The young hero retreats toward the crater rim, boots skidding over black glass, but never takes his eyes from the fugitive trapped within the blue flames.
young hero
The mark has never shown me how to stop the return. It only burns when the danger draws near, and tells me where to look.
He reaches the rim and steadies himself beside a splintered pillar of dragonbone. Gold light pulses faintly beneath the mark on his brow.
fugitive
Recognition without remedy. A cruel gift for a frightened boy.
The fugitive remains inside the ancient ring, his ash-gray robes stirring though the air is still. The blue flames lean toward Aria's halo, refusing to cross her shadow.
young hero
I thought reaching the heart would make the answer appear. Instead, every path ends with something waking beneath us.
Silence settles over the ashlands. No bone shifts below, no fissure widens, and neither man moves, leaving Aria between the sealed heart and the waiting fugitive.
Discover the hidden cost of the prophecy-mark