Liora slowly sat up, her breathing unsteady.
Marin rushed to her side, checking her pulse, while Caleb kept watch with a nervous expression.
"Liora… what did you see?" Marin asked quietly.
Liora hesitated.
How could she explain the shadowed throne and the fiery crown?
"I saw… something calling me," she whispered. "It said I'm the 'last Ember'."
Caleb frowned. "What does that even mean?"
Before Liora could answer, the ground beneath them trembled again.
From the cracks of the ruin floor, shadowytendrils slithered out, reaching toward them like living smoke.
"Run!" Caleb shouted.
The three sprinted back toward the forest as the shadows chased behind them. Just when a tendril nearly caught Liora's foot, a burst of blue flame shot out of her hand on reflex.
The shadow evaporated instantly.
Caleb stared at her.
Marin whispered, "Liora… you have magic."
Liora herself didn't know whether to feel frightened or powerful.
One thing was certain:
The voice in the vision had awakened something inside her.
And it wasn't going to sleep again.