The fire had a hunger to it. It clawed at the walls like a living thing, eager to consume, to bury everything in heat and ash. The old bricks cracked and hissed as smoke curled up their seams. Sahrak took a step back, guiding the restless horse with him, twitching its flank and flaring its nostrils at the thickening heat. The air tasted of soot and salt, and the roar behind them was growing louder. Louder still.Kaelen didn’t flinch. He stood his ground with clenched teeth, coiling the fire around his clenched fist like a serpent ready to strike. The air warped around his arm, building tension —then with a grunt that tore from his chest, he drove his flame-wrapped fist into the crack in the wall. It splintered wider, darting spiderwebs of fracture out like panic in stone. His eyes blazed. And he added in another deeper punch that bursted with more flames. The fire surged with it—BOOM—a thunderclap of heat and force as the wall gave way, bursting bricks outward into a yawning black h

Saltana gasped, thrown sideways off her mount. She hit the ground hard, and in the process, knocking the breath from her lungs as the world twisted. The guards scrambled, drawing their blades with wild eyes—but no one could see where the attack had come from.Then... silence.Smoke curled in serpentine spirals from the scorched path. The horses were fidgeted and terrified. The dawn had gone still, like it was holding its breath.And from the trees, something stepped out.Cloaked and holding a weapon that shimmered with that same unnatural glow.Serakai stepped forward slowly, reaching one hand toward her side, and fixing her eyes like a predator spotting another. “That... wasn’t a warning shot.”Saltana pulled herself up, clutching her ribs. “What was that?!”The cloaked figure’s voice was low and familiar, almost playful beneath the menace. “The mistake... of letting your guard down.”“That voice.” Serakai’s breath caught for a heartbeat as her fingers twitched toward the curved, one

"But what about your brother?... Did he survive that... um... encounter?" Saltana's lips curled slightly and her eyelids fluttered asking with a voice fading to a mumble. Before she could stop herself, it flowed out, even though she didn't want to touch that wound too deeply."I don't know..." With a weak voice, Serakai sniffed. "When I opened my eyes, he wasn't there. And, I'm not sure if he's still alive or not." With her nose still dripping, she cleaned her face forcefully with her bare hands before her eyes instantly sharpened and hardened as if they were a quick gear change. "But we need to get out of here." She added.As Saltana pulled Serakai's arms from hers, she exhaled quietly. Her brow was creased as she turned to face the iron bars, with worry mounting behind her eyes. Then she closed her eyes and let out a tremulous breath. "Yes... But how do we go about achieving that? To keep us on a leash, they are treating my commander while we are imprisoned. To be more precise, they

The stairwell stretched upward like it had no end, each step heavier than the last. Their boots scuffed against stone worn smooth by time and countless climbs before theirs. The air was damp, thick, with a faint, rusty, and ashen taste. Kaelen wiped a sleeve across his sweaty forehead, breathing like he’d been carrying the weight of a mountain on his back.“I swear,” he muttered under his breath, glancing over the edge of the winding staircase, “we’ve been walking up these stairs for an entire day.” His voice came low, like he was afraid to wake some sleeping beast lurking in the silence below. “Mahn… the poor guy’s gotta be terrified, all alone down there.” He raked his fingers roughly through his hair, tugging in frustration as if that would ease the gnawing guilt sitting in his chest.“Shhh.” The sound was sharp, cutting through his thoughts like the snap of a blade. Sahrak stood ahead, poised in front of the locked hard wooden door that had probably been untouched for decades.

Kaelen froze. His eyes went wide and his mouth hung slightly open. Then, slowly, his brows knit together, and his expression twisted into that familiar mix of disbelief and a very healthy dose of sarcasm.“You’re telling me…” he said, dragging his voice and every word out as if testing their sanity, “…that my flames can turn me into a flying, horse-lifting torch?”“Yes,” Sahrak said simply, with a stone face.Kaelen rubbed his forehead with both hands now, letting out a strangled groan. “Mahn… this day just keeps getting worse. I’m not even sure if I’m terrified or impressed anymore.”Kaelen looked like a man teetering on the edge of a full-scale nervous breakdown. He paced in a jittery half-circle, rubbing his face, running both hands through his hair, then tugging at it like he was trying to pull an idea straight out of his scalp. His boots scuffed the tiny spaced floor, his breath came sharp and shallow, and his eyes darted around as if an answer might be scribbled on the crumblin