The moment Kye stepped past the arch, the world **shifted**.
The air changed—thicker, warmer, almost fragrant. Like firewood on the verge of catching flame. Wind no longer moved naturally. It **waited** for something. It listened.
And in the center of the clearing stood **Maerin**.
She wasn't what he expected.
Not a grand sorceress wrapped in glowing runes.
Not some old hermit barely clinging to life.
She was calm. Steady. Her silver hair tied back. Skin weathered like riverstone. Her cloak was brown, plain, worn from use. Her staff was made of **white wood**, etched with symbols that *drifted* between languages as Kye looked at them—some he could read, some he felt, and others he instinctively feared.
Maerin didn't speak.
She watched him.
As if deciding what he was **made of**.
Kye stopped a few paces away, heart pounding but spine straight. "You're Maerin?"
She tilted her head. "Is that what you want me to be?"
The answer confused him. "What?"
Maerin's voice was calm. Firm. "Everyone who comes looking already knows what they expect. A teacher. A guide. A weapon. A mistake. What did you come here for, boy?"
Kye exhaled. "I need answers."
She raised one brow. "To what?"
"Kael," he said. "Why me? Why the Witchfire? Why did he die protecting something if no one can tell me what it was?"
Maerin closed her eyes briefly.
"Wrong questions."
He frowned. "Then what should I be asking?"
She opened her eyes—and they glowed **gold** for a moment. Not magic. Not light. Something older.
"You should be asking who *you* are."
Kye clenched his fists. "I already know—"
"No," she interrupted. "You know who Kael was. You know what they say you are. You know what you're *afraid* you'll become. But you haven't decided who you *want* to be."
Kye stepped forward. "I don't need philosophy. I need truth."
Maerin's lips curved—just slightly.
"Then you'll need to survive it."
She raised her staff.
A wave of pressure **slammed** into Kye's chest like a mountain.
He staggered back, caught off guard.
Maerin didn't chant. She didn't cast.
She just *commanded.*
> **\[Paradox System Alert – Host Entering Flame Trial State]**
> *Warning: No exit until challenge complete. External systems suspended.*
> *Trial Initiated: "Judgment of the Living Flame."*
The ground **split**.
Fire rose—not red, not orange, but **white**.
Pure. Soundless. Terrifying.
Kye was lifted from the ground—not by force, but by *will.* Suspended mid-air.
Maerin's voice echoed around him, layered and deep.
> "This is the fire Kael could not conquer. The one even gods refused to hold. If it accepts you, you may ask. If it burns you… you were never meant to carry the flame."
---
Suddenly, he was **alone**.
Floating in a void of white fire.
Time warped.
He heard *himself*, not aloud, but inside.
All his regrets.
His self-doubt.
His buried anger.
He saw flashes.
* His mother walking away from him as a child, face unreadable.
* A teacher shaking his head, saying, "You're too soft to ever rise."
* Soldiers in the Ember Corps laughing behind his back after the mirror trial.
Then…
He saw Kael.
Standing in black flame.
"You think I chose you because you're strong?" Kael said.
Kye gritted his teeth. "Then why?"
Kael smiled. Not cruelly. Almost… sadly.
"Because you were the only one who *felt pain* and didn't flinch."
Kye blinked.
That wasn't a compliment.
It was an **invitation**.
---
The white fire surged into his skin.
It didn't burn.
It revealed.
Kye saw every weakness, every failure, every doubt—but he didn't crumble.
He **owned** them.
He *accepted* that he was flawed.
And in that moment—
The fire **folded into him.**
No pain.
No screams.
Just silence.
And then… a whisper:
> "You are not Kael's successor."
> "You are *his undoing.*"
---
Kye fell to his knees.
Back in the clearing.
Breathing heavy. Trembling.
Maerin stood over him.
She tapped her staff against the earth.
The fire vanished.
She knelt.
"You passed," she said.
Kye looked up. "What was that?"
"A fragment of the **First Flame.** The one that birthed all Witchfire. Kael could never survive it. He never tried. You did."
He swallowed hard. "So now what?"
Maerin reached into her cloak.
Pulled out a single book.
Thin. Leather-bound. Untitled.
She handed it to him.
"Now," she said softly, "you learn what Kael was **truly protecting**. And why the Ash Circle wants you dead before you can remember."
Kye took the book.
His hands trembled.
This wasn't over.
This was the **beginning.**