Kat Levi had stopped dreaming.
Not because she couldn't—but because the seal inside her had gone quiet. For weeks, she'd felt nothing but silence. No whispers. No visions. No pulses. It was as if the scroll had burned itself out, leaving behind only ash and memory.
She should've felt relief.
Instead, she felt hollow.
---
Virelia had returned to normal.
The fog was gone. The cathedral was open. Students filled the halls with laughter and gossip. Teachers resumed lectures on history, literature, and magical theory. The city breathed again.
But Kat didn't.
She wandered the school like a shadow, her presence acknowledged but never truly understood. People smiled at her. Some even bowed. But no one asked how she was.
Except Junior Sebastian.
He always asked.
---
One morning, Kat sat in the garden they'd built—the Flame Garden, as the students called it. Flowers bloomed in impossible colors. The air shimmered faintly. The soil pulsed with warmth.
Junior joined her, carrying two cups of tea.
"You're quiet," he said.
Kat nodded. "The seal's quiet."
Junior sat beside her. "Is that good?"
Kat stared at the flame-shaped flower in front of her. "I don't know."
---
Aria Norman arrived minutes later, carrying a notebook filled with sketches and notes. She'd been documenting everything—every shift in energy, every flicker of light, every dream Kat had shared before the silence.
"I think it's sleeping," Aria said.
Kat looked up. "The seal?"
Aria nodded. "Or waiting."
James Williams appeared next, tossing a charm between his hands. "Or it's bored. Maybe it wants a sequel."
Kat gave him a tired smile. "I don't."
Sage Ethan hadn't been seen in days.
He'd left a message carved into the altar: "The flame dreams in cycles. Watch the sky."
---
That night, Kat dreamed again.
She was standing in the cathedral.
But it was different.
The walls were cracked. The altar was shattered. The mirror was broken.
And the scroll was missing.
She turned slowly.
A figure stood in the shadows.
Not Vandal.
Not her mother.
Not herself.
It was a child.
Eyes glowing.
Hands covered in runes.
The child spoke: "You left me behind."
Kat woke with a scream.
---
Junior was beside her instantly.
Kat gasped. "It's back."
He held her close. "What did you see?"
Kat trembled. "A child. In the cathedral. Covered in runes. It said I left it behind."
Junior frowned. "That's not Vandal."
Kat shook her head. "It felt… familiar."
---
The next morning, Kat gathered the group.
They met in the music room, just like before.
Aria flipped through her notebook. "A child covered in runes. That's not in any Chronicle entry."
James leaned back. "Maybe it's a new seal. A fragment. Something that didn't burn."
Junior looked at Kat. "You said it felt familiar."
Kat nodded. "Like… me. But younger."
Aria whispered, "A memory echo."
Sage's voice echoed from the doorway. "Or a flame that split."
---
Everyone turned.
Sage looked older. Tired. But his eyes still burned with knowledge.
He stepped into the room. "The seal was never singular. It was layered. Built from multiple fragments. When Kat fused with it, she awakened the core—but the outer layers remained."
James blinked. "So there's more?"
Sage nodded. "And one of them is calling to her."
Kat stood. "Then we find it."
---
They returned to the cathedral.
The altar was intact. The mirror was whole. But the energy was different—thinner, quieter, like a whisper beneath a scream.
Kat approached the mirror.
It shimmered.
Then cracked.
A single rune appeared.
Sage gasped. "That's a child-binding sigil. Used to protect young bearers."
Aria frowned. "So someone tried to seal a child?"
Kat touched the rune.
The mirror shattered.
And the chamber opened.
---
Beneath the altar was a new passage.
Narrow. Cold. Silent.
They descended slowly, flashlights sweeping across the walls. The runes here were different—smaller, more delicate, etched with care.
At the bottom was a room.
Empty.
Except for a cradle.
Kat approached.
Inside was a scroll.
Smaller.
Glowing faintly.
Kat reached out.
The scroll pulsed.
And the child appeared.
---
It wasn't real.
Not fully.
It was a memory.
A fragment.
A piece of the seal that had been separated long ago—hidden, protected, forgotten.
The child looked at Kat.
"You're the flame," it said.
Kat nodded. "And you're the echo."
The child smiled. "I'm what you left behind."
Kat knelt. "I didn't know."
The child touched her hand. "Now you do."
---
The scroll floated.
Sage examined it. "It's a memory seal. Designed to store emotional echoes. This child… it's Kat's forgotten self."
Aria whispered, "The part she gave up to become the flame."
James looked at Kat. "Can you take it back?"
Kat stared at the scroll.
Then she reached for it.
It fused into her palm.
And the child vanished.
---
Kat gasped.
Memories flooded her.
Laughter.
Fear.
Loneliness.
Hope.
She saw herself as a child—before the seal, before the scroll, before the flame.
She saw her mother.
She saw Junior.
She saw the moment she was chosen.
And she cried.
---
Back in the music room, Kat sat in silence.
The scroll was gone.
The seal was whole.
But something had changed.
She looked at the others.
"I remember everything."
Junior held her hand. "Then you're complete."
Sage nodded. "The cycle is closed."
Aria smiled. "And the flame is whole."
James grinned. "So… now what?"
Kat stood.
"We live."