Chapter 39
The world did not burn.
It forgot.
One name at a time.
One memory at a time.
One truth peeled gently from the skin of reality, leaving behind the kind of silence that screams louder than any fire.
Kael was the first to feel it.
Not all at once. Not like thunder.
More like a creeping fog settling inside his mind—where he reached for a thought and found nothing.
He stood at the edge of the Hollow with Eliendara beside him, her face pale, her eyes flickering with distant flame. The wind moved, but he didn't feel it anymore.
He turned to her.
"What… what did you say your name was again?"
The words were casual. Almost unthinking.
But her heart froze.
"Kael," she whispered, stepping closer. "You know me. You always know me."
He smiled gently, unsure. "I do. Of course I do. I just… for a second, it slipped."
Ravien cursed, slamming his fist against the stone.
"It's already begun. The mirror version—she's unraveling the weave. Replacing you thread by thread."
Eliendara turned away, her jaw clenched. "She's not just copying me."
"She's becoming the only you," Ravien said. "And if we don't act—soon—you'll vanish entirely. Even from yourself."
Elsewhere, the Mirror Eliendara stood at the ruins of the old Flame Cathedral.
Priests bowed at her feet.
Not because they knew her.
But because they couldn't remember anyone else.
She wore a dress of starlight ash, her eyes mirrors reflecting what others wished to see. Her voice echoed in tones that matched Eliendara's perfectly—but hollow.
She didn't conquer.
She simply replaced.
One by one, the great cities of the Flame Pact sent her offerings.
One by one, the Gatekeepers who once guarded the ancient doors turned to her with smiles and blind faith.
Because in their rewritten minds—
She had always been the one who wore the Crown.
Back in the Hollow, Eliendara fell to her knees.
"I chose to seal myself," she said, shaking. "I thought that was the right path. I wanted to protect the world."
"And you did," Kael said gently, kneeling beside her.
"But now," Ravien said, "you have to choose again."
She looked up.
"At what cost?"
Ravien reached into the folds of his cloak and withdrew something glowing—
A shard of the Heartgate.
Still pulsing. Still connected to her.
"Use this," he said. "Reopen your gate. Forge your presence back into the world."
Kael hesitated. "But if she does…?"
"She'll burn herself back into the weave," Ravien said. "No more forgetting. No more fading. But the gate inside her will become permanent. Eternal. No more human. No more second chances."
Eliendara stared at the shard.
It was warm in her hand.
Warm like home.
But behind her eyes, names were already slipping.
She couldn't remember the name of the first flame she'd ever summoned.
She couldn't remember the song her mother used to sing.
And Kael's face—so close, so dear—already felt a fraction further away.
She clutched the shard to her chest.
Not yet, she thought. Just one more moment of being human.
But in the sky, the stars dimmed again.
And the Mirror turned her gaze south.
To where her original had not yet disappeared.
And she whispered:
"Soon, only one of us will remain."
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 40: One Must Fade
Eliendara stands at the edge of becoming again—But the longer she waits, the more of her is lost.
And the Mirror?
She isn't just rewriting the world…
She's rewriting Kael's heart