KAEL'S POV
The chamber of the Council is gone.
When I open my eyes, I am standing in a room of fire.
Flames stretch endlessly, not burning the stone underfoot but rising in spirals, alive, hungry. They crackle and hiss like a thousand serpents, coiling around me but never touching—yet. The air tastes of ash and iron, so thick it scrapes my lungs raw.
The abyss stirs immediately, a dark purr beneath my skin. Home, it whispers. This is where you belong. Not with them. Not with her.
I bare my teeth and force my claws into the ground, grounding myself. "Shut up."
A laugh ripples through the flames. It isn't mine.
Shapes begin to emerge in the inferno. Tall, cloaked figures woven of fire itself, faces hidden, but eyes like molten cores. They circle me like predators.
"The Trial begins," one intones, voice like the roar of a collapsing volcano. "Prove you are fire's equal, or be consumed."
