---
Kaelen woke to darkness and the sound of someone crying.
For a moment—just a moment—he was home. In his corner. Listening to his mother move quietly around the hut, preparing for another day of survival.
Then memory crashed over him like lava.
The village. The knights. Dorn. Ruk. The mountain.
He sat up too fast, his head spinning. The chamber was dimmer than before—the orange glow faded to something softer, something that felt like embers after a long night. Mina lay curled against one wall, her face wet with tears she'd cried in sleep. Mira sat beside her, watching nothing, her healed leg stretched before her.
The crying wasn't either of them.
It was him.
Kaelen touched his face. Found it wet. Realized, with distant surprise, that he'd been crying in his sleep too.
Why? he thought. I didn't even dream. I never dream. So why—
But he knew why.
Because somewhere, in the place where thoughts don't go, his body remembered. His body knew that everyone he'd ever known was dead. His body understood that he would never see his mother's sad eyes again, never hear his father's silence, never be mocked by Ruk or ignored by Dorn or pushed away by—
Stop, he told himself. Stop. You can't—you can't think about this. Not now.
He wiped his face. Stood. His stomach growled.
Food. We need food.
He looked at the girls—still asleep, still exhausted, still carrying weights no child should carry. They'd wake soon. They'd be hungry too.
I'll find something. I'll—
"How?"
The word came out loud. Mira stirred, blinked, looked at him.
"How what?"
Kaelen flinched. "I—I didn't m-mean to wake you. I was just—I was th-thinking about f-food."
Mira sat up slowly. Her eyes were red, but her face was composed in a way that made Kaelen's chest hurt.
"We need to eat," she said. "We can't—we can't just sit here."
"I'll g-go. I'll find s-something."
Mira stared at him. Then, unexpectedly, she laughed.
It wasn't a happy sound. It was hollow, broken, wrong—but it was laughter.
"You?" she said. "You're going to find food? How? The whole valley is burned, Kael. The forest is ash. The river's probably boiling. Where exactly are you planning to look?"
Kaelen opened his mouth. Closed it. Opened it again.
"I d-don't know," he admitted. "But I have to t-try."
Mina stirred. Her eyes opened—confused, scared, then slowly focusing.
"Food?" she whispered. "Is there food?"
"No." Mira's voice was flat. "There's no food. There's nothing. We're in a mountain, surrounded by lava, and the world outside is on fire. We're going to—"
She stopped. Pressed her lips together. Looked away.
"Die," Mina finished for her. "We're going to die anyway."
The words hung in the air like smoke.
Kaelen felt them settle on his skin, heavy and cold. Die anyway. After everything—after surviving the knights, after surviving the lava, after being saved by a goddess—they were going to die of hunger in a cave.
This is it, he thought. This is how it ends. Not fighting. Not brave. Just... starving.
His stomach growled again. Loud this time.
Mira's lips twitched. "Even your stomach is pathetic."
"I—I c-can't help it."
"I know." Her voice softened, just slightly. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean—"
"It's okay." Kaelen sat down heavily. "You're r-right. There's n-no food. There's nothing."
Silence.
Mina broke it. "Remember when Ruk stole that bread from the kiln master's hut?"
Mira blinked. "What?"
"Two years ago. He climbed through the smoke hole and dropped it on Dorn's head. Dorn was so surprised he fell into the ash pile."
A pause. Then Mira laughed again—real this time, surprised out of her.
"I remember. He had ash in his hair for a week. His mother kept trying to wash it out, but he'd just—" She stopped. Swallowed.
"Go roll in more," Mina finished. "Because he thought it made him look like a warrior."
They laughed together. Quietly, painfully, tears streaming down their faces as they laughed.
Kaelen watched them, unsure what to do. He remembered the story—he'd been there, at the edge of the crowd, watching Ruk preen and Dorn sputter and everyone laugh. He hadn't laughed then. He'd just watched, as always.
But now—
"His f-face," he heard himself say. "When the k-kiln master caught him. His f-face was so—"
"Red!" Mina gasped. "So red! Like he'd stuck his head in the kiln!"
"And he tried to b-blame Dorn, but Dorn was still in the ash pile, so he just—"
"Pointed at nothing!" Mira was crying now, really crying, but she was still laughing too. "Pointed at nothing and said 'he did it' and there was no one there!"
They collapsed. All three of them. Laughing and crying and holding onto each other because if they let go they might fly apart.
It lasted a minute. Maybe two.
Then it stopped, and they were just three children sitting in a cave, alone in the world, their stomachs empty and their hearts emptier.
Mina leaned against Mira. Mira leaned against Kaelen. Kaelen sat very still, not knowing what to do with the weight of them.
"I miss them," Mina whispered. "I miss Dorn. I miss Ruk. I miss—I miss everyone."
"I know." Mira's voice was rough. "I know."
"Do you think—do you think they're somewhere? Like, after? Do you think the goddess—"
"She couldn't save them." Mira's words were careful, measured. "She said so. The fire—she couldn't control it."
"So they're just... gone?"
Silence.
Mina's stomach growled. Loud and long and undignified.
