The world tore apart.
Light roared around Lina — gold, white, burning — but she wasn't burning.She was falling.
Then—
Silence.
When she opened her eyes, she wasn't in the classroom anymore.
She stood in a long corridor lit by floating lanterns. Dust drifted like snow. The walls were cracked with age, lined with runes she didn't recognize. It felt familiar and wrong at the same time.
A girl stood at the other end of the hallway.
Small.Tired.Wrapped in a simple academy cloak, her hair tied back with a frayed ribbon. Her shoulders shook with every breath.
Lina stepped closer—but her foot didn't touch the ground.She wasn't in the memory.
She was only watching.
The girl turned slightly, and Lina's breath froze.
She had the same golden flame mark on her wrist.
The last flameborn.
The girl pressed her back against the wall, eyes wide with terror.
"They're coming," she whispered. "They're coming again."
Her voice echoed in Lina's skull like it was spoken inside her bones.
Lina tried to move, to speak, to warn—
—but she couldn't.She had no body in this memory.Only sight.
Footsteps echoed from behind the girl.
Slow.Measured.Cold.
The girl gasped and bolted down the hall, clutching her arm as her flame flickered violently.
"No—no—please—not again—"
She turned a corner too sharply and stumbled.Her knees hit stone.Her breath broke.
Torches flared—
And the council emerged.
Hooded robes.Masks.Glowing runic tools in their hands.
One stepped forward, the leader.His voice was chilling.
"Child of the Seventh Flame. You cannot be allowed to rise."
Lina felt sick."Stop—STOP—leave her alone—!"
But her voice never reached the scene.
The girl screamed, backing away until her shoulders hit stone.
"Why are you doing this? I didn't hurt anyone!"
"You will," the leader said. "Your flame carries the cost. The world cannot bear it."
The girl clutched her head as her flame burst uncontrollably.
Lina recognized the symptoms instantly — memory strain, identity tearing.
The same thing happening to her.
The council advanced.
The girl cried out, "Please! I don't want to forget—I don't want to forget who I am—"
"We will take that pain from you."
"No!"
Lina watched helplessly as the council raised their runic tools — glowing with extraction magic.
The girl's flame flared once more, then—
White.Black.Silence.
When the light faded, the girl collapsed to the ground.
Her flame mark dimmed.Her eyes unfocused.Her voice cracked.
"Who… am I…?"
Lina's heart shattered.
The leader kneeled beside the girl and whispered:
"The world will forget you. And the next flame will rise."
Lina felt something snap inside her.
She surged forward — and suddenly, the world shifted again.
A second memory slammed into her.
The same girl sat alone in a dark chamber.Her hair was shorter.Her eyes hollow.Her flame dead.
She spoke to the darkness, voice barely a whisper.
"If anyone finds this memory… listen. Please. You will be hunted too."
Lina's pulse thundered.
The girl continued—
"They will carve your name on desks you've never touched.They will plant your rune in places you've never walked.They will build classrooms to study you.They will erase you piece by piece…"
Her voice broke.
"And they will make you doubt the people you love most."
Lina felt cold.
The girl looked up—as if staring straight at Lina.
"And if you're watching this…that means you've already begun to forget things."
Lina's breath stopped.
The girl's voice turned urgent.
"Do not trust the council.Do not trust false memories.Do not trust your own flame when it shakes."
She leaned closer—eyes blazing with desperate hope.
"Trust only those whose hearts burn even when the world breaks them."
Lina swallowed, tears burning her eyes.
"And never forget…"The girl choked."You are not the first flame.But you must be the last."
The memory shattered.
Lina's body slammed back into reality.
Her knees hit cold stone.Her breath ripped from her lungs.Her flame raged out of control.
Kai caught her instantly, hands steadying her as she trembled.
"Lina! Stay with me—look at me—hey—hey—"
Reyon knelt on the other side, gripping her arm. "You were gone for too long—your eyes went blank—"
Seren sobbed. "The shard—it was screaming—"
Lina's chest burned. Her vision blurred. Her flame sputtered and dimmed.
Kai pressed his forehead to hers, voice low and fierce."Come back, Lina. Come back to me."
Her lips trembled.
"Kai…" she whispered painfully. "I saw her. The last flameborn.They erased her.And they'll try to erase me too."
Kai pulled her close, jaw clenched, voice shaking with restrained rage.
"Over my dead body."
Reyon swallowed hard. "Uh… guys? There's something else."
He pointed toward the shard Lina had touched.
On its surface, glowing faintly now—
A single burning word:
RUN.
Lina's blood chilled.
The last flameborn hadn't shown her just memories.
She'd shown her a warning:
The council is coming.And they know exactly where Lina is.
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025All rights reserved.