The air inside the temple was heavy, almost alive. It pressed against Leira's skin, warm and humming with something she didn't understand. It felt like stepping into a lung that had been holding its breath for centuries, and the moment she crossed the threshold, it exhaled.
The moment the doors closed behind them, the world outside disappeared. The sound of rain faded, swallowed whole. The forest's whisper dimmed until it was nothing more than a memory pressed against her ears. All that remained was the echo of their footsteps and the faint pulse of orange light flickering across the ancient walls.
Leira glanced around, her breath shallow. The temple stretched wider than it had seemed from outside, like space itself folded differently here, bending, stretching, rearranging itself to accommodate something older than stone. The walls were carved with spiraling runes, each one glowing faintly, as if breathing. They shimmered with a rhythm too steady, too aware to be anything but alive. The air smelled of smoke and something older, like ashes that had waited too long to burn.
"What is this place?" she asked quietly, her voice swallowed by the vastness.
Kael's voice was low, cautious. "The Temple of Forgotten Fire. It was the first sanctuary built when the Veil was born."
Leira frowned. "I built this?"
He nodded slightly. "In your other life, yes. But it wasn't made of stone then. It was made of light. The first flame was born from your voice. The fire that remembers everything."
Her fingertips brushed one of the glowing carvings. It pulsed faintly beneath her fingers, warm like skin, like a heartbeat responding to her touch. "It's… alive."
"It recognizes you." Kael's tone was reverent. "That's why the light returned when we stepped inside."
She took a slow step forward, her fingers grazing the symbols as she moved. The temple's light seemed to follow her, brightening with each step, the runes awakening like eyes opening one by one. Shadows rippled across the floor like something hiding beneath the stone, unsure whether to flee or bow.
In the center of the hall stood a black altar shaped like a half opened eye. It leaned slightly forward, as though peering at her. The air around it shimmered faintly, like heat bending light, distorting reality. Leira felt her pulse quicken just looking at it. Something in her chest tightened in response, recognition or fear, she couldn't tell.
Kael's gaze softened as he approached the altar. "It's been asleep since the day you fell."
She looked at him sharply. "Fell?"
"When you crossed into the mortal world," he said quietly. "You sealed the fire yourself." His gaze flicked to the mark on her wrist. "You hid it here so no one could use it against you."
Leira stared at the flickering light reflecting off the altar's surface.
"You knew what would happen if the fire woke without you," Kael said.
His voice carried a weight she couldn't place, pain, longing, something older. Leira turned to him, the glow of the temple painting his face in shifting gold and shadow. "And what happens if it wakes now?"
Kael hesitated. "It remembers."
The words sank into her like cold water. "Remembers what?"
"Everything you were," he said. "Everything the Veil was built to protect… and everything it was built to destroy."
Leira looked away, her chest tightening. "You talk like you were there."
"I was," Kael said.
She froze. "What?"
He didn't look at her right away. His hand brushed the hilt of his blade, his jaw tense. "I was one of the Keepers sent to find you when you vanished. But when I found you, I didn't bring you back."
Leira's pulse quickened. "Why?"
He turned to her then, his expression raw and unguarded. "Because I loved you."
The words were soft but sharp, cutting through the heavy air like a blade. The temple seemed to pause, listening.
Leira's breath caught. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. The flickering light danced between them, burning quietly, as though it remembered this conversation from another time.
"You don't remember," Kael said, stepping closer, "but we both broke the same law. You crossed the Veil for love. And I followed you."
A shiver ran through her, thin and cold. Her mind flashed with an image; two silhouettes standing in the firelight, hands almost touching, something bright and dangerous between them. A promise. A warning. A choice. Then the vision dissolved like smoke, leaving her heart pounding.
"I remember… something," she whispered, pressing her fingers to her temple. "But it's like trying to catch smoke."
Kael reached out, his hand stopping just short of hers. "Your memories are tied to the flame. The closer you get to it, the more it will remember you too."
Before she could speak, the ground trembled beneath them, a deep vibration that rolled through the stone. Dust drifted from the ceiling. The symbols on the walls pulsed faster, turning from orange to red.