Mira's did the same a moment later.
They both looked at Kaelen.
He felt his face heat. "Wh-what?"
"Nothing." Mira's voice was strange—embarrassed, maybe. "Just—you're watching us. Why are you always watching?"
Kaelen looked away. "I d-don't know. I just—I d-do."
"Creepy," Mina said, but there was no venom in it. Just tiredness.
"I'm s-sorry. I can—I can go. Give you s-space."
He started to stand.
Mira's hand caught his wrist.
"Sit down, idiot." Her voice was sharp, but her grip was gentle. "You're not going anywhere. We're in this together, whether we like it or not."
Kaelen sat.
His stomach growled again.
They sat in silence, three children alone in the heart of a mountain, hungry and scared and alive.
---
Kaelen thought about his parents.
He hadn't let himself, not really. Every time the thought approached, he'd pushed it away—too big, too heavy, too much. But sitting here, with Mina asleep against Mira and Mira staring at nothing, it crept in anyway.
Mother.
Sella Vorec. Sad eyes. Gentle hands. The way she'd look at him sometimes, like she wanted to say something but couldn't find the words. The way she'd touch his hair when she thought he was sleeping.
Did she know? Did she know what was coming?
Father.
Harren Vorec. Hard hands. Harder silences. The way he'd looked at Kaelen like a disappointment he couldn't quite throw away.
He died thinking I was worthless.
The thought landed like a blade.
He died thinking I'd never be anything. And maybe—maybe he was right.
Kaelen pressed his palms against his eyes.
I can't even find food. I can't do anything. I'm sitting in a cave waiting to starve while a goddess watches and does nothing.
But she had done something. She'd saved them. Pulled them from lava that should have killed them.
Why? he thought. Why us? Why save three useless children when everyone else—
"Kael."
Mira's voice. Quiet.
He looked up.
"Stop thinking whatever you're thinking. It's making your face do that thing."
"What th-thing?"
"The pathetic thing. The 'I'm worthless' thing. It's annoying."
Kaelen blinked. "I—I wasn't—"
"You were. I can tell." She looked away. "I do it too. The thinking. The 'what if I'd been faster, stronger, better' thinking. It doesn't help."
"What d-does help?"
She was quiet for a moment. Then: "Nothing. Nothing helps. But sometimes—sometimes pretending helps. Pretending it'll be okay. Pretending there's a reason."
"Is there?"
"I don't know." She met his eyes. "But we're still here. So maybe."
---
The chamber warmed.
Not gradually—suddenly, a pulse of heat that made them all gasp. The orange glow brightened, deepened, and a section of the wall slid aside, revealing a passage that hadn't been there before.
Children.
The goddess's voice. Softer than before. Gentler.
I have watched you. I have seen your grief. Your pain. Your hunger. A pause. I cannot give you back what you have lost. I cannot undo what has been done. But I can give you a path.
Kaelen stood. Mina woke with a start. Mira pulled herself up, her healed leg steady beneath her.
"A path to where?" Mira asked.
A path to what you need. A path to what you will become. It will not be easy. It will not be safe. But it will be *forward .
The passage glowed. Not with fire—with something else. Something that felt like invitation.
Kaelen looked at the girls. Mina's face was scared but determined. Mira's was unreadable, as always.
"Together?" he asked.
Mira nodded. Mina grabbed his hand.
Together, they stepped into the passage.
---
The floor dropped.
Not fell—glided, like they were standing on something that moved without moving. The walls rushed past them, smooth and dark and covered in images.
Battles. So many battles.
Figures wreathed in flame, fighting creatures of shadow. Warriors standing back-to-back against endless hordes. A woman with fire in her eyes, raising her hands to the sky while the world burned around her.
They flew past too fast to see clearly—glimpses, impressions, stories carved in stone.
"What—" Mina's voice was lost in the rush. "What is this?"
Kaelen couldn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the walls, on the images, on the history rushing past them.
The goddess, he thought. Her memories. Her battles. Her—
A figure. A woman. Standing alone at the center of a burning plain, her face lifted to something he couldn't see.
That's her. That's—
Then it was gone, and the walls showed only stone.
Mina screamed.
Not in fear—in excitement. The passage had opened into something vast, something lit from below, something that made her forget, for just a moment, that she'd lost everything.
Mira grabbed Kaelen's arm. Her eyes were wide.
"Kael—"
He looked.
Below them—endless below them—light. Fire. Power. Rivers of lava flowing through canyons of crystal. Mountains of flame reaching toward a sky that wasn't there. And through it all, shapes moving, patterns forming, something happening that he couldn't understand but somehow felt.
They were gliding through the heart of the world.
Kaelen felt something loosen in his chest. Something that had been tight for as long as he could remember.
This, he thought. This is—
"Kael!" Mina was laughing now, crying and laughing together. "Kael, look! Look!"
He looked.
And for just a moment—just one—he forgot to be afraid.
The passage carried them forward, into the light, into the unknown.
Behind them, the goddess watched.
And somewhere, in the depths of the mountain, something ancient and terrible and hopeful smiled.
---