The ruined chapel was colder than a tomb. Elena lay curled on the stone floor, her cloak drawn tight around her, but no warmth reached her bones. The candle Adrian had lit guttered, throwing weak shadows across the cracked altar.
Sleep, when it finally came, was no refuge.
She dreamed of fire. Not the wild, accidental blaze that had destroyed her village, but something older, deeper — a flame that pulsed like the heart of the world. She stood at the edge of a vast cavern, molten rivers flowing beneath a ceiling of black stone. From the depths came a voice, neither male nor female, but all-consuming.
Bearer… come…
Her mark blazed in the dream, chains of crimson fire snaking up her arm and around her throat. She tried to scream, but the flames poured into her mouth, down her lungs, until she was nothing but burning light.
"Elena."
She woke with a gasp, heart pounding, skin slick with sweat. Adrian crouched beside her, his hand lightly on her shoulder. Candlelight caught the sharp lines of his face, the shadow of old scars across his jaw.
"You were crying out," he said.
She pushed herself up, trembling. "A dream. No not a dream. A vision." Her voice cracked. "It wants me to come north."
Adrian's eyes darkened. "The Seal?"
She nodded, swallowing hard. "It called me 'Bearer.'"
For a long moment, Adrian was silent. Then he stood and offered her his hand. "Then north it is."
They left the chapel before dawn, the fog clinging to their boots as they slipped deeper into the forest. The world was quiet in that brittle way that meant danger was close. Even the birds seemed to hold their breath.
Adrian moved with the ease of a man long used to watching shadows. He guided her along deer paths and across streams, always listening, always scanning. Elena followed in silence, her body aching, her thoughts heavier than the pack slung across her shoulders.
By midday, they rested in a hollow by a stream. Adrian crouched to drink, his reflection broken in the rippling water. Elena sat on a rock, staring at her wrist. The mark had dimmed to a faint glow, but it never truly faded. It pulsed with her heartbeat, a constant reminder of what she carried.
Finally, she broke the silence. "You speak of it as if you know it. The Seal. The legends. Why?"
Adrian wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. For a moment, she thought he wouldn't answer. Then, softly, he said, "Because I've seen it before."
Her breath caught. "What do you mean?"
His eyes met hers, dark and steady. "Years ago, in another village. A boy, younger than you. The Seal burned on his chest. The Order came. I…" His jaw tightened. "I couldn't save him."
Elena's stomach turned. "What happened to him?"
Adrian looked away, his silence sharper than any answer.
Before she could press him further, a crack of wood snapped through the trees. Adrian froze, hand on his sword. Another sound followed — the soft whicker of horses.
"The Order," he whispered.
He was moving before she could respond, dragging her down into the undergrowth. Through the ferns, Elena saw them: riders in pale cloaks, five this time, torches unlit but runes glowing faintly on their blades. Their leader dismounted, kneeling to examine the ground.
"They passed here," the man said. His voice was calm, clinical. "The girl bleeds power. She cannot hide."
Adrian's grip tightened on her arm. His lips brushed her ear, barely a whisper: "When I move, run north. Don't look back."
But Elena's heart was already racing. The Seal was stirring again, its warmth spreading through her veins, its voice whispering.
Fight.
The Order's leader straightened, turning directly toward the thicket where they hid. "She is close."
Adrian exploded from cover like a predator. His blade arced through the air, striking the nearest rider before the man could raise his shield. Chaos erupted. Steel clashed, horses screamed. Adrian fought like a man possessed, his movements sharp, brutal, efficient.
But there were too many.
Two riders closed on him from either side, their blades glowing blue. Adrian parried one, but the second's strike grazed his shoulder, blood spraying. He snarled and shoved the man back, but he was slowing.
Elena's terror surged into fury. She rose from the thicket, the mark on her arm burning like molten chains. Fire erupted around her, crimson and hungry, leaping to the trees. The Order's horses shrieked, rearing in panic.
"By the Light—!" one rider shouted, before her flames engulfed him whole.
The Seal roared in her head. Yes. More. Burn them all.
Her vision blurred with fire and smoke. She raised her hand, ready to unleash it again—
"Elena!"
Adrian's voice cut through the haze. She saw him, bloodied but standing, eyes locked on hers. "You control it. Not the other way around!"
For a heartbeat, she wavered. The fire writhed at her fingertips, desperate to be loosed.
Then she forced her hand down. The flames sputtered, dimmed, leaving the forest scorched but not destroyed. Smoke coiled in the air. Three riders lay dead, the others retreating, dragging their wounded.
Silence fell, broken only by Adrian's ragged breathing.
He staggered to her side, clutching his bleeding shoulder. "You can't…" he hissed, grimacing. "You can't let it use you."
Elena trembled, staring at the blackened trees. "I don't know if I can stop it."
His gaze was fierce, unyielding. "Then I'll stop it with you."
Her throat tightened, but before she could reply, her mark flared again. This time, it wasn't fire that filled her vision. It was a place. A mountain of black stone, crowned in flame, rising in the far north. And beneath it, something vast and chained, waiting.
When the vision faded, she was gasping, clutching Adrian's arm. "The north," she whispered. "It's not just calling me. It's waiting."
Adrian's face was grim, but he nodded. "Then north we go."
And in the smoldering silence of the ruined forest, the Seal pulsed like a heartbeat louder than before.