Yukio stood in front of the crystal coffin, the air around him humming with frozen energy.
Arashi lay inside, unchanged—eyes closed, breath still, her silver hair like starlight trapped in ice.
He pressed a hand against the glass.
> "How can someone I've never met feel more familiar than the world I was born into?" he whispered.
Behind him, Shigure and Daigo waited. The older Yukio—still silent, still watching—had returned to the shadows.
And then… her eyes opened.
---
Arashi Awakens
There was no shattering, no burst of light.
Her eyelids simply lifted. Her gaze found Yukio's.
And her lips moved.
> "You made it."
Yukio's heart skipped. "What… what do you mean?"
The crystal began to melt into glowing mist. Arashi slowly stepped forward, her body wrapped in ancient flame-warded robes, etched with symbols of an age long lost.
> "You chose the feather," she said softly. "I hoped you would."
Yukio couldn't move.
> "Who are you?"
She tilted her head, and the flicker of a smile played across her lips.
> "I'm the part of the Flame you buried… when the world betrayed you."
---
The Forgotten Connection
The chamber trembled. Magic was shifting. The seals that kept her asleep were now broken.
> "You knew me," Yukio whispered. "Before this?"
She nodded slowly.
> "We were bonded. Not by fate… but by choice. You found me beneath the Veinforge Ruins when you were younger—before the purge."
> "What purge?"
> "The day the Flame Council tried to erase the prophecy by erasing you."
Yukio's body went cold.
Daigo cursed under his breath. "They tried to kill you?"
Shigure narrowed his eyes. "So they knew who he was all along…"
Arashi's eyes dimmed.
> "I protected you once. But to save your life, I sealed my own."
---
The Price of Awakening
Arashi reached out, and Yukio took her hand.
It felt like a memory—like something that had always been there, waiting to be felt again.
> "You're a part of the Flame," he said.
> "The soul of it," she confirmed. "And now that you've chosen soul, we are connected again."
> "But why was I made to forget?"
Her expression turned somber.
> "Because if you remembered too soon, the Flame would've consumed you before you were ready. The prophecy demanded sacrifice—your heart… or the world."
Yukio's grip tightened.
> "Then let the world burn."
> "No," she said softly. "You won't say that tomorrow."
---
Outside the Chamber
Suddenly, the entire temple began to rumble. Flames turned blue. The floor split open as a massive seal glyph lit beneath their feet.
Shigure turned to the entrance.
> "We have company."
Dozens of figures in cloaks, wielding elemental blades and corrupted Ember Shards, rushed into the sanctum.
At their center stood a tall man in jet-black armor—his mask etched with the mark of the Veinborn Dominion.
> "So… the Flame's soul has returned," the man hissed. "And the child of prophecy awakens with her."
---
Battle in the Sanctum
Yukio turned to Arashi.
> "Can you fight?"
She smiled, stepping forward. "I was born to burn."
Flame burst from her hands in crystalline waves, striking the incoming enemies and melting their weapons in midair.
Daigo unleashed a howl as his runes flared across his arms, while Shigure darted into the crowd like a shadow, blades dancing in silence.
Yukio stood still, blue fire rising from his body like a god being reborn.
> "You came here to stop me," he said to the masked leader. "But you're too late."
> "You think so?" the man growled. "Then let me show you what happens when you break prophecy."
---
The Veinborn General
The enemy leader tossed his mask away—revealing half of a familiar face.
Yukio gasped.
> "Father…?"
The man's eyes glowed with silver flame. "The part of him that loved you died long ago. I am what was left behind to keep the balance."
> "You're… a vessel," Arashi whispered.
> "No," the man replied. "I'm the price of the Flame's return."
---
Twisted Reunion
Yukio's mind reeled. He remembered shadows. A man screaming. His mother crying. And a cold, final silence.
> "You let them kill her," Yukio growled.
> "No," the man said. "I became the thing that killed her… so you would rise."
He lunged.
Their flames collided—blue versus silver, soul versus shadow.
The Sanctum trembled, and the wall behind them shattered, revealing a stairway of light that led deep into the earth.
---
The Path Forward
The masked army began to retreat—some burning, some broken.
Arashi fell to one knee.
> "He's not done. That was only his echo."
Yukio ran to her side. "We're leaving. We follow the light."
Shigure frowned. "We don't know what's down there."
> "We never did," Daigo muttered. "But it's better than waiting here to die."
Yukio lifted Arashi in his arms.
> "This is the Gate of Aethra… the place the prophecy spoke of."
He took one step forward.
Then another.
And the light swallowed them whole.