The spiral cracked open, jagged stone peeling back like teeth. The abyss yawned below, endless and hungry. Kaelen's fire sputtered, fighting against the crushing weight of the stair's command. Lyra's blade flared, but every strike only made the living stone heal stronger, faster, like it was feeding on her fury.
The candle-bearer's flame was the only thing the stair shrank from. But their arm shook violently, the weight of the command forcing them lower. If the flame touched the ground, Kaelen knew—it would smother, and so would they.
"Kaelen!" Lyra shouted over the roar. "We can't beat this. It's swallowing us alive!"
Kaelen's mind raced. Fire didn't work. Steel didn't work. The stair was feeding on both. But… the glyphs had recoiled from the candle-bearer's light, not because it was stronger, but because it was different.
He gritted his teeth. "It's not about fighting it. It's about making it choke."
Lyra shot him a look, wild and desperate. "Choke on what?!"
Kaelen's gaze dropped to the flame. So small. So fragile. Yet it was the one thing the stair couldn't consume. A terrible thought sparked in his mind.
"The flame," he whispered. "We have to give it more."
The candle-bearer's eyes went wide. "More? If I burn brighter, I'll burn out—"
"Or," Kaelen cut in, gripping their trembling shoulders, "you'll blind it long enough for us to escape."
Lyra's voice sharpened. "That's a gamble with their life."
Kaelen met her eyes, fire burning in his own. "It's the only gamble we have."
The stair shrieked, the glyphs pulsing like a heartbeat gone mad. The command grew louder, crushing: "Kneel. Kneel. Kneel."
The candle-bearer clenched their jaw, terror and defiance warring in their face. Then, with a trembling nod, they whispered: "If I burn out… don't let it be for nothing."
They raised the flame high.
It erupted.
A blinding flare tore through the stair, searing across the glyphs. The walls howled, fracturing, the living stone writhing as though the light scalded its very essence. The command faltered, shattering into a thousand broken echoes.
Kaelen surged to his feet, hauling Lyra up with him. Together, they dragged the candle-bearer forward, sprinting as the stair convulsed, steps cracking and falling away into the abyss.
Behind them, the spiral shrieked like a wounded beast, its glyphs dimming, its walls folding inward.
The candle-bearer's flame shrank, guttering low, but it did not go out.
At the top of the broken steps, the stair spat them onto a landing of cold stone. The living walls slammed shut behind them, sealing with a final echoing hiss.
The three of them collapsed, gasping, the silence heavy once more.
Lyra let out a shaky laugh. "We didn't beat it… we escaped it."
Kaelen stared back at the sealed stair, his fists still trembling. "No. We survived its hunger."
The candle-bearer cupped their flickering flame, their voice barely a whisper. "But for how long… before it comes again?"
And in the silence that followed, none of them had an answer.