Full Chapter – The Final Piece, the Breaking Point
Location: The Cradle of Echoes – A forgotten ruin deep in Thalum, where the souls of those who died with regret were once drawn. Here, remnants of their essence solidified into translucent crystal. Soulglass. Beautiful… and cursed.
A Warning in Wind
The deeper they ventured, the colder the flame grew.
Grim led the group through shattered halls, where ghostly voices whispered halffinished thoughts and memories brushed against the skin like cobwebs.
"This place is unnatural," Max muttered. "It's not just echoing voices. It's holding onto them."
"Soulglass forms where death lingers too long," Ayesha said. "And pain stays behind."
Sparks dimmed. "We shouldn't be here long. This place doesn't like the living."
"Good," Hadi added. "We don't like it either."
They moved deeper—until the ground glittered.
The Soulglass field stretched out like a cracked frozen lake, but instead of ice, it was crystal formed of sorrow, glinting in spectral colors.
At its center: the largest shard. Pure. Uncorrupted.
And guarded.
The Guardian of the Lost
It rose from the glass like a spirit caught between realms — part woman, part flamewight, draped in veils of sorrow.
"You dare shape a body with the regrets of the dead?"
Grim stepped forward. "We shape it with hope. And memory. She deserves to live."
The figure extended a hand. "Then prove that your fire doesn't feed on what's broken."
Without warning—
It attacked.
The glass shattered beneath them, and all five siblings scattered as the wight unleashed spectral blades of flameforged grief.
Tristan spun into action, forming a wide frost barrier.
Hadi split into three energy projections, dodging the strikes.
Max vanished into shadow—reappearing just in time to block an attack aimed at Grim.
Ayesha's soundwaves destabilized the echoes, disrupting the wight's hold on the air.
But Grim didn't strike.
He walked forward, every shard of broken Soulglass around him whispering names, pain, cries.
Sparks hovered behind him.
"What are you doing?" she whispered.
"Letting them speak."
He extended his hand.
"I am the Ashen Crown. My flame doesn't erase. It remembers."
The wight paused.
And then… wept.
And vanished.
The Final Piece
The Soulglass shard lifted into the air.
It pulsed with light — not cold, but warm.
A piece of the dead — willing to become something new.
"This is it," Sparks said quietly. "The last piece."
Grim took it.
The moment he did, every flame in the ruin flared… and extinguished.
Meanwhile – The Edge Breaks
Far above, Lys crouched on a cliff, watching.
She had followed them every step. Watched Grim protect Sparks. Touch her. Speak to her.
She's in his mind.
In his soul.
And she's not even real yet.
Her claws dug into stone.
And her eyes glowed gold, beast blood screaming.
If he won't choose…
I'll make him.
She leapt from the ledge, vanishing into the shadows below.