Liora awoke with a jolt.
The fire had long since burned to embers, and Kael and Ashara were nowhere in sight. Her skin was cold with dew, and her head throbbed with remnants of the visions Ashara had shown her.
A low hum pulsed in the earth beneath her. The ember. It was stirring again.
She sat up, blinking against the gray dawn light seeping through the trees. Everything looked distorted, as if the forest had shifted overnight. Trees leaned at wrong angles. The sky was tinged with violet. Birds didn't sing.
Then she saw it—a shimmering thread of light, suspended in the air like a crack in the world.
Curiosity overwhelmed fear. She reached out.
The moment her fingers brushed the shimmer, a jolt tore through her spine. She fell to her knees, gasping. Visions flooded her again—but not of the past. These were possibilities. Futures.
A throne forged in fire. Her own face twisted in agony. Kael bleeding beneath a twin sun. Ashara screaming her name.
"Liora!"
Kael's voice cut through the storm. She turned as he burst through the brush, sword in hand, panic on his face.
"What were you doing?"
"I saw something," she said. "I think... I think the ember showed me what could happen."
Ashara appeared moments later, breathless. "You touched a Veil fracture. The ember responds to them."
"A what?" Liora asked.
Ashara crouched beside her, examining the air. "The Veil separates our world from what lies beyond—the godrealms, and worse. When the ember pulses, it weakens the Veil. Sometimes... it tears."
Kael cursed. "We shouldn't stay here."
But before they could move, the shimmer erupted.
A blinding column of light burst upward. From within it, a figure stepped forth.
A man.
Clad in obsidian armor etched with runes that pulsed like heartbeat. His eyes were molten gold. A sword floated at his side, untouched by hand.
Ashara's breath caught. "A Guardian."
Kael raised his blade. "Impossible. The Guardians were lost."
The figure spoke, his voice like thunder smothered in ash. "The ember has awakened. The seal is broken. The hunt begins."
Liora staggered backward. "Who are you?"
"I am the blade between worlds," he said. "And I come to test the flame."
With a gesture, the floating sword flashed forward. Kael barely deflected it in time, the force sending him sprawling.
Ashara grabbed Liora's arm. "Run."
But Liora didn't move. Her veins burned. Her eyes glowed.
The ember inside her surged.
She raised her hand—and fire erupted from her palm, striking the Guardian like lightning made of flame.
He staggered, not from pain, but from surprise.
Ashara's voice screamed in her mind: You are not ready.
But something deeper—something ancient—whispered back: She must be.
The Guardian straightened, smoke curling from his armor.
"Very well," he said. "Then let the test begin."