Chapter 186: The Second Parasite

Chapter 186: The Second Parasite
Adira’s POV

My initial reaction was one of coldness.

Not on my skin—but in my soul. It tugged at me, heavy and odd. I knew Ash had landed somewhere awful, even though I was still in the Ember Hall.

Above, the sky had grown dimmer.

The altar of flame flickered.

And my relationship with him deteriorated.

I called softly, reaching through it. "Ash..."

No response.

However, I sensed a murmur on the brink of my mind. No sound. No sound.

Just a gut instinct.

Pain.

Ash's body twitched in the distance under the dark moon.

I couldn’t see anything, but I felt it—the way a heart feels lightning before it strikes.

He opened his eyes to black skies and no stars.

There was ash beneath him. Nothing but emptiness above him.

With the ember still pulsating in his hand, he stood slowly.

However, there was a problem.

The air was heavy. With whispers, not with fire or smoke.

They drifted in circles around him, slithering between the fissures of broken stones.

Then, they said something.

Not with fresh voices.

Not with unidentified languages.

His voice, though.

All of them.

Hundreds.

Thousands.

"Ash..."

“Why didn’t you save her?”

"You let them die every time."

"You don't deserve the flame."

“You’re weak.”

He stumbled back, grasping his head. "No—no, I'm not that."

However, they continued.

They confirmed all of his doubts.

All fears.

Every setback.

It was all in his voice.

And I heard them, too, across the connection.

I closed my eyes and pushed my hand to my chest. “Don’t listen to them,” I said. “You are more than what they say.”

But still… I sensed a trembling in the ember’s glow.

He was beginning to believe them.

The murmuring intensified.

Ash collapsed to the ground.

As if it were losing hope, the ember flickered and diminished in his grasp.

In the hall, clutching the flame mirror, I let out a cry, wishing I could rip through the sky and get to him directly.

And then, amid the whirling darkness...

A person moved forward.

A light-veiled figure.

Hair like the sun.

Starlight-like eyes.

She was the one.

The kid.

Not just a girl, though.

She moved as if she were on fire. Kind—but risky. The dark stone was imprint-free from her bare feet. The whispering ceased when she was around.

Dazed, Ash looked up. "You..."

She was kneeling next to him. "I arrived as quickly as I could."

He took a deep swallow. "What is this location?"

“The dark moon,” she added. “The second parasite’s nest. It has always been waiting here.

Ash touched the earth. "Why me?"

She answered, "Because you carry the ember." "Because you've always wondered if you were worthy of it."

Softer now, the whispers stirred once more.

She covered his hand with hers.

Unlike the first, the parasite does not feed. Light is not stolen by it. It thrives on uncertainty. On quiet. On hesitancy

Ash scowled. “Then it’s in me already?”

"Everyone has it," she remarked softly.

She turned her gaze to the sky.

"Yes, even Adira,"

I gasped.

"What?"

Ash stiffened. "No. She’s—she’s strong. She’s not—”

“She is,” the girl interrupted. But even the strongest people can make mistakes. When she carried the Thirteenth Spark, the parasite touched her. She was branded by it.

Ash averted his gaze; his face ached. “She never told me…”

"She was keeping you safe."

Ash rose slowly as the ember in his hand began to glow once more, albeit unevenly and with a throb of emotion.

Quietly, the youngster stood beside him.

"She can still be saved. However, you must comprehend something.

"What?"

"If you hesitate and the parasite takes control of her..." "She'll be the end," she said, giving him a serious look.

Ash looked at the ember below. His hands shook.

And the murmurs came back in unison behind him—

"She's going to fall."

A shudder raced through my bones.

Then I saw it—through the flaming mirror.

Ash stood, clutching the ember as if it were his final breath.

I saw what he saw, too.

An idea.

Abruptly, like smoke, it folded around his mind.

I was on my knees.

My face became blank.

My shoulders are heavy.

I bent my head before a shadow throne.

He initially believed it to be a hoax.

Before he noticed my hands.

Shrouded in black fire.

And I—I also sensed it.

As if something flickered within me. Something I hadn't touched since I'd abandoned the Thirteenth Spark.

"Ash..." I gripped the mirror and whispered out loud. “That’s not who I am anymore.”

But what if it was?

What if the parasite had left something behind in me?

Ash fell back from the vision, breathing hard.

“She’s still fighting,” the child said next to him. "However, the infection is widespread."

He examined the ember he was holding.

Then up into the sky—toward our world's far-off flame.

"She needs me."

The ember was lifted aloft by ash.

It blazed with a riot of colour, deep red, gold, and silver.

With a calm voice, he declared, "I won't lose her."

"I refuse to lose who I am."

Beside him, the toddler watched with folded fists.

Pressing the ember to his heart, Ash closed his eyes.

Around him, light burst forth.

It spilt into the dead moon's crevices.

Through the mist of murmurs, it ripped.

And I felt warm once more for a heartbeat.

From him.

With him.

I smiled, even as tears burned behind my eyes.

However, then—

Above the moon, the sky changed.

The stars grew dimmer.

And the sun—

Was ingested.

There was a black circle in the sky.

A solar eclipse.

Ash felt the earth beneath him tremble.

The voice of the parasite emerged from the crevices:

"The flame goes out now."