The moon hung pale and weary above the desert when Adi and Siegel fled the capital.
They rode through the silent streets of Zorenthia, the once-golden city now blanketed in ash. Fires burned in distant towers, casting long red shadows across the palace walls. Neither spoke as they passed the gates; words felt too small to carry the weight of what was happening.
Siegel held the vial of moonwater close to her chest. Its silver glow pulsed faintly, as if alive.
"Your father will come for us," she said softly.
Adi shook his head. "He's not my father anymore."
They rode until the city lights vanished behind them, swallowed by the vast desert. The stars above shimmered faintly through drifting smoke.
---
By dawn, they reached the Vale of Stones — a quiet valley where the sand gave way to cracked black rock. Here, ancient ruins lay half-buried, remnants of the first kingdom that had once challenged the gods.
Adi dismounted and looked around. "This is where she told us to come?"
Siegel nodded. "Erdriel said the dreams begin here."
He frowned. "Dreams?"
She looked at him — her eyes serious, luminous. "She said the moon can show the truth. If you're brave enough to face it."
---
They built a small fire that night, though the air was warm. Adi couldn't sleep. The flames danced and twisted in unnatural ways — almost like faces flickering in the embers.
When at last he closed his eyes, the world seemed to tilt.
He was no longer in the valley.
He stood in a vast hall of mirrors, each reflecting a different version of himself — a boy, a warrior, a man crowned in flame. The air smelled of smoke and iron.
From the shadows, a voice whispered his name.
"Adi…"
He turned. Erdriel stood before him, her robes shimmering like liquid silver, her hair white as moonlight. Her eyes were calm but fierce, carrying centuries of knowledge and pain.
"Where am I?" he asked.
"In the space between light and flame," she replied. "The realm of truth. You have come to learn what your father has become — and what you must do to stop him."
Her hand lifted, and the mirrors around them began to move, showing images like ripples on water.
In one, Heidra knelt before the Orb of Fire, his hands wrapped in chains of molten light. Voices chanted in the background — the ancient words of binding.
In another, Heidra's armies marched through cities turned to glass, their armor glowing from the heat. Behind them, the land cracked open, rivers of lava carving through the earth.
Adi fell to his knees, trembling. "This can't be real."
"It is not the present," Erdriel said. "It is the path his soul walks. Every step he takes now burns the threads of the world."
He looked up at her. "Then stop him. You're stronger than he is."
She sighed — a sound filled with both sadness and restraint. "Power cannot always be used freely, young prince. Every flame I cast must be balanced by light. If I strike him too soon, the world will burn with him."
"Then what can I do?"
Erdriel extended her hand, and a new mirror rose before him — showing the moon, vast and glowing. Within its light, a single spark of blue flickered.
"You carry his blood," she said. "That gives you both the power to destroy him and the power to redeem him. The choice will be yours."
Adi's reflection changed. He saw himself standing over his father — not with a sword, but with a hand outstretched, light flowing between them.
"What does it mean?" he whispered.
Erdriel's voice softened. "It means that sometimes, victory is not in killing the darkness — but in teaching it to remember the light."
She stepped closer, her eyes piercing his. "Find the Lumen Key. It lies in the ruined temple of Valun, guarded by the ghosts of the first kings. With it, the Orb's curse can be broken."
Her form began to fade, silver light scattering like dust.
"Wait!" Adi shouted. "What if I fail?"
Erdriel's voice echoed faintly through the hall:
> "Then the sun will die, and the world will sleep beneath fire."
And the mirrors shattered.
---
Adi woke with a cry, sweat dripping down his face. The fire had gone out. The dawn was breaking, gray and cold.
Siegel was beside him, holding his hand. "You saw her, didn't you?"
He nodded slowly. "She showed me what's coming. And what I have to find."
"What is it?"
"The Lumen Key," he said. "Something that can undo my father's power."
Siegel's face lit with cautious hope. "Then we go after it."
He hesitated. "It's in the Temple of Valun. That's beyond the mountains — deep in the cursed lands."
Siegel stood, her eyes determined. "Then that's where we'll go."
He looked at her for a long moment. The wind stirred her hair, carrying the faint scent of moonlight.
"You don't have to come," he said softly.
She smiled. "If you fall, who will carry the light for you?"
---
Far to the north, within the Citadel, Heidra awoke from his own dream — one filled with fire and whispers.
In it, he saw a shadow in silver robes watching him from afar. Erdriel's voice had called his name too — not in hate, but in warning.
He sat up abruptly, gasping, his chest glowing faintly beneath his armor. The fire inside him flickered in confusion, as if aware of something it feared.
Morzeal, his advisor, entered and bowed. "My king, are you well?"
Heidra looked at his trembling hands. "She's in his mind now. The moon-witch has found my son."
Morzeal froze. "The prince?"
Heidra's voice grew dark. "If he finds the Lumen Key before I do, everything I've built will burn to ash."
He stood, and the ground shook beneath his feet.
"Send Axtin and Marley," he commanded. "Track him. Bring me the boy — alive if you can, dead if you must."
As Morzeal hurried away, Heidra turned his gaze toward the horizon. The sun was struggling to rise through the red haze.
And for the first time in his reign, the fire within him felt cold.