Chapter 5: Crimson Waltz
When love bleeds, war dances.
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Prologue: "A Sky That Burns"
The stars trembled that night.
As if they sensed something beneath them stirring. Something wrong. Something old.
I couldn't sleep—not because of the nightmares this time.
But because of the whispers.
A hum beneath my ribs.
A name I didn't recognize.
A power I hadn't asked for.
And her.
Always her.
mira's sketchbook was still on her window ledge. Still open to me. Still smudged where her thumb had rested on my smile.
"Something's coming," I whispered.
The wind answered with ash.
---
Morning: "A Mission, A Mistake"
Kai was the first to feel it.
We were on a recon run—Kai, Lyra, Nia, Amira, and I—tracking a disturbance just outside the Ember Scar border. Reports of corrupted beasts. Disappearances. Villagers whispering about "black fire that freezes instead of burns."
Oxymorons weren't usually our job.
But then again, neither was fate.
We walked single-file along the cliffside, overlooking the Deadvale Ravine—a place no one sane entered after dark.
"I don't like this," Kai muttered, hand resting on his blade. "The air feels... off."
"Everything about this mission feels off," Lyra agreed. "Too quiet. Too easy."
mira didn't say anything.
She was walking beside me, shoulder brushing mine now and then—like she forgot we weren't supposed to be soft with each other.
"You alright?" I asked.
"Why wouldn't I be?"
"Because your knuckles are white, and you've been staring at me like I'm about to disappear."
She looked at me—really looked.
"Because you almost did."
Silence. And then—
"Zayn?" Nia whispered.
We turned.
"What is"
Boom.
The cliff exploded.
Black flame. Searing silence. Rocks launched skyward like fireworks. Nia screamed as the ground beneath her crumbled.
I lunged, grabbed her wrist.
Too late.
She fell.
mira screamed her sister's name as Lyra teleported downward in a blur of shadows.
Kai drew his blade.
And from the smoke…
They appeared.
Three figures.
Tall. Hooded. One with a mask shaped like a laughing skull.
"Demon Prince," the tallest said, voice like rotting silk. "Your death was promised long ago. We've come to collect."
"Who the hell are you?" I growled.
"We are the Broken Crown. And you are a mistake."
He flicked his wrist.
And the world caught fire.
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Act I: "The First Blade"
Everything moved too fast.
Kai rushed the masked one—sword blazing—only for the second attacker, a woman with ghost-white hair and no eyes, to intercept with a whip of dark water.
"You're mine, swordboy."
Amira spun toward me.
>"Stay behind me."
"Not happening."
We back-to-back'd instinctively.
Lyra reappeared beside us, blood smeared across her arm, eyes wild.
"I got Nia—she's unconscious but alive."
"Good," I said. "Now we just have to survive."
The tall one stepped forward.
Unhooded.
And my breath stopped.
He looked like me.
Exactly like me.
But older. Sharper. Colder.
"You"
"I'm your future," he said. "The one who accepts the demon fully. The one who doesn't hesitate."
"Liar."
"I'm what happens when you lose her."
His eyes slid to mira.
"She dies. And we break. And I burn the world."
"You're not me."
"Not yet."
And he vanished.
Only to reappear behind Amira.
"NO!"
I lunged, fire bursting from my hands.
He slashed.
mira twisted.
Too slow.
The blade grazed her side.
She dropped to one knee.
Blood.
Her blood.
My flames erupted in a scream of instinct. Blue this time. Hotter than anything I'd ever felt. Alive.
The false me grinned.
"Ahh. There it is. The flame of awakening."
He held up a talisman.
Dark. Pulsing.
And threw it into the air.
---
Act II: "The Curse Unleashed"
The sky cracked open.
And from the tear—
A beast.
Twisted. Horned. 50 feet tall. Black fur and magma skin. Eyes that dripped shadow.
The Wyrm of Thorns.
A being from before time. A creature of anti-flame—meant to undo all that fire had ever touched.
"Kill the girl," the future me ordered it. "Break his heart. Let the demon consume him."
The beast roared.
Target: mira.
She struggled to her feet, clutching her side, glaring through blood.
"I'm not... afraid of you..."
She raised her blade.
But it trembled.
She wouldn't last another hit.
Not without—
"RAEL!" Kai shouted. "We'll distract it! GO!"
"Protect her!" I screamed.
I surged forward.
Straight at the monster.
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Act III: "The Waltz of Flame and Blood"
I don't remember how long I fought.
Each second bled into the next.
Every step a blur of fire and shadow.
The Wyrm swung a claw.
I ducked. Rolled. Ignited my arm and punched through its wrist.
It screamed.
I leapt.
Landed on its back.
Drove my flames into its spine.
And then—
A tendril grabbed me mid-air and slammed me into the cliff.
Bones cracked.
Blood filled my mouth.
The world tilted.
But I saw her.
Amira.
Still standing.
Still fighting.
Wounded. But alive.
She met my eyes.
"Get up."
I did.
Somehow.
I rose.
Because she needed me.
Because I needed her.
Because I loved her.
And then—
The fire answered.
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Final Act: "Ashes That Sing"
The flame inside me... shifted.
No longer rage.
Something older.
Something beautiful.
A memory unlocked.
Of a promise.
Of Zayn—the boy I was—kneeling before a burning tree, whispering:
"I'll carry the flame so no one else burns."
And suddenly—
My body ignited.
White flame.
Holy flame.
Soulfire.
The Wyrm screamed.
Its body recoiled.
I raised my hand.
The sky bent.
And the fire shaped into a spear.
"This ends now."
I launched.
The spear pierced the beast's heart.
It detonated—howling, imploding into ash.
Silence.
Then—
Collapse.
My body fell.
I hit the ground hard.
My vision blurred.
I heard voices.
Running.
Crying.
And her.
Always her.
"Stay with me," Amira whispered, holding my face.
"You're... okay?" I mumbled.
"You idiot," she sobbed. "Why would you do that?"
"Because I'm not losing you."
She leaned down.
Pressed her forehead to mine.
"I'm not letting you go either."
And in that moment—
I knew.
No matter what the next chapters brought...
We'd burn together.
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🩸 To Be Continued in Chapter 6: "Bloodlines and Betrayals"