy," Ashren said, "and one that… didn't."
---
🌑 Meanwhile: Caelen's Awakening
In the frozen ruins of the Old Throne Fortress, Caelen knelt before a ring of withered thorns.
He pressed his hand into the snow, murmuring the Oracle's forgotten name.
And the frost split open.
Beneath it, a sigil began to glow:
> A crescent flame made of time spirals and blood.
> "So," he whispered. "He split himself."
> "Then let me split the world."
---
🌓 Final Scene: A Choice Deferred
That night, Lumiera and Rael sat under the Flame Tree.
Neither spoke for a while.
Then Lumiera whispered:
> "What if he becomes stronger than you?"
Rael turned to her, firelight flickering across his scars.
> "Then I'll let him kill me."
> "No," she said, voice trembling.
> "Because if I die, you'll be forced to choose."
> "And I already know what the prophecy said."
Above them, a second star blinked out in the sky.
And in Rael's reflection… the Echo smiled.
---
End of Chapter 25