She walked barefoot, guided only by the tap of her cane and the pull of the wind — as if the flames themselves whispered her path.
No one ever asked how she knew where to go.
Solma just knew.
Kael had been sitting on the chapel steps, staring at the sky like it might give him answers.
The name “Zai” still haunted his thoughts, the carved letters on the desk now hidden under his cloak.
When he heard her footsteps, he stood.
“Solma,” he said. “You came back.”
She nodded once.
“The fire spoke again.”
They sat together in silence for a while.
Then Solma spoke:
“You were born in fire, Kael. And now… it returns to claim you.”
Kael’s heart stuttered.
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He thought of the Masked Man. Of the dream. The knife. The blood.
It all made sense. Too much sense.
“You mean… him, don’t you?”
Solma tilted her head slightly.
“Is that what you believe?”
He nodded.
She did not correct him.
But her mind was elsewhere.
She remembered the first time she’d heard the fire whisper his name.
Years ago, when Kael was just a child found near a scorched altar — the night the sky turned red.
She’d never told anyone what the flame said that night.
She wouldn’t now.
Kael leaned forward, whispering:
“He’s connected to me. I can feel it. In dreams. In my hands.”
“And in your heart,” Solma said softly. “But not all that connects us is meant to be embraced.”
He looked up.
“What do you mean?”
She turned her face toward him, blind eyes shimmering in the firelight.
“Some things are born in flame to be consumed. Others… to consume.”
Later that night, Kael sat alone, thinking about her words.
And he made a decision.
If the Masked Man came for him — he would no longer run.
He would find him first.
Far away, the Masked Man stood in a crumbling temple chamber lit by candlelight.
He opened an old scroll, its edges burned, its ink nearly vanished.
One word was still clear:
“Kael.”
And below it, the symbol of the flame — the same one Solma bore on her back, hidden beneath her shawl.
?? Author Note – After Chapter 6: The Whispering Flame
Solma now? ??
“You were born in fire. And now it returns to claim you.” ??
Kael thinks it’s about the Masked Man… but is it really?
foreshadowing — the kind that burns slow before it explodes.
-
-
want?
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really know?
[Nova Childers]