The first arrow came just before dawn.
It hissed through the Ember Veil and exploded into ash—disintegrated before it crossed the threshold. But it wasn't meant to strike.
It was a signal.
From the shadows of the ridge, enemy warriors surged like a black tide.
They moved fast—too fast for untrained tribesmen. These were elite. Conditioned. Their tattoos weren't decorative. They were activation runes. Their eyes glowed faint crimson under war helms. And they didn't speak.
They charged.
"Positions!" I roared.
Ka'lenna was already moving—her twin blades drawn, her cloak flaring behind her like a phoenix's wings. She was beautiful and brutal, spinning through the first wave with surgical rage. Beside her, our warriors held.
Spears met bone.
Fire met flesh.
I launched into the fray, activating Ashstep—my body igniting in a burst of flame as I blinked behind an attacker. My blade sheared through his spine before he could react. Another lunged for me—I parried, kicked him into a pit trap, then turned just in time to catch a spear with my gauntlet.
Pain lanced through my arm.
But the fire inside me surged higher.
"Behind you!" Ka'lenna shouted.
I spun—and caught a glimpse of her eyes.
Fierce.
Terrified.
And something else.
She fought beside me now, not like a protector—but like an equal. Our rhythm synced—strike, burn, retreat. Again. Again.
Around us, the battlefield burned in concentric rings. The Ember Veil pulsed with pressure as more enemies slammed against it, trying to collapse the field generator beneath the vault.
If they succeeded, we'd be overrun.
Ka'lenna broke formation, darting toward the ridge. Three enemies had breached the upper line.
"Cover her!" I shouted.
Too late.
She stumbled—one blade knocked from her hand, a jagged spear slicing across her side. She fell to a knee.
I didn't think.
I Ashstepped across the battlefield, flames tearing through grass and sand.
Caught the attacker mid-swing.
Snapped his neck.
Lifted Ka'lenna into my arms.
Her breath was ragged. Blood smeared across her ribs.
"I'm fine," she whispered, eyes fluttering.
"You're not."
She looked at me.
And then—
"Back there. When the vault opened."Pause. A breath."I didn't tell you everything."
Another explosion rocked the ridge behind us, but I didn't move.
"I didn't care if you were marked," she said. "I would've followed you anyway."
I froze.
"And I knew," she whispered. "The moment you stepped out of that first vault… you were never going to be mine alone."
I stared at her, stunned.
She smiled—weak, but defiant.
"So just… promise me one thing."
"Anything."
"When you become more than you are now—when you rise past all of us… remember who stood beside you when you were still broken."
My heart thudded once—sharp and deep.
"I swear it," I said.
Then I kissed her.
Not soft.
Not sweet.
But real. Burned into the moment between life and death.
I stood.
Flames ignited at my shoulders, coiling into my arms like serpents of heat.
"They want fire?" I said, voice low. "Then let them burn."
I unleashed the full Ash Mantle for the first time.
Flame flared out from my body in a ring of destruction—scorching the ground, tearing through enemy lines. The air warped. The sky cracked. Warriors fell screaming, their weapons melting in their hands.
The enemy faltered.
Then broke.
We drove them back into the canyon. No prisoners.
Just ash.
When silence returned, the veil still stood.
Ka'lenna lay on the ridge behind me, resting in a cocoon of flame-warmed cloth. The remaining warriors gathered in a circle around me, watching not with fear—but reverence.
And I knew—
This was no longer just survival.
This was dominion.