“I don’t understand,” Ivy whispered.
Her brother stood only a few feet away, cloaked in smoke and magic, yet his presence felt… ancient. Familiar. Like a heartbeat she had long forgotten.
“You died,” she said. “That’s what they told me. That there were only two of us—Ember and me.”
“No,” he said softly. “There were three. But only one of us could carry the seal. Our mother chose you.”
Ivy shook her head. “Why? Why hide us from each other? Why erase everything?”
“To protect you. And the world.”
His voice was heavy with grief. “The seal isn’t just a symbol. It’s a lock. A prison. It binds the sleeping blood of the First Flame and the Last Shadow—the entities our ancestors once warred against. You… were chosen as its key. But you were too strong. Too unstable.”
“So they split us?” Embe
