The frost-laced winds of the Northern Reach hadn’t dulled since their escape from the Heartflame Warden. Kaelin stood atop a cliff overlooking the sealed cavern, the horizon stretching endlessly, sky smudged with early twilight. Beneath her, an entire history had burned—one she could feel thrumming in her veins like embers refusing to die.
Elira joined her, wrapping her cloak tighter against the cold. "We barely made it out. If you hadn't struck when you did..."
Kaelin didn’t turn. "It would’ve consumed more than us. That shard didn’t just want freedom. It wanted identity."
Elira raised an eyebrow. "You think it was... sentient?"
Kaelin exhaled, her breath forming icy clouds. "No. But it was guided. Or shaped. Just like me."
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Back in their temporary camp, Myrra unrolled a map of t
