The world burned behind Elliot's eyelids.
Dark energy surged through his body, like poison in his veins. He wanted to scream, but the chains wrapped around him were not made of metal—they were made of pain itself. Every second, they burrowed deeper, binding not just his limbs but his soul.
He could hear whispers… voices not human… in a language no man was meant to understand.
A ritual.
A sacrifice.
Him.
"His blood is of the old flame," one of the hooded cultists rasped. "He will awaken the ember... and open the gate."
Elliot writhed. The ground beneath him glowed with ancient runes now soaked with his blood. His thoughts blurred. His magic—wild and untamed—screamed from within him, begging to break free.
And still, she stood there. Lyra. Unmoving. Silent. A shadow of the girl he once loved.
"Why…?" Elliot choked, blood spilling from his mouth. "Why would you do this?"
She took a slow step forward. Her eyes shimmered—not just with silver light, but with regret.
"I didn't want this," she whispered, her voice trembling. "But I had no choice. They would have killed my sister if I didn't deliver you."
The words hit him harder than the magic.
His heart cracked open.
She had chosen family over him.
She had sacrificed him.
And yet… a part of him still loved her. Even as his body broke.
---
The flames around the circle rose. The cultists chanted louder. Elliot's skin began to burn—literally. Runes etched themselves into his chest, glowing red-hot as ancient power surged through him.
The gate was opening.
But not the one they expected.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
An explosion of black fire erupted from Elliot's chest, sending the cultists flying. One screamed as his body was engulfed in flames. Another was impaled on a shard of glowing crystal that had risen from the floor.
The spell had backfired.
The mark had chosen Elliot... not them.
---
He collapsed, smoke rising from his skin, body scorched but alive.
Lyra lay unconscious nearby, thrown by the blast. Her hair was soaked in blood. Elliot stared at her, chest heaving, every part of him trembling.
He could kill her.
Right here.
Right now.
But he didn't.
He simply whispered, "You'll live with what you did to me."
Then he vanished into the burning cave, reborn in fire… and forsaken by love.