The courtyard burned with silver light. The ground shook as the fire spread in lines across the broken stones, crawling outward like veins of lightning.Aurora shielded her eyes with one arm, but she refused to look away from Mason. He floated above them, his body wrapped in light, his eyes like twin flames. He was both familiar and strange, both Mason and not Mason. Her chest hurt as she whispered his name. “Mason.”Norra stood with her sword drawn, her face hard. “That’s not him anymore.”John pressed against the wall for balance, sweat running down his face. His voice trembled, but his words were steady. “Don’t be so sure. Look closer. He’s still fighting inside.”Aurora dared to hope. She wanted to believe that what John said was true. But when Mason raised his hand and the air split with a thunderclap, her heart filled with fear again.The blast came without warning. Silver fire surged from Mason’s body in every direction. It raced across the courtyard, swallowing stone and air

The fall seemed endless. Aurora screamed as the floor gave way beneath her feet. Stones crumbled, shards of silver light burned in the air, and the roar of the collapsing courtyard echoed in her ears. Her arms flailed, searching desperately for something to hold. Then, warmth. Mason’s hand grabbed hers in the darkness. His grip was strong but trembling. “Don’t let go!” he shouted. His voice was raw, filled with fear and command at the same time.Aurora clung tighter, her nails digging into his skin. The air rushed past them like a storm. She couldn’t see Norra or John, only blackness swallowing everything.“Mason!” she cried. “Where are the others?”“They’re here somewhere,” Mason said through gritted teeth. “Hold on, we’ll find them!”Norra’s voice cut through the void, fierce and unshaken. “I’m not dying like this!”A flash of light sparked below as Norra swung her sword, its edge blazing faintly against the dark. For a moment, Aurora caught sight of her, falling like a comet, cut

The chamber pulsed like a living heart. Aurora’s knees pressed into the cold stone floor. Her chest rose and fell with quick, uneven breaths. Her eyes burned with tears, but she refused to look away. Mason hung bound to the throne, his body wrapped in thick silver chains. The glow of the fire inside him spilled out in cracks across his skin, like veins of light tearing him apart. His head was bowed, his eyes shut tight, his body trembling as if every breath was a war, and beside him, standing tall and monstrous, was Vazquez.The enemy’s form shifted constantly, as if the chamber itself could not decide what he truly was. One moment he looked like Mason’s mirror, cruel and twisted. Another moment, he became a dark figure cloaked in fire. Then, for a heartbeat, only a skeletal shape burns with silver flame.His eyes never changed. They glowed like stars, endless and merciless. Aurora’s voice shook as she called out. “Mason!”His head lifted slightly. His lips parted. A faint whisper

The fall seemed endless. Aurora’s arms clung around Mason’s body with all her strength. His skin burned hot against her, and faint light leaked from the cracks in his arms and chest, as though he was breaking apart piece by piece. Her tears streamed into the rushing wind as the pit of silver fire below grew larger, brighter, more terrifying.Norra’s voice cut through the roar. “Brace yourselves!” she screamed, her hand gripping her sword though chains still lashed at her from the void.John barely held on to a fragment of glowing stone, his eyes squeezed shut, his lips whispering broken prayers. His body was weak, yet light flickered faintly from his fingertips, as though some part of him refused to give in.Aurora’s heart pounded. They were falling straight into Vazquez’s true heart, the core of the tower, the very center of the curse. If they touched that fire, she feared there would be nothing left of them at all. She pressed her forehead against Mason’s burning chest. “Stay wi

Aurora opened her eyes. There was no chamber. No stone floor. No chains or flames around her.Instead, she stood in an endless black void. The air was heavy, filled with whispers that crawled into her ears like insects. The ground beneath her was not stone but shadow, rippling with every step. She looked down at herself. Her body was still whole, but faint cracks of silver light glowed along her arms, like she had been touched by fire. Her hands trembled. “Mason?” she whispered. Her voice echoed strangely, stretching too far, as if the void swallowed and mocked it. “Mason, where are you?”A laugh answered. It came from everywhere and nowhere at once. Low. Cruel. Endless. “You should not be here, little flame,” Vazquez’s voice said. “But since you followed him inside, you will watch as he breaks.”Aurora spun, searching the dark. “Show yourself!” she shouted, though her throat tightened with fear.The darkness rippled, and out of it stepped Vazquez. He was not fire now. Not chains. H