The fire did not burn the same that night.
Jack noticed it while they camped along the edge of the Ember Plains, far from any road or forge. The flames flickered unevenly—leaping too high one moment, then shrinking low the next, as if struggling to breathe.
He stared at it longer than he should have.
"Something wrong?" Kael asked from across the camp, methodically cleaning his blade.
Jack hesitated. "The fire feels… off."
Talon glanced up from where he was reinforcing the perimeter with heat-warded stones. "Off how?"
Jack searched for the words. "Like it's listening to something I can't hear."
Before anyone could respond, the air shifted.
Jack's mark pulsed—slow, deliberate. Heat surged through his arm, not violently, but insistently, like a distant pull tightening a rope.
"Lyra," Jack said instinctively.
She was already on her feet.
Her light flickered—not dim, not weak, but uneven, as though disrupted by an unseen current.
"I felt it," she said quietly. "The Light Vein surged."
Kael stood at once. "Here? In Varkon?"
Lyra shook her head. "No. In Schiera."
Another pulse rolled through Jack, stronger this time. The fire flared gold-red, then dulled again.
It wasn't pain.
It was pressure.
He staggered, catching himself on a stone. Talon grabbed his shoulder. "Easy."
Jack closed his eyes.
For a heartbeat, the heat vanished.
He saw white towers beneath a fractured sky. Heard crystal groan. Felt something vast and radiant searching—reaching outward, blindly and desperately.
Then it snapped away.
Jack exhaled sharply. "Schiera's destabilizing."
Lyra's hands clenched at her sides. "The Light knows I'm gone."
Kael frowned deeply. "You're saying the Vein itself is reacting to distance?"
"No," Lyra whispered. "It always could. I was just close enough before to keep it steady."
Silence fell.
Talon crouched beside the fire, eyes narrowed. "Fire reacts faster than any Vein. If Light surged that hard…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
Jack stared at his hand. Threads of gold shimmered faintly through the red glow.
"I didn't absorb anything," Jack said slowly. "But I felt it anyway."
Kael's jaw tightened. "So Edrin was right. You're not just a vessel."
Jack swallowed. "I'm a bridge."
Lyra looked at him then—really looked. "When the Light surged… it reached you."
That truth settled heavily among them.
Kael broke the silence first.
"If Schiera's destabilizing," he said firmly, "we turn back. Immediately."
Lyra flinched.
Talon straightened. "And abandon the trail we uncovered in Varkon?"
Kael shot him a sharp look. "If the Light Kingdom collapses, there won't be a world left to uncover truths in."
Jack looked between them. "If we go back now, we leave the forged sigils unanswered. We leave whoever's provoking the Veins free to move."
Lyra's voice was quiet but strained. "And if we don't… Schiera may fracture trying to pull me home."
Kael turned to her. "You're not just a princess. You're an anchor."
She nodded once. "I know."
Talon crossed his arms. "If she returns now, the Veins stabilize—but the instigator wins time. They'll just shift focus to another kingdom."
Jack clenched his fists. "They want us chasing reactions instead of causes."
Kael exhaled sharply. "And if Schiera falls while we chase causes?"
No one answered immediately.
Lyra spoke at last.
"If I return now," she said, "the Light Vein will calm. The council will regain control. The people will feel safe again."
Jack looked at her sharply. "But?"
Her eyes met his. "But the lie will remain. The forged sigils. The manipulation. The next kingdom will break instead."
Kael frowned. "You're willing to risk your home."
Lyra's voice trembled—but did not break. "I'm willing to risk myself."
Jack stepped forward instinctively. "Lyra—"
She raised a hand gently. "Listen. If I go back alone, Schiera becomes a target. If Jack returns with me, the convergence becomes visible. The pressure doubles."
Talon swore under his breath. "Damned if we do. Damned if we don't."
Jack felt the fire stir uneasily.
"And if we delay," Lyra continued, "the Veins strain—but the truth moves closer."
Kael closed his eyes briefly. "You're asking us to gamble with a kingdom."
Lyra nodded. "Yes."
The ground trembled faintly beneath them—not enough to alarm, but enough to be felt.
Jack felt the Fire Vein stir.
"It's already started," Talon said quietly. "The Veins are reacting to each other now."
Jack looked north-east, where the air shimmered unnaturally.
"The Wind Kingdom," he said.
Lyra followed his gaze. "Secrets travel fastest on air."
Kael opened his mouth—then closed it.
Finally, he said, "If we go back now, we lose momentum."
"And if we don't," Jack said, "we accept responsibility for what happens next."
Lyra inhaled slowly. "Then we make sure the sacrifice isn't wasted."
Silence followed.
At last, Kael nodded once. "We continue forward. But if Schiera worsens—"
"We turn back," Jack finished. "No hesitation."
Lyra met his eyes. "Agreed."
Later, when the others slept, Jack remained awake.
The fire had steadied again, burning low and controlled. He held his hand near it—not feeding it, not drawing from it—just listening.
"Whatever you're becoming," he murmured, "don't let it break her."
The flame flickered softly, restrained.
A faint warmth brushed his knuckles—gentle, deliberate.
Jack let out a slow breath.
Far away, beneath white stone and fractured crystal, the Light Vein pulsed again—still strained, but holding.
For now.
And between fire and light, a choice had been made.
Not because it was right—
but because it was necessary.