The earth beneath her cracked like dry bone, and Emberlynn staggered as stone split and shifted. The ruins shuddered, sending a cascade of pebbles skittering down from the broken columns.
Malphas grabbed her arm—not roughly, but firmly—and pulled her back from the widening fissure. His cloak billowed behind him as wind surged from the ground below, carrying with it a metallic scent: blood and old magic.
"They're coming," he growled.
"Who are they?" Emberlynn asked, breath catching as the ruins glowed faintly with a dark purple light.
Malphas didn't answer immediately. His eyes scanned the horizon, golden and sharp. "They're called the Shadowborne. Guardians turned zealots. They were created to protect the Key… but over time, they forgot why. Now they only want control. Or destruction."
She swallowed, backing toward the broken arch as something clawed its way out of the fissure. Its hands were too long, its skin pale and stretched, and its eyes—soulless voids—locked straight onto her.
"What do they want with me?"
"You," Malphas said tightly, "are the last Paragon Key. And they think if they destroy you, they'll bury the seal forever."
A second creature crawled from the gap, then a third. Each of them cloaked in darkness, moving like liquid shadows on fractured bone. They didn't breathe. They didn't speak.
They just came.
Malphas released Emberlynn's arm and stepped forward. The air around him shifted as if bracing for something ancient. His shadow twisted upward, horns forming where none had been, and his voice dropped an octave—silken and monstrous.
"Leave. Now."
"No."
He turned to her, surprised.
"I'm not running again," Emberlynn said, her fingers curling into fists. "If they want the Key, they'll have to fight for it."
He stared at her for a moment, then nodded. "Then stay behind me."
He raised a hand.
Fire erupted from his palm—black and red, burning hotter than the sun. The first Shadowborne shrieked as it was consumed, but the others kept coming. One leapt at Emberlynn, and she ducked, rolling as its claws tore through the air where she'd just been.
"Use the mark!" Malphas called.
"I don't know how!"
"You don't need to know. Just feel."
Another creature lunged. Emberlynn raised her hand, desperation crackling in her veins.
The mark on her shoulder exploded with heat.
A pulse of light—fiery and golden—blasted from her skin, throwing the creature backward with a scream. It hit a column and dissolved into ash.
She gasped. "Did I—"
"You did," Malphas said, grinning. "Looks like you're more than just prophecy."
But the fissure kept widening. From its depths rose a different figure—not like the others.
This one wore armor, etched with forgotten runes, and its face was hidden behind a silver mask.
Malphas' smile vanished.
"General Kael," he muttered. "Of course."
The figure stepped onto solid ground and raised a blade wreathed in violet flames.
"You've grown soft, Malphas," Kael said, voice like splintered steel. "Protecting her. Loving her. How... mortal of you."
Emberlynn's heart skipped. "You know him?"
"He was once my right hand," Malphas said darkly. "Before he betrayed everything."
Kael tilted his head. "I didn't betray. I evolved."
He turned his masked gaze to Emberlynn. "And you… are the last failure of the old bloodline."
"Funny," she said, stepping beside Malphas. "You don't look like a winner."
Kael lunged.
Malphas met him mid-air, claws and blade colliding in a thunderous burst of energy.
Emberlynn staggered back, watching sparks fly as the two beings clashed—light against dark, flame against shadow.
But more Shadowborne crawled from the ground. Dozens.
She knew she couldn't stand still.
Closing her eyes, she reached inward—to the mark, to the place the vision had opened.
And she found it.
The fire.
Not from Malphas. Not from any demon.
It was hers.
She screamed, the sound tearing through the night as power surged from her body in a golden shockwave. The ruins shook, and the ground lit with glowing veins of light.
The Shadowborne shrieked, stumbling back.
Malphas threw Kael aside and landed beside her, breathing hard. "Nice trick."
She nodded, dizzy. "I don't think I can do that again."
"You won't have to." He looked toward the horizon. The creatures were fleeing.
Kael stood, mask cracked. "This isn't over, Emberlynn."
"It never is," she said.
With a flick of his cloak, Kael vanished into shadow, and the fissure sealed behind him.
The silence returned.
Malphas helped her down to sit against a pillar. Her fingers trembled. So did her heart.
"Was that… what I'm meant to do?" she asked.
He didn't answer immediately.
Then, softly: "It's only the beginning."
She looked up at him. "Then I want more."
"More?"
"Power. Truth. Everything. I want to know who I am—and who I'm supposed to become."
Malphas knelt in front of her, brushing a bit of blood from her cheek.
"You're already becoming it," he said. "But the more you awaken, the more enemies you'll draw."
She met his gaze. "Let them come."
He smiled. "There's someone else you need to meet first."
"Who?"
"The woman from your vision."
Emberlynn blinked. "She's… alive?"
"In a way." His expression turned grim. "And she's waiting. In the Temple of Cinders."
She exhaled. "Then that's where we go next."
Malphas helped her to her feet. "Be warned. The Temple tests more than strength. It tests soul."
She looked to the east, where night slowly peeled back to dawn.
"Then I hope mine is ready."
Together, they stepped into the rising light.