The roar still echoed in her bones.
Jackie stood at the cliff's edge, dawn bleeding over the horizon, her skin still warm from the words she spoke.
Kael followed behind her, hesitant but silent.
> "You felt it too," she said.
He nodded grimly. "Whatever made that sound… isn't from this world."
> "But it remembers it."
She turned from the cliff, the wind whipping her hair like flame.
> "We're going."
---
🜂 The Riftstorm Wastes
They moved fast. Through ruined cities swallowed by ivy. Across stone highways cracked by Riftfire and overgrown with glowing moss. Jackie didn't tire. Not anymore. Something in her fire pulled her forward.
And then—they reached it.
The storm.
A cyclone of golden lightning and violet mist, spiraling out of a fracture in the sky. The Rift had torn open naturally, without force—like it had invited itself into the world again.
And in the center of it, standing still while the wind screamed around it:
> A creature the size of a mountain.
Long body. Four legs. Wings folded at its sides like cathedral walls. Horns like twisted spires.
Its scales shimmered between gold and black. Old magic pulsed with every breath it took.
And its eyes—glowing ember red—locked on Jackie.
It lowered its head.
And it spoke.
> "You wear her fire."
Jackie stepped forward, the winds parting around her.
> "I'm not her," she said. "But I carry what she left behind."
The creature let out a low growl that shook the trees.
> "Then you are Flameborne. And you have come to be tested."
---
🜂 The Trial of Flame
The dragon stepped aside—and behind it, in the heart of the storm, stood a circle of obsidian stone, floating over the cracked earth.
Symbols glowed along its edge—the same ones Jackie saw in the Ashvault, the same from Jazira's memory.
> "This is the Crucible," the dragon rumbled. "Where Flameborne come to earn their fire."
Kael stepped beside her. "You don't have to do this."
Jackie didn't even look at him.
> "Yes. I do."
The dragon tilted its head. "You may burn. You may vanish. But if you survive… you will be more."
Jackie stepped into the circle.
The world exploded.
---
🜂 Inside the Crucible
She was alone.
Floating in an endless storm. Fire raged. Shadows circled. Her own fears—doubt, rage, grief—manifested before her in blazing forms.
Each whispered:
> "You'll fail."
> "You're just a vessel."
> "You are not Jazira."
She stood firm.
> "You're right," she said. "I'm not."
She summoned her fire—and this time it came differently. Not wild. Not angry.
Focused. Chosen. Hers.
She moved through the storm, destroying fear after fear, until only one remained.
A mirror.
And in it: Jazira, watching her silently.
Jackie reached out.
The mirror shattered.
And when it did—the Crucible vanished.
---
🜂 Rebirth
She fell back to the ground in a burst of golden flame. Her knees hit the stone, steam rising from her skin.
The dragon watched her. Unblinking.
Kael ran toward her—but stopped short when he saw her eyes.
> They weren't just dragon eyes anymore.
> They were new.
Like fire that had learned how to breathe.
The dragon bowed its massive head.
> "You are no longer Echo. You are no longer Heir."
> "You are Flamebound."
Jackie stood, breathing hard.
And whispered the name that rose unbidden to her lips:
> "Vael'tharuun."
The dragon stirred.
> "So you remember."