Kael's eyes snapped toward the door. "They're here."
Leira's stomach dropped. "Already? You said the temple was protected!"
"It was," he said sharply. "Until it recognized its keeper."
A deafening crack echoed through the chamber as the heavy doors at the entrance shuddered violently. Shadows bled through the cracks, thick, oily shapes seeping inward like smoke. They crawled across the floor, twisting, writhing, whispering in a language that scraped at her mind.
Kael drew his blade in one smooth motion, steel flashing in the fiery light. "Stay behind me."
The air turned cold again, sharply, abruptly, like the temple inhaled in fear. The runes on the walls flickered erratically, as if fighting something unseen. The shadows began to take form. Tall, twisted figures with limbs too long, edges too soft, and eyes that glowed faintly white.
Leira could feel the light beneath her skin stirring again, pulsing faster with every heartbeat. Her wrist burned where the mark was, the same mark that had saved her before, its light brightening with urgency.
"Kael," she said, panic creeping into her voice. "It's happening again…"
"Don't fight it," he said without looking back. "But don't let it control you either."
"I don't know how!"
The shadows lunged.
Kael moved fast, his blade slicing through one of them, though it left no wound. The creature hissed, reforming instantly, its limbs rippling like smoke re-knitting itself.
Leira stumbled backward, her hands shaking violently. The mark on her wrist ignited, the light spreading up her arm like wildfire. Her pulse roared in her ears, drowning everything else.
The shadows reached for her. The moment they touched the edge of her light, they shrieked. The glow burst outward, exploding through the room in a wave of white fire.
Kael shielded his face as the light engulfed everything. The creatures screamed, twisting and disintegrating into ash before vanishing completely, as if erased.
When it was over, silence fell again, heavy, ringing, sacred.
Leira was on her knees, trembling. The glow from her skin faded slowly, leaving faint lines of light pulsing under the surface, like veins made of fire that refused to fully dim.
Kael knelt beside her, breathing hard. "Leira… are you hurt?"
She shook her head weakly. "No. I just…" She stared at her hands. "I didn't mean to."
He looked around the temple, the walls now burning with renewed life. "You didn't just release the fire," he said quietly. "You woke it."
Leira met his eyes. "Woke what?"
Kael's expression darkened. "The Veil is bound to your flame. When the fire wakes, the Veil stirs with it."
"So the Veil…" she said slowly, the realization creeping over her skin like frost.
"It was this temple," he finished for her. "A reflection of it. The fire here is its heart. When you sealed yourself away, both went dormant. But now that you're awake…" He looked toward the glowing altar. "So is it."
Leira followed his gaze. The altar's surface was glowing now, the carvings pulsing faster than before, rising like a heartbeat in a panic. The air around it shimmered like a mirage, warping everything.
Something deep in the temple groaned, a long, ancient sound that wasn't entirely physical. The lanterns swayed though there was no wind. The ground trembled again, faint but steady, growing in strength.
Kael's jaw tightened. "The temple remembers you," he said softly. "But it also remembers everything that wanted to destroy you."
Leira stared at the altar, her pulse matching its rhythm. The warmth in her veins spread through her chest, almost comforting. Almost… welcoming.
But beneath that warmth, something else moved; cold, ancient, waiting with open jaws.
Kael reached for her arm. "We need to go deeper," he said. "If the outer doors fall, this chamber won't hold. The flame must be sealed before it burns through."
Leira hesitated. "What happens if it can't be sealed?"
He looked at her, eyes unreadable. "Then it will burn everything."
The ground trembled harder this time, dust shaking from the ceiling in thin streams. The air shimmered, and for an instant, she thought she saw fire crawling up the walls, alive and whispering her name.
Leira swallowed hard and took his hand.
"Then show me what I did," she said quietly. "Show me how I sealed it before."
Kael nodded once, his grip firm, grounding her even as the world shifted around them.
The temple walls pulsed brighter, the altar humming louder, the light rising like a tide ready to break.
And as they moved toward it, Leira felt it again, that faint, terrifying pull in her chest.
The fire wasn't waiting to be sealed.
It was waiting to hear her name.