Chapter 185: The Sacrifice Star

Chapter 185: The Sacrifice Star
Adira’s POV

The star was dying.

I watched him go.

Ash stood at the edge of the flame chamber, where the portal glowed like a sun in the sky. His wings stretched wide, made of threads of ember and pieces of phoenix fire.

I stood nearby and said quietly, "You don't have to do this alone."

His golden and silver eyes were gentle and sparkling as he looked at me. "Yes, I do."

He gently withdrew his hand when I reached for it. "If I don't return..."

I gave a headshake. "Avoid saying that."

"If I fall, you must take the lead."

"You're not going to fall."

He gave a sorrowful smile. "I'll fly back into your arms after that."

Then he leapt through the light and disappeared.

My heart continued to ache.

I tried to follow him through the bond, reaching out with my flame from the high spire.

Burning through the sky toward the dying light, he flew quickly.

However, he grew dimmer as he approached.

Like a dark wind, the star tugged at his flame.

And right before I disconnected...

He noticed a figure hovering next to him.

Himself.

However, it's darker.

Colder.

The tyrant version.

Whispering.

Awaiting.

I was unable to glimpse within the star.

However, I sensed the struggle.

Ash screamed, and the sound cracked through the bond we shared.

He was fighting.

Not just the star’s gravity, not just the heat, but himself.

Inside the star’s core, the tyrant-self laughed.

It said, "You always return to me."

Ash's response was a swing of flaming light.

The dictator, however, ducked, winding like smoke through the heat.

"Ash, why do you resist?" The shadow said quietly. "To burn for others is what we were born for. Destined to die.

"I'm not yours!" Ash yelled.

“But I am you.”

They clashed, fire against void, in a dance of light and memory.

The tyrant stabbed Ash in the ribs, causing a flash of anguish but no wound.

"You exposed your fire." Now you're empty. Why keep going?”

Ash fell to one knee.

The heat closed in.

His light wavered.

And I got to him in that silence.

I was unsure if it would succeed.

However, I whispered into a single flame that I had lit in the Ember Hall.

"Ash, Ash. Listen to me, please.

I shut my eyes.

I held my breath.

And hoped he would hear my voice.

His flame stirred somewhere deep within the star.

His heartbeat returned to me, faint but still present.

Through the blaze, I said, "I'm still here." "It's not necessary for you to burn alone."

As though it had heard me, the tyrant turned.

Ash got up and spoke louder. "I am no longer yours."

He called forth all of his remaining brightness.

And charged.

The tyrant roared—but Ash didn’t stop.

His hand reached into the heart of the star.

And he located it.

The ember.

In his palm, it blazed like a newborn sun.

He pressed it to his chest.

Then—

The star began to break.

From the Ember Hall, I saw it.

The sky went white.

Next, gold.

Then—

Gone.

The star burst into flames.

I let forth a scream, but nothing came out.

Solenne took hold of my arm. "He carried it out."

"How much does it cost?" I said.

Flame and dust shot across the sky, bursting into a thousand shooting stars.

Then I saw him.

Ash—unconscious, following silver fire, falling like a comet.

The ember he held close to his chest.

He was limp.

Blazing.

And swiftly descending.

Not to us, though.

Stay away from the Flame World.

They dragged him off course.

Attracted to an area more sinister than the emptiness—

The moon is dead.

The instant his spark touched its shadow, I sensed it.

There had been another parasite waiting.

Hiding.

Observing.

And now—

Greeting him.