Chapter 13 The Shadow Of The Sister

Chapter 13 The Shadow Of The Sister
I could still hear the echo of the girl’s voice whispering ‘sister’ as I clutched onto my bed spread and sat uptight on the bed.
It was dawn but my room still felt unnaturally chilled like it was winter.

Just then, Rae knocked softly before entering. He was calm as usual but his eyes scanned my face with concern. “You didn’t sleep.”

I shook my head. “Not much. I had a dream again.”

“The same one?”

“No.” I said as I cleared my throat. “It’s worse. I saw her, my supposed sister.”

Rae leaned against the door with his arms crossed. “Dreams can lie, Aria. You’ve seen what the Hollow Flame can do with illusions.”

“This wasn’t an illusion,” I said sharply with my hands trembling. Then I looked down and saw that faint frost had formed on my palms, shining like shattered glass. “Tell me this is normal,” I whispered.

Rae’s was shocked, but he didn’t answer.

That silence was enough of an answer.

Not long after, Mira found me pacing around the training ground. The morning sun was bright, but the frost on my skin remained.

“Why do you look like you saw a ghost,” Mira asked as she approached me with her staff in hand.

“Maybe I have.” Then I told Mira everything. From  the Oracle’s words to the frost-covered dream and the girl with silver eyes who called me sister.

Mira’s expression darkened. “The Queen’s bloodline… divided. That’s what Elara said.” She paused for a minute then said, “Aria, you remember the old Ember manuscripts I told you about? The ones that spoke of twin vessels?”

“Yes,” I said slowly.

Mira nodded. “Two born of fire but separated by purpose. One chosen to bear the Queen’s heart while the other her shadow. The Council banned those records centuries ago and said it was a myth.”

“But what if it wasn’t?” I responded.

“Then that girl in your dream might not be just a vision.” Mira’s voice softened. “She might be the real one and another part of the Queen’s legacy, walking in a different form.”

I suddenly had goosebumps. “You think she’s alive?” I asked.

“I think something is telling you she is.”

Before I could answer, a heavy wind swept through the courtyard, snuffing out the torchlights along the walls. A few Crescent guards stopped mid-drill, glancing upward. The air shined around me not with heat, but with something colder.

My heartbeat was so fast. “Mira…?”

“Aria, focus,” Mira warned. “You’re losing control again.”

But I wasn't the one controlling the fire. The warmth I knew, my fire was suddenly being pushed aside, swallowed by something colder, sharper. Blue sparks hissed from my fingertips, swirling like frozen embers.

“It’s happening again…” before I could finish, the ground beneath me cracked, sending a thin line of frost snaking across the courtyard tiles. Soldiers shouted. Someone reached for a weapon.

Mira stepped forward, her staff glowing. “Aria! Breathe!”

I was trying so hard but every breath made the cold spread. My fire rebelled against it, flaring orange, then flickering blue again. The two forces warred beneath my skin, fighting for dominance until a sharp pain went through my chest.

Then a voice whispered inside my mind.
“You shouldn’t have called me.”

My vision was blurry. The world tilted, and for a minute, I saw something different from Crescent’s courtyard. The girl was there again, silver-eyed and calm amid the storm.

“You’re not ready,” a voice whispered. “When the frost remembers its fire, only one will remain.”

Then the vision faded.

I collapsed to my knees gasping for breath. My flames guttered out, leaving behind only steam rising from the frostbitten ground.

When I opened my eyes again and saw that I was in the healing wing. My body ached as though I’d been torn apart and stitched back together.

Mira sat beside my bed shadowed by exhaustion. “You nearly froze the entire courtyard,” she said quietly.

I pushed herself up. “What happened to me?”

Mira hesitated. “You channeled something that wasn’t… purely yours. I think your dream wasn’t just a dream. The other presence you felt is connected to your bloodline. To the prophecy.”

“The second fire?” .

Mira nodded. “The frost that walks in the shadows. The question is why now? Why would she reach for you?”

Before I could answer, the door creaked open. Theron stepped in, his expression was unreadable as usual, though the weight of command hung heavy around him. Rae followed silently behind with his eyes downcast.

“You’ve both seen what happened,” Theron said to Mira. “And you know what the Council will say.”

“They’ll want her restrained,” Mira said bitterly.

Theron’s gaze shifted to me. “They already fear your fire. Now they’ll see this frost as proof of corruption. I can shield you for a while, but not forever.”

My gaze met his and I said, “I’m not corrupted.”

“I know.” His tone softened, but his next words carried iron. “But you need to prove it.”

He turned toward the window, watching where storm clouds gathered like bruises. “There’s a training field outside Crescent's old ground, used for flame-bond testing. You’ll go there tomorrow at dawn. Show them you control this power, not the other way around.”

“And what if I can't ?” I said.

Theron didn’t answer.

That night, the fortress slept under uneasy silence. I stood alone in the moonlit side of the courtyard, my cloak pulled tight and the ember mark on my wrist glowed faintly. Every time I closed my eyes, I saw frost spreading over fire and my reflection turning colder.

Just then, Rae approached quietly, holding something in his hand: a small obsidian pendant carved with the Crescent sigil.

“For protection,” he said, offering it to me. “Or at least for luck.”

I took it as my fingers brushed through Rae’s. “You don’t believe in luck.”

“I don’t. But I believe in you.” He said.

The words hit me harder than I expected.

He walked around for a moment, then asked, “That vision… the girl. Are you sure she’s your sister?”

My gaze shifted towards the moon. “I don’t know. But she has my mark and my fire, twisted into something colder. If she’s real, then she’s tied to everything that I have become.”

Rae studied me, his voice low. “And what if she’s the one meant to destroy you?”

I turned to him with fire glinting in my eyes. “Then she’ll have to try.” I said.
—

The next dawn came wrapped in fog. I stood in the center of the old field, the earth scorched and cracked from battles long forgotten. Crescent guards ringed the perimeter, whispering. Theron stood beside Mira at the edge with his arms folded and his face cold.

“Begin,” he commanded.

I inhaled deeply then I reached inward past the trembling fear, past the frost until I felt the familiar warmth rise from within. Flames spiraled up my arms, bright and gold. I closed my eyes, guiding them slowly and steadily.

But then… a shiver ran through my veins.

Cold slipped through me again, subtle as a sigh. Blue fire laced through the gold, swirling like opposing stars. The onlookers gasped. The two colors pulsed in harmony for a heartbeat then clashed violently.

Pain tore through my veins and I dropped to one knee, gripping my chest. My heartbeat echoed in my skull and the world flashed between heat and ice.

Just then a whisper came again.
“You cannot hold both.”

My flames exploded outward, half orange, half blue, colliding midair in a brilliant burst that cracked the ground beneath my feet. The force threw me backward.

When the smoke cleared, I was on my knees, panting. The field was split down the middle and one side scorched black, the other frozen white.

The crowd was silent

Theron’s voice came in calm but heavy, “The prophecy was right.”

I looked up at him, dazed. “What… what do you mean?”

He met my gaze with something between fear and surprise.

“You’re not just fire, Aria,” he said quietly. “You’re the bridge between two halves of a soul. And if the other exists…”

His eyes shifted toward the distant mountains, where faint snow shone under the sun.

“Then she’s waking up too.”