The axe hung above her, ready to fall. Torchlight gleamed on its edge, reflecting her wide eyes.
Aria's breath came in shallow gasps, each one a fight. The ropes smoked where her wrists strained, her pulse hammering faster than her thoughts. She could smell the fibers burning, hear them crackle as sparks licked out between her skin and the hemp.
"Hold her down!" Tomas's father roared, but already the men nearest her faltered. The glow spilling from her wrists was no trick of torchlight it was fire birthed from her veins.
"No no!, she'll bring ruin!" someone shrieked. Mothers dragged children back. The crowd wavered, torn between fear and awe.
Aria's tears blurred the faces, but not the axe. It hovered, ready to fall and silence everything. She couldn't hold the power much longer; the oak's voice roared inside her skull, demanding release.
Stand, or all will fall.
The ropes snapped.
A ring of fire burst outward, Sparks sprayed across the square, catching on banners and thatch. The villagers screamed, scattering as the blaze leapt higher.
Aria staggered to her feet, wrists raw, flames wreathing her hands like chains made of light. She shook her head, desperate, wild. "I don't want this!" she cried. "I never wanted this!"
But the power didn't listen. It surged up her arms, racing toward her chest, begging to be unleashed. She could feel it clawing, hungering burning everything in reach.
Tomas broke from the crowd, hammer in hand. His face was pale, but his voice cracked with urgency. "Aira stop! If you let it loose, there's no turning back!"
Her knees buckled. "I can't"
Before she could finish, a shadow ripped through the blaze. Figures cloaked in gray surged into the square, masks glinting with carved lines that twisted in the firelight.
The watchers.
Gasps cut through the chaos. The villagers fell back as the masked intruders closed in, their movements silent, precise. They did not fear the flames. They walked through them.
One of them raised a hand, and the fire bent like grass in the wind parting before their steps.
Aria froze, terror knifing her chest. Were they here for her? To end her like they had ended others whispered about in frightened tales?
The nearest watcher stopped before her, mask tilting. "Daughter of fire," the voice was low, distorted. "Your chains are not broken. They are only beginning."
The flames around her wrists guttered as if cowed by the words. Aria staggered back, shaking her head. "Stay away from me"
Behind her, Tomas's father roared and swung his axe at the masked figure.
Steel rang. Sparks exploded.
In an instant, the square dissolved into chaos villagers screaming, watchers striking, fire devouring the edges of homes. Aria stood at the center, power spilling from her skin, fear choking her throat.
And above it all, the oak's voice whispered once more:
Choose, Stand, or fall, Fire or ash, Choose.