The sky bled orange as dusk fell. Nicolette sat by a dwindling fire, her back against a mossy stone, her mind restless. The pendant at her neck pulsed with warmth—but not comfort. Ever since merging the third flame, her body had felt... altered.
Kael returned from scouting, his cloak dusted with ash. "The villagers ahead are gone. Abandoned. But there are markings—claw marks."
"Claws?" Nicolette frowned. "Wild beasts?"
Kael shook his head. "Not beasts. Something worse. Something... summoned."
They shared a tense look. The flame was calling attention—and not just from allies.
---
By morning, they reached the outskirts of the Village of Selmoor, once a peaceful settlement surrounded by lavender fields. Now, the flowers were wilted, and the homes stood shattered, their doors swinging in the wind like broken mouths.
Nicolette's eyes caught movement in the shadows. "Did you see that?"
Kael nodded, sword half-drawn. "We're not alone."
A sudden screech echoed through the village square. From the fog stepped a woman—tall, robes black as pitch, hair floating unnaturally around her face. Her eyes glowed violet.
"I've been waiting, Flamebearer," she said with a grin. "You shine so brightly. It's offensive."
"Who are you?" Nicolette asked, steadying her stance.
The woman bowed theatrically. "I am Lady Kareth. Herald of the Hollow Flame. And your light disturbs the silence we serve."
Kael tensed. "She's a Shadowbinder."
Kareth tilted her head. "Clever knight. Now die clever."
With a flick of her hand, the ground split open, and shadow-creatures poured out—long-limbed, faceless, with glowing mouths that screamed with no sound.
---
The battle raged.
Kael fought like a tempest, cutting down creatures left and right. Nicolette unleashed waves of cleansing flame, her pendant spinning with the power of all three keys. The shadows hissed, recoiled, and turned to ash.
But Kareth was untouched, her magic a swirling vortex of void and venom.
"You cannot win," she said, floating upward. "You carry a borrowed legacy. We—are the truth beneath the flame."
Nicolette narrowed her eyes. "Then I'll burn until only truth remains."
She raised her hands and summoned the full force of the triad flame. For the first time, wings of light unfurled from her back—massive, blazing, divine.
The sky itself responded, cracking with golden lightning.
She flew.
And collided with Kareth mid-air.
---
The impact shook the ground. Kareth screamed as her robes caught fire, her shadows dissolving.
"Impossible! You're just a girl!"
"No," Nicolette said, her voice layered with flame. "I'm the one your darkness should've feared."
She drove her flame into Kareth's heart. The woman's body burst into ash—carried away on the wind like a burned secret.
---
Later, in the ruins, Kael found Nicolette sitting beside the village well, wings gone, expression unreadable.
"You okay?"
She nodded slowly. "I didn't just win, Kael. I changed. That flame inside me—it's not just power. It's memory. History. I think… I know things I've never been taught."
"Then we need to be careful," he said. "Because if you're growing stronger, others will rise to stop you."
She looked at the pendant. It now glowed with a fourth flicker—a faint one, newly awakened.
"There's more than three keys," she whispered.
Kael's eyes widened. "How many?"
She stared into the horizon.
"I think… there are seven."