The dagger never left Ariya's side.
She wore it across her back during training. Kept it beside her when she slept. She didn't fully understand it, but every time her fingers brushed the hilt, she felt steadier — like it tethered her to something that made sense in the storm of everything else.
But even with the weapon, the questions grew louder.
Who was her mother?Why did she disappear?And why had no one told her she was born of fire?
They spent the next few days between training and restoring parts of the sanctuary. Kael discovered a sealed chamber off the western wall — once used for archiving scrolls and memory crystals, long buried under rubble and time.
"You think we'll find answers in here?" Lyra asked as they began moving stone.
"It's worth a shot," Kael grunted. "If someone went through the trouble of sealing it, it's not junk."
With a rumble, a slab of stone collapsed inward — revealing a hidden stairwell, steep and narrow, spiraling deep underground.
Jax stared into the darkness. "Oh good. Secret stairs. Definitely not haunted."
"Only one way to find out," Ariya murmured.
The chamber at the bottom was cold. Dust danced in the thin beams of sunlight sneaking through cracks in the ceiling. Shelves of ancient scrolls lined the walls, many too brittle to touch.
But it was the crystal on the pedestal in the center that pulled Ariya forward.
It glowed faintly when she neared.
The others stepped back. This was hers.
She placed her palm against the surface — and the world around her changed.
She stood in a memory.
It was warm here. Golden. The scent of burnt sugar and old parchment filled the air. A large room, half library, half nursery. Candles floated overhead. And in the center sat a woman.
Her hair was flame-red. Her eyes soft. And in her arms, a baby wrapped in silver cloth — cooing, small fingers flickering with sparks of heat.
"My little spark," the woman whispered, holding the baby close. "You'll have my strength… and your father's fire. That's more than the world will be ready for."
A figure entered the scene — a man in dark robes, face hidden, but his voice was low and kind.
"They've seen the mark. The Prince knows. We don't have long."
"Then we go tonight," the woman said. "Somewhere quiet. Hidden. I won't let her be used."
The vision flickered again — this time to storm and shouting. The baby, older now, crying as cloaked figures ran through trees. Fire lit the forest. And then—
A hand. Reaching.A symbol — the same as the mark on Ariya's shoulder — pressed against a stone door.
Then… darkness.
Ariya gasped and fell back.
Kael caught her. Lyra knelt beside her. Even Jax looked solemn for once.
"What did you see?" Kael asked.
She told them everything. Her mother. The escape. The fire. The mark.
"So… the prince they were afraid of," Lyra said slowly, "was Ruvan. Even back then."
Ariya nodded. "He's been chasing this mark my whole life. And my mother — she tried to stop it."
"She did stop it," Kael said firmly. "You're alive. She protected you."
Ariya looked at her palm.
"She hid me from a kingdom that wanted to claim me," she whispered. "She gave me this chance. I'm not wasting it."
That night, while the others rested, Ariya sat alone near the sanctuary pool, staring into the reflection of the moon.
A ripple passed across the surface.
A whisper tickled the back of her mind.
"The past cannot be changed… but it can be claimed."
She clutched the dagger.
"Then I'll claim it. All of it."
Far away, in a tower of frost and glass, Ruvan's eyes opened. He exhaled slowly, watching the flame in his palm flicker.
"She's remembering," he murmured."Perfect."