Chapter Four: The Gift in Her Blood
849 Words
The fire cracked softly in the hearth, casting dancing shadows across the walls of the cottage. Outside, the moon hung low, half-veiled by clouds, as if even the heavens were holding their breath.
Sallyanna sat cross-legged on a woven mat, the ancient scroll Cyrus had retrieved unfurled before her. The symbols inked on the brittle parchment glowed faintly—like starlight etched in blood.
Cyrus circled the room slowly, burning herbs whose smoke carried a scent of crushed roses and iron.
“You feel it, don’t you?” he asked, his voice low, reverent.
Sallyanna nodded. Her heart beat in a rhythm she had never known. Like a drum buried beneath centuries, finally awakened.
“I don’t know what it is,” she whispered.
“You will,” he said. “The Gift is stirring. It's been dormant for generations, but your pain… your strength… it called to it.”
She touched the pendant at her neck. Its pulse now matched her heartbeat.
“What is the Gift?”
Cyrus knelt beside her. “A flame, hidden in the bloodline of the First Light. Your mother never awakened it. Nor did your grandmother. You… you are the last.”
Sallyanna’s breath caught. “Last of what?”
He looked into her eyes. “The last Flamebearer. The final blood of the lineage sworn to guard the balance between the living world… and the Veil.”
She blinked. “The Veil?”
He stood and waved a hand. The smoke in the room thickened, then parted like curtains to reveal a vision—two realms, overlapping but distinct. One bright, chaotic, full of life and noise.
The other dark. Silent. Whispering.
“The Veil separates the world of the living from the Realm of Shadows. When the balance breaks, death seeps in. And worse… forgotten things crawl through.”
Sallyanna shivered. “Why me?”
“Because you were born of sorrow and strength. Because pain cracked you open… and inside, the flame endured.”
Suddenly, the scroll flared with light. A gust of wind swept through the room, though no windows were open. Sallyanna felt a pull—gentle but insistent. As if the very air were urging her to read aloud.
Her lips parted. The language was foreign… but her tongue remembered.
“Val’erin sha kor maru… Elai nira… Silth ashara…”
The moment the final word left her lips, the room exploded in golden light. Her body arched, breath stolen. Images flashed through her mind—women cloaked in silver fire… battles against shadow beasts… a throne of bone shattered by a girl with her face.
Then darkness.
And silence.
---
When she woke, she was in bed, the pendant dim again. Cyrus sat by her side, a bowl of steaming tea in his hand.
“You awakened it,” he said. “And it didn’t kill you. That’s rare.”
Sallyanna sat up slowly. “What now?”
He gave her the tea. “Now, you learn to wield it. Because they will come for you.”
“Who?”
“The Shadow Council. Creatures in human skin. And others… older than you can imagine.”
She sipped the tea. “Let them come.”
---
Meanwhile, far away in a different city, Albert sat in his office, surrounded by empty scotch bottles and the echo of his own regrets. The divorce papers were finalized. Alora had left—bitter, confused, angry.
“You loved her, didn’t you?” she’d asked that morning, voice trembling.
Albert hadn’t answered.
Because he didn’t know how to explain it. How to say, “I didn’t realize I loved her until it was too late.”
He opened his laptop, hesitated, then began typing Sallyanna’s name into every search bar he could think of.
Nothing.
No trace.
Like she’d vanished from the world.
His chest ached. Guilt was a weight that never let go.
Then a message popped up on his screen. No sender. Just… words.
"The Flame rises. The balance will tip. The Veil thins."
Albert frowned. Clicked on it.
The screen went black.
And a whisper echoed from the speakers.
“You let her go, Albert. But she was never just a woman. She was your reckoning.”
The screen flickered to life again, showing an image he didn’t recognize.
A burning forest.
And Sallyanna standing in the center—hair aglow, eyes like suns.
Then the image vanished.
Albert stood, heart pounding.
He needed to find her.
No matter what it took.
---
Back at the cottage, Sallyanna stood barefoot outside, staring at the moon. Cyrus joined her, silent.
“Will I lose myself?” she asked.
“Only if you’re afraid to be who you really are.”
“I don’t want revenge,” she said. “Not anymore. I just… want to understand why I was born different.”
Cyrus looked to the sky. “Because the world needed you. And because the world is about to change.”
A cold wind blew.
Far off, something howled.
And the stars pulsed like they were alive.
- Writer
