The rune barrier pulsed like a heartbeat.The footsteps beyond it grew heavier — steady, relentless — forming a wall of sound that pressed against Lina's skull.
Advisor Lyrin spoke again, calm as ever.
"Lina Veris.Child of the Seventh Flame.Open the door."
Seren clung to Lina's arm. "Don't. Don't do it. Something's wrong with him. His… his resonance isn't normal."
Reyon frowned. "Yeah, his voice sounds like he swallowed a glacier."
Kai stepped forward, standing between Lina and the barrier.His own shadow aura rippled across the stone floor.
"I'm giving you one warning," Kai said darkly."Step back. Or I'll make you."
A low chuckle drifted from behind the barrier."Oh, Kai Rhen… always so dramatic. And still so predictable."
Kai's jaw tightened.
Lina whispered, "Kai… he knows you."
"He shouldn't," Kai muttered. "I've avoided the council since—"
He stopped himself too quickly.
Reyon raised a brow. "Since what, Kai? Since you got your fancy curse?"
Kai didn't answer.
Before anyone could react—
BOOM.
A blast of pure force slammed into the sealed door.The barrier flickered violently.
Seren screamed, clapping her hands to her ears."They're trying to force the runes! They could break everything down here!"
The ground shook.Dust rained down.Shadows slithered out of cracks like living ink.
Another strike hit the barrier.
BOOM.
It cracked.
Lyrin's voice came through again, colder now.
"Open the door, Lina. I'm giving you the mercy to choose."
Lina staggered backward. "Mercy? You framed me!"
Silence.Then Lyrin's reply came soft and venomous.
"I framed you to protect the academy. You are a danger to yourself… and to us all."
Kai's eyes flashed. "She's done NOTHING to deserve this."
"She exists," Lyrin said."That is enough."
Lina's flame flared uncontrollably — bright, painful.A pulse ripped through her mind, and suddenly—
Her surroundings blurred.
The tunnel faded.The light dimmed.A whisper echoed inside her skull:
"Who are you?"
Lina gasped."Kai—Kai, something's—something's wrong—"
Kai spun to her, hands gripping her shoulders. "Lina. Look at me. Stay with me—"
But she couldn't.
The world flickered again.
A classroom.A bed.A broken shard.A girl screaming.
Her memories scattered like torn pages.
Reyon cursed loudly. "Her flame is slipping again!"
Seren pressed her hands to Lina's temples desperately. "Lina, listen—listen—your name is Lina Veris—your flame is gold—your friends are here—stay with us—"
Lina blinked.
The world snapped back into focus.
Kai exhaled shakily. "You're here. Come back to me. Don't let them erase you."
She clung to his voice.
But the barrier—
CRACK.
Split straight down the middle.
Reyon muttered, "Well, that's bad. That's extremely bad."
Kai pulled Lina behind him. "When the door breaks, we run. Not up. Not toward them. We take the opposite path."
"There is no opposite path," Reyon said weakly.
Kai pointed toward a crumbling side tunnel half-sealed by rubble.A tunnel Lina hadn't noticed before.
The runes etched around it glowed faintly.
Forbidden Wing.
Seren's eyes widened. "Kai, that's the Memory Archives. It's not safe."
"Neither is Lyrin," Kai said. "Move!"
The barrier shattered.
White light flooded the chamber as council hunters stepped through — armored, masked, glowing with suppression runes. Lyrin entered last, robes pristine, expression blank.
He raised his hand.
"Lina Veris.You are hereby taken into council custody."
Reyon rolled his eyes even while panicking. "Custody? Really? That's what we're calling kidnapping now?"
Lina's flame burst involuntarily. "Stay away from me!"
Lyrin's eyes flicked with annoyance."Don't resist. The last flameborn learned that the hard way."
Lina froze.
Kai didn't.
He launched forward, Shadowsteel erupting around him, slashing a hunter aside like they weighed nothing.
"Run!" he roared. "Lina—RUN!"
Reyon pulled Seren and sprinted for the forbidden tunnel.
Lina followed—
But a hand grabbed her arm.
She turned.
Lyrin.
Close.Too close.
His eyes were hollow.
"Child," he whispered, "you carry a flame that was never meant to live."
Her flame flared wildly — reacting to something in him.Something rotten.Something wrong.
Kai appeared behind her with terrifying speed.
His blade pressed to Lyrin's throat.
"Touch her again," Kai said softly,"and I'll show you what an Oathbreaker really is."
Lyrin did not flinch.
Instead, he smiled.
A wide, unnatural, too-sharp smile.
Seren screamed. "Kai—MOVE!"
Kai jumped back—
Just as Lyrin's form flickered.
Once.Twice.
Then dissolved into black smoke.
Reyon swore. "Veilbound mimic! The real Lyrin isn't even here!"
The smoke rushed toward Lina—Her flame exploded in panic—Kai grabbed her and pulled her through the forbidden tunnel—
Just as the hunter squad charged.
The stone cracked.Ceiling collapsing.Darkness swallowing the entrance.
And Lina heard a voice whisper through the rubble:
"You can't run forever, flameborn."
The tunnel sealed behind them.
Leaving Lina, Kai, Reyon, and Seren trapped…
inside the Memory Archives.
Where the walls watch you.Where the past repeats you.Where the truth costs more than your life.
To be Continued© Kishtika., 2025All rights reserved.