The morning after the fall of the Ember Spire was silent — unnaturally silent.
The mountain that once blazed like a pillar of fire was now cold stone and smoke. The rivers of lava had hardened into black glass, and the air, once thick with sulfur, now carried only the scent of rain.
Eric awoke to pain. His entire body burned as though the fire still lived beneath his skin. The world around him swam in and out of focus. When he tried to move, his hand glowed faintly — the same silver hue that had ignited within him during the battle.
"Easy," came a soft voice.
He turned his head. Seraphina knelt beside him, her eyes full of worry. Her wings were folded, her horns faintly glowing. Though she looked calm, exhaustion lined her features.
"You've been unconscious for three days," she said quietly. "Your body wasn't meant to hold dragonfire this long."
Eric groaned, forcing himself to sit up. "Three days…? What happened to Drakonis?"
Seraphina looked away toward the horizon, where faint ash clouds still drifted. "Gone. For now. But dragons do not die the way mortals do. His essence scattered with the Heartstone — but it could reform, someday."
Eric clenched his fist. "Then I'll be ready."
She frowned. "You don't understand. What you hold now—" she reached toward his chest "—is part of him."
Eric froze. "What?"
"When you struck the Heartstone, his essence fused with the dragonfire inside it. It latched onto the strongest will in the chamber — yours." Her voice trembled slightly. "You didn't just destroy him, Eric. You absorbed him."
He stared down at his hands, the faint glow beneath his skin pulsing like a heartbeat. He remembered the heat, the fury, the voice that had whispered You cannot kill the fire…
Now that whisper stirred again — faint, deep within his mind.
> "I am the flame. You are merely the vessel."
Eric gasped, clutching his head. The world tilted, and for a moment, his vision burned red.
"Eric!" Seraphina grabbed his shoulders, forcing him to look at her. "Listen to me — fight it! It's his will trying to reclaim itself!"
He took a shuddering breath, forcing his eyes to focus on hers. "I can… I can feel him."
"I know," she said softly. "And if you lose control, he'll rise again — through you."
---
They made camp near the base of the mountain that night, in a shallow cave sheltered from the wind. Seraphina conjured a small flame between her palms — soft, golden, nothing like the destructive inferno that had consumed the Spire.
Eric sat near her, silent. The glow in his veins dimmed, but it never vanished.
"Tell me something," he said after a long while. "Why didn't you kill me when we first met?"
Seraphina looked up from the flame. "Kill you?"
"I was a trespasser," he said with a tired smile. "A human wandering near forbidden waters. You could've ended it before it began."
She shook her head slowly. "Because when I saw you, I saw something I'd forgotten existed — hope. My kind had lost it centuries ago. Dragons are creatures of eternity, Eric. We remember everything, and that memory becomes chains."
She looked at the fire, her expression distant. "But you… you forget pain. You rebuild. You burn and rise again. That's why I couldn't destroy you."
Eric chuckled softly. "You make humans sound noble."
Her gaze softened. "No. Just… stubborn."
For a time, silence returned — a peaceful one. But it didn't last.
A low rumble echoed through the ground. The flame between Seraphina's hands flickered.
She frowned. "That's not thunder."
The sound deepened — rhythmic, heavy. Then came the screech — high, metallic, inhuman.
Eric shot to his feet, grabbing his spear — or what was left of it. The weapon, half-melted, still pulsed faintly with silver energy.
From the darkness beyond the cave, shadows moved — long and twisted. Pairs of glowing eyes appeared in the mist.
"Drakonspawn," Seraphina hissed. "Fragments of his essence. I thought they'd vanished with him."
The creatures emerged into the firelight — humanoid shapes made of smoke and molten bone, their claws dripping with liquid flame. Their forms flickered like unstable fire, and yet they moved with deadly intent.
"Stay behind me," Eric said.
Seraphina gave him a sharp look. "I am not helpless."
Before he could answer, the first of the drakonspawn lunged. Eric swung his spear, cleaving through it — but instead of dying, the creature split in two, both halves reforming with new faces.
"Damn it!" he growled.
