Draventh had not seen sunrise in years.
A blood-red dawn bled over the blackened spires as Alonso
stood upon the ridge, his cloak snapping in the cold wind. Below him stretched the enemy camp thousands of Varyn's shadow soldiers, their armor reflecting the crimson light.
Kara tightened her grip on her axe. "You really think a
handful of rebels can fight that?"
"No," Alonso said, eyes fixed on the distant citadel. "But
fire doesn't need numbers. It needs only a spark."
Eira approached, her bow slung across her back. "The
villages are waiting for your signal. When we move, every corner of Draventh will burn with rebellion."
Alonso raised Kael's old staff the same one that had saved
him as a boy. "Then let the fire remember who we are."
The attack began with thunder.Eira's arrows fell like rain,
igniting tents and war machines. Kara led the charge through the northern flank, her war cry echoing through the valley. Alonso descended with a tide of flamehis magic no longer wild, but precise, beautiful, devastating.
Fire danced like music around him. Each enemy that struck
only fed his will.The slaves he'd freed from Vaelra fought beside him, their chains reforged into weapons.
But then the ground trembled. The air grew cold.
The shadows themselves began to move.
From the citadel's gates strode Lord Varyn, cloaked in
night, eyes glowing with endless hatred.He raised his black crystal,the Heart of Shadows.
"Flameborn," he hissed, "your father begged before he
burned. Will you do the same?"
Alonso's fire dimmed under the weight of Varyn's aura. The
sorcerer's power spilled across the battlefield like smoke. Warriors screamed as shadows devoured them whole.
"Fall back!" Eira shouted.
"No," Alonso growled. "This ends today
The battle turned into chaos.The air itself became a
weaponfire against shadow, light against void.
Varyn's magic was ancient, corrosive. With a flick of his
hand, he turned flame into ash.Alonso staggered, his mark burning, his strength fading.Then a voice echoed through his mind Kael's voice.
Fire listens to the heart that commands it.
Alonso closed his eyes, steadied his breath, and reached
deeper.Not into rage, but memory.His grandmother's laughter. His father's last stand. The faces of those who believed in him.
When he opened his eyes, the flame was no longer red,it was golden, pure as dawn.
He raised his hand, and the fire obeyed.
Every weapon on the battlefield caught the light. Every
fallen soldier rose once more, not as shades, but as radiant embers ghosts of fire fighting alongside the living.
Varyn's confidence broke. "Impossible!"
"Not impossible," Alonso said. "Inherited."
They clashed, magic against magic, until the sky itself
cracked.
Varyn's citadel shuddered.
Darkness tried to flee the light but could find no shadow
deep enough to hide.
With a scream, the sorcerer unleashed his final spell the
Eclipse Binding, a dome of consuming void.
The battlefield vanished into blackness. No sound. No time.
Only the two of them.
"You cannot kill shadow," Varyn whispered. "It is eternal."
"Then I will burn forever," Alonso said.
He plunged Kael's staff into the ground.
The mark on his hand ignited, spreading across his body in
glowing veins.
Flame erupted not from him, but through him turning his
pain, his losses, his memories into light.The void shrieked. Varyn screamed as the Heart of Shadows shattered.The explosion lit the heavens like a new sun.
When the light faded, the citadel was gone.Only Alonso
remained, kneeling amid the ashes.