Chapter Forty-Four: The Other Flame
"Not all reflections are enemies. Some are reminders of what we swore we'd never become."
The silence after the revelation was suffocating.
Kael stared at the boy—at himself.
The doppelgänger's eyes weren't cruel. They were sorrowful. As if he, too, bore the weight of something far heavier than any crown. His clothes were torn, singed at the hem, and on his wrist was a brand—the same mark Kael had once dreamed of as a child, one he never understood.
Until now.
"You're not a vision," Kael said cautiously. "And you're not an illusion."
"No." The boy stepped forward slowly. "I'm what remains of the path you never chose. The version of you that burned the world to save him."
He looked toward Riven with a faint, almost reverent glance.
Riven tensed. "What is he talking about?"
The boy-Kael didn't answer. Not directly.
"I am the possibility. I'm the proof that loving him… and choosing him… came with a cost."
Kael swallowed hard. "Then why are you here?"
"To stop you from paying it."
Riven moved to Kael's side. "You expect us to believe you're trying to help?"
The doppelgänger nodded. "You're close to breaking the chains. I was too. But I didn't listen. I let vengeance rule me. I thought if I just struck first, destroyed first, then I'd win."
"And did you?" Kael asked.
"No." His voice cracked. "I won nothing. I burned everything. And when I turned to find Riven, all that was left was ash."
He stepped forward, holding out a hand.
"I know what's coming. The Emperor's death wasn't the end—it was the first domino. What's buried beneath this citadel isn't just a secret. It's alive. And it wants a vessel."
Riven's eyes narrowed. "A vessel?"
The doppelgänger's gaze locked with Kael's. "You."
Kael's heartbeat thundered.
He remembered the fire that had answered him in battle. The way the Scorchborne had recoiled, not in rage—but recognition.
"You're saying it chose me?"
"It marked you before you were ever crowned." The boy's voice dropped. "But that doesn't mean it owns you. That's why I'm here. To help you break from the path I couldn't."
Kael glanced at Riven. Doubt swirled in his chest.
But so did something else.
Hope.
Not because the doppelgänger offered safety—but because he offered truth.
"What do we have to do?" Kael asked finally.
The boy smiled—thin and tired. "You have to descend further. Below the throne room is the real heart of the empire. Where the first kings bled their power into stone. Where the Heartflame was born."
Riven stiffened. "You mean… it's not just a myth?"
"Oh, it's real," the boy said grimly. "And it's waking."
Kael's hands curled into fists.
"Then we stop it."
"No." The doppelgänger shook his head. "You embrace it—but on your terms. Not as a weapon. As a warning. A way to change what's coming."
"And if I fail?"
The doppelgänger met his eyes. "Then I become you again."
As the boy vanished into smoke, only his voice lingered.
"I'll be waiting at the end. But let's pray you never have to meet me again."