The Hollow Mountain loomed like a forgotten god.
Its jagged peaks split the sky, black and barren, wreathed in mist. No birds flew here. No wolves howled. Even the wind seemed to whisper in tongues.
Kael stood before it in silence.
He could feel the pull beneath the stone—the tremor of something ancient. Something waking.
Seraphine gripped his hand. "Are you sure?"
Kael didn't answer at first.
Because no, he wasn't sure.
But there was no going back.
Not now.
Not with his brother summoning hell with their blood.
The entrance to the Hollow Mountain wasn't a cave—it was a wound.
A massive crack in the stone, wide enough for three horses to ride abreast, descending into utter blackness. It pulsed faintly, like a heartbeat, as though the mountain itself were alive.
Tharion stayed behind with the soldiers.
Kael and Seraphine went alone.
Torches flickered uselessly against the suffocating dark. The stone walls were etched with ancient symbols—some demonic, others so old even Kael didn't recognize them.
"Do you hear that?" Seraphine whispered.
He nodded.
Not a sound, exactly.
A call.
After hours of descent, they reached a vast cavern.
The air shimmered with heat. In the center stood a dais of obsidian, ringed by stone pillars. Chains hung from the ceiling—broken, rusted, as though they once held something too massive for comprehension.
And at the center burned a flame.
But it wasn't like any flame Kael had ever seen.
It was white. Pure. Flickering without smoke, without source.
It was beautiful.
It was terrible.
Seraphine stared at it, transfixed. "What is that?"
Kael's voice was hoarse. "The Flame of Origin. The last fire of the gods."
Suddenly, they were no longer alone.
Vaelen stepped from the shadows, flanked by two cloaked figures.
And one of them was Liora.
Bound in glowing chains. Her eyes glazed.
"You were always one step behind, brother," Vaelen said. "While you wandered through ash and grief, I was reading the old tongues. I understood what Mother hid from us."
Kael's fists clenched. "She hid you because you were dangerous."
"She hid me because I was right," Vaelen hissed.
He gestured to the Flame.
"The prophecy doesn't end with our deaths. It ends when the flame is consumed by the one born of split blood—one with fire, one with moon. Together, they unlock divinity."
Seraphine stiffened. "You need both me and Liora."
"Yes," Vaelen said. "But I only need one to burn."
Kael moved first.
He lunged, sword blazing with runes, toward the cloaked guards. Steel rang against stone as the cavern erupted into chaos.
Seraphine darted toward Liora, slashing at the chains with her curved blade. The runes cracked—then shattered.
Liora collapsed into her arms.
"I'm here," Seraphine whispered. "You're safe."
But Liora's voice was faint.
"He already touched the flame… he's not human anymore."
Kael drove his blade through the final guard—but Vaelen didn't bleed.
He turned to Kael with glowing eyes.
"I am reborn," he said. "Not by birthright. By fire."
And then he changed.
Vaelen's body contorted—flesh turning black, eyes white-hot, horns curling from his skull. Wings of smoke erupted from his back, and when he opened his mouth, flame spilled out.
Seraphine screamed, dragging Liora behind a pillar.
Kael stood alone.
Sword raised.
He had seen demons before.
But this was something else.
This was a god born of ash.
Vaelen struck.
Kael barely blocked, thrown across the chamber by the sheer force. He slammed into the stone, bones groaning, blood in his mouth.
"Still standing?" Vaelen mocked.
Kael pushed up slowly.
"Always."
As Kael fought, Seraphine turned to Liora. "We have to stop him."
Liora's voice shook. "The prophecy said two must share the flame. Only then can it be sealed."
"Then we do it."
Seraphine took her sister's hand.
They ran to the dais.
Vaelen snarled—but Kael blocked his path, sword blazing white.
"I'm done following fate," Kael growled. "This time, it follows me."
As Seraphine and Liora stepped into the flame, the cavern lit up with divine fire.
The sisters didn't burn.
They glowed.
And the flame split—half into Seraphine's chest, half into Liora's.
Vaelen screamed.
The divine energy rejected him.
He stumbled, form cracking, power unraveling like threads of fire.
Kael struck once—through heart, bone, and soul.
Vaelen collapsed in a rain of ash.
And the Hollow Flame…went out.
The mountain groaned.
Not with collapse.
With peace.
Kael collapsed to his knees.
Seraphine ran to him, breathless. "Are you—?"
He pulled her into his arms.
"I thought I lost you," he whispered.
"You'll never lose me."
Behind them, Liora wept softly—finally free.