"They feed on dragon essence!" Seraphina shouted. "You have to strike with will — not with force!"
Eric closed his eyes for a heartbeat, feeling the fire within him stir. It whispered, eager. Burn them all.
He inhaled sharply, gripping the spear with both hands. "Fine. You want fire? You'll get it."
When he opened his eyes, they burned silver-white.
He thrust the weapon forward — and the world erupted. A wave of light exploded from him, searing through the cave. The drakonspawn shrieked as the silver fire engulfed them, disintegrating their smoky bodies into nothingness.
When the last echo faded, Eric stood panting, the spear's glow fading to a soft pulse.
Seraphina stared at him, her expression unreadable. "You controlled it…"
"For now," he said quietly. "But it's getting stronger."
---
By dawn, they had descended into the valleys beyond the Ember Spire. The land here was strange — burned yet reborn. Small sprouts of green pushed through blackened soil. The rivers ran clear for the first time in ages.
But the deeper they went, the more Eric felt it — the pull in his chest, the hum of something ancient under his skin.
Seraphina noticed his silence. "It's calling to you, isn't it?"
He nodded. "There's something ahead. I can feel it."
They followed the pull until they reached a wide crater, ringed by obsidian spikes. At its center, half-buried in ash, was a massive crystal shard — glowing faintly red.
Seraphina's face hardened. "A fragment of the Heartstone…"
The air around it shimmered, distorted by heat. Eric stepped closer, but the closer he got, the louder the voice inside him grew.
> "You cannot deny me, vessel. You carry my fire, my will. Let me out…"
He clutched his chest, staggering. The silver glow in his veins flared violently, turning crimson at the edges.
"Eric!" Seraphina grabbed his arm. "Don't listen! It's him — the remnant!"
But the voice thundered louder now — no longer just in his mind, but in the air around them.
> "You killed my flesh. You shattered my stone. Now you will become me."
The Heartstone fragment pulsed, and from its glow, a shape began to form — a massive shadow of fire and ash, the outline of a dragon rising from the crater.
Seraphina's wings flared wide. "He's reforming — through the shard!"
Eric gritted his teeth. "Then we stop it here."
He raised his spear — and the fire within him answered, surging like a living thing. The silver glow deepened, burning brighter until it outshone the dawn.
Seraphina spread her arms, chanting in the dragon tongue. Runes of gold appeared around the crater, forming a barrier to contain the forming spirit.
The shadow roared, slamming against the barrier, sending waves of fire through the air.
"Now, Eric!" she shouted. "Strike the core!"
He ran forward, dodging arcs of flame, his boots sliding on black glass. The air felt alive, heavy, burning his lungs. He leapt into the crater and drove his spear into the glowing shard.
The impact tore through his body. Fire screamed through his veins. The world turned white.
For a moment, he was no longer in the crater. He was inside the fire — standing in a void of red light. And before him stood Drakonis, half-shadow, half-flame.
> "You can't destroy me, boy," the spirit growled. "You are me now."
Eric's voice was hoarse, but steady. "Then I'll make sure we both burn together."
He thrust the spear again — not into the shadow, but into his own chest.
The explosion that followed could be seen from miles away.
---
When the light faded, Seraphina stood at the edge of the crater, her wings shielding her from the shockwave. Ash and fire rained from the sky.
When the dust settled, she saw him — lying amid the ruins of the shard, his body smoking but alive. The red glow in his veins was gone. Only silver remained, faint but steady.
She knelt beside him, tears in her eyes. "You fool," she whispered, smiling through them. "You did it again."
He opened one eye, grinning weakly. "Did we win?"
She nodded. "For now."
He chuckled. "Then I'll take that."
She touched his cheek gently. "You burned the darkness within you. But fire… fire never truly dies. You'll have to keep fighting it."
He looked at her, exhaustion fading into something soft. "As long as you're with me, I will."
The wind picked up, carrying the scent of ash and rain. The world, for the first time in ages, began to heal.
But deep beneath the mountains, in the silent depths where the last embers of the Heartstone still glowed, a single spark flared once more — faint, but alive.
> "The flame remembers…"