Chapter 24 The First Emberborne
The chamber trembled like a heart caught mid-beat.
Dust sifted down from the vaulted runes above us, falling in thin golden trails that vanished before they touched the ground. The air hummed with a pressure that felt like being underwater thick, heavy, ancient. The pedestal at the center kept cracking, thin fractures spidering through the stone as if something beneath it was stretching… waking.
The woman my impossible mirror, the First Emberborne watched me without blinking. Her irises burned like twin suns.
Eryndor’s hand tightened around mine. “Kaia… don’t move.”
“Trust me,” I whispered, “I couldn’t even if I wanted to.”
Because the First Emberborne’s gaze pinned me in place. Not magically worse. Personally. Like she was seeing everything I’d ever tried to bury.
She took another step, bare feet gliding over carved symbols that pulsed brighter with each movement. Her voice echoed softly, but the echo came a split second before her actual words, like time was trying to mimic her.
“You’ve come farther than I expected,” she said. “Most of your line breaks before they reach this room.”
“My line?” I snapped. “I didn’t sign up for a family reunion.”
“Bloodlines don’t ask for permission.” She tilted her head. “They demand. They shape. They wake.”
A deafening boom shook the chamber. The walls rippled inward, as if a giant fist was punching them from the outside. Eryndor pulled me close, shielding me with his body even though he was still badly injured.
The First Emberborne smiled faintly. “It’s impatient.”
I glared at her. “What is that thing?”
Her smile widened just a little. “A mistake trying to come home.”
Another blow harder. A deep crack split the ceiling, exposing a swirling distortion of red and shadow above us.
I stepped back. “You brought it here.”
“No,” she said, expression cooling. “You did.”
The shard in my hand pulsed once, violently, burning against my palm. I hissed and almost dropped it.
Eryndor grabbed my wrist. “Kaia don’t let go. It’s linked to you now.”
“Yeah? Well maybe I’d like a refund.”
The First Emberborne circled the pedestal, trailing her fingers along its cracked surface. “The shard is the anchor. You are the spark. Together, you’re the only one who can either bind that creature again… or free it.”
Her voice wrapped around those last two words like a threat.
“Binding sounds good,” I said. “Let’s do that. Great plan.”
A soft laugh escaped her. “You say that now. But the binding demands a price your blood has never paid.”
Eryndor stepped forward despite the pain pulling at his features. “Tell her how to do it.”
The First Emberborne considered him. Firelight flickered beneath her skin. “I wasn’t speaking to you, Warden.”
He stiffened. “You know what I am?”
“Oh, I know what you were meant to be,” she said. “And what you failed to become.”
Eryndor’s jaw clenched, but he said nothing.
The ground jolted again. Hard.
A long, inhuman arm black as obsidian, streaked with glowing red veins punched through the chamber wall, claws dragging grooves through the runes. Dust exploded across the floor.
The monster from the sky.
It had found us.
A second claw tore through beside the first, then curled inward as if searching for something.
Me.
Of course.
“Kaia,” Eryndor whispered urgently, “we need the binding.”
“No,” the First Emberborne said.
Her voice killed the air.
Eryndor snapped his head toward her. “What?”
“She is not ready.” The woman’s gaze locked onto mine again uncomfortably knowing. “If she attempts the binding now, her body will tear apart. Her soul will unravel.”
“That’s better than letting the creature eat the world,” I shot back.
“Is it?” she murmured. “I wonder.”
The third strike from the creature sent half the chamber wall crumbling. A colossal eye red, swirling like molten metal peered in at us through the opening.
Its pupil shrank when it found me.
A low growl rumbled the stone beneath our feet.
“Okay,” I breathed. “That’s personal.”
Eryndor grabbed my arm. “Kaia if she won’t help, we have to run.”
“We won’t outrun that,” I said.
The First Emberborne moved to the pedestal. Her hand hovered over its center and the cracks widened into a starburst.
“Your path splits here,” she said. “Two roads. Both ruin you.”
“Fantastic,” I muttered. “Really loving the options.”
She gestured to my shard. “Option one: bind it. Attempt the ritual now. You will likely die. If you survive, you will not be what you were.”
A shiver slid down my spine.
“And option two?” I asked.
Her golden eyes gleamed. “Break the shard.”
Eryndor inhaled sharply. “If she breaks it Kaia, no. That would free the creature entirely.”
“And yet,” the First Emberborne said, “she would live.”
I stared at her.
“No,” I whispered. “You’re lying. That thing wants me specifically. If I remove the one thing tying me to it”
“You misunderstand,” she said softly. “It does not want to kill you.”
The creature shoved its massive head farther into the chamber, snarling. Hot wind blasted across us, reeking of burning stone.
The First Emberborne stepped closer until her face was inches from mine.
“It wants to merge with you.”
My blood froze.
Eryndor grabbed me, pulling me back. “Kaia, do not listen to her”
“She must listen.” The First Emberborne’s voice hit the room like fire cracking metal. “She is half its power already. The shard awakened the rest.”
“That’s impossible!” Eryndor snapped.
“No.” Her gaze softened not kindly, but knowingly. “It is destiny.”
“I don’t do destiny,” I spat.
“Everyone does,” she replied. “Whether they want to or not.”
The creature shoved deeper, claws scraping the floor. Its body was too big for the opening stone shattered around it in chunks.
“Kaia,” Eryndor whispered urgently, “choose. Now.”
The First Emberborne lifted her hands. Fire spiraled around her wrists, weaving into symbols I didn’t recognize.
“You cannot stop what is waking,” she said. “You can only decide how the world meets it through you, or through fire.”
The pedestal cracked completely.
The shard in my palm heated until it seared.
The creature roared, shaking the chamber to its bones.
Two choices.
Two futures.
Both terrifying.
My heartbeat thundered.
I lifted the shard.
Eryndor’s voice broke. “Kaia”
The First Emberborne whispered, “Choose.”
And just as the creature lunged
I made my decision.
The chamber exploded into blinding gold.
End of Chapter 24.