1. AFTER THE TOMB
Three days after the Soul-Eater's sealing, the rebellion camp had returned to an uneasy calm.
Mira had changed.
She no longer spoke much.
Her flame no longer burned hot — it smoldered, deeper, darker.
Kaen noticed. He watched her movements. Watched how her soulbrand pulsed even when she slept.
"You can talk to me, Mira," he said one night.
"Can I?" she replied without looking at him.
Kaen took a breath.
"You don't have to carry it all alone."
"I'm not," she whispered. "I carry the weight of thirteen. And I just met one."
🗡️ 2. THE SPY IN THE FLAME
Raven brought troubling news.
"We found a traitor," she said. "Inside the Emberguard ranks."
A young flame soldier — Ashen Del — had been carrying soulshards to unknown recipients outside the camp. His body burned itself from the inside before interrogation.
The soulshards he smuggled?
Each held voices — whispers from beings that should not exist.
Velron's network ran deeper than they imagined.
Kaen clenched his fist.
"We've got a rot in the rebellion."
Mira nodded.
"Then we burn it clean."
🧱 3. THE WALLS OF FORGOTTEN GODS
The team followed Del's last trail through a crevice south of the camp — a place marked only on forbidden maps as "Ashgrave."
The terrain was unnatural. Black sand floated in the air. Trees twisted inward instead of up. Their leaves bled when touched.
Lyric, usually unfazed, shivered.
"This place isn't cursed," she muttered. "It is the curse."
They reached a canyon wall — covered in godfaces carved in agony.
One face opened its eyes.
"Do you remember me?" it asked Mira.
"No," she said.
"Then I remain forgotten… and free."
⚔️ 4. BATTLE AT ASHGRAVE
They were ambushed.
Not by Seraphim. Not by soldiers.
By Ashborne — soulless flame-forms wrapped in cursed armor, driven by the echo of dead gods.
Kaen took the front, slicing through enemies with calculated fury. Mira moved with terrifying precision — fire-lash in one hand, soulbrand crackling in the other.
Lyric's arrows turned midair — guided by rage, not gravity.
But it wasn't enough.
An Ashborne pierced Mira's side — the wound didn't bleed. It burned inward, eating her from her soul outward.
Kaen screamed.
"MIRA!"
He unleashed his hidden power — his aura glowing like an ancient furnace. He struck the Ashborne with a blow that shattered its form and collapsed half the canyon.
But as he held Mira, her eyes were not her own.
🧠 5. THE TRUTH OF KAEN
In the silence, Mira heard a memory — not hers, but Kaen's.
A cradle of fire.
A father who swore vengeance.
A child fed on wrath and trained to kill gods.
Kaen had always claimed he was a street-born rebel.
But in truth… he was descended from the fire that once served Ashara.
Part demigod. Part cursed.
Mira opened her eyes weakly.
"Why didn't you tell me?"
Kaen looked away.
"Because I didn't want you to think I was just another weapon."
"You're not," she whispered. "But now I know what you've been holding back."
She touched his chest.
"Let's stop lying to each other. The fire between us has to mean something."
🛡️ 6. VELRON STRIKES AGAIN
Before they could return, the sky above Ashgrave shattered.
A rift tore open.
Velron descended.
No speech. No threats.
Just war.
He unleashed a wave of mirrorflame that turned the canyon against itself. Walls burned backward. Sound twisted into screams.
Mira stepped forward, wounded but unbroken.
"Why do you keep following me?"
Velron smirked.
"Because you're still pretending you're not like me."
He attacked — and Mira met him with everything she had left.
💥 7. BREAKING THE LOOP
The clash was faster than light.
Cindervow against Dreadflare.
Ashara's legacy against the mirror of truth.
In the final moment, Mira didn't strike to kill. She let Velron's blade stab her shoulder — and used that moment of contact to ignite his soul with her own pain.
Velron staggered back.
"What did you do?"
"I showed you what you lost."
He hesitated. For the first time.
Then fled.
Kaen ran to Mira.
"You're insane," he said.
"And alive," she replied.
"Barely."