The silence of the Emberwood sanctuary was unlike any place Ariya had ever known.
No hum of nearby cities. No distant horns or alarms. Just birdsong, shifting leaves, and the occasional crack of Kael's boots against stone as he paced the training ring. Runes glowed faintly on the walls — deep crimson symbols carved long ago, echoing warmth from the very earth. The sanctuary had once belonged to the First Flamebearer.
Now it belonged to them.
Velkar's voice still echoed in Ariya's mind: "Control is not your path. Truth is."She didn't yet know what that meant.
But she was going to find out.
They began training at dawn.
This time, it wasn't sword drills or sneaking through shadows. It was something rawer. Harder. More dangerous.
It was training with their powers.
Kael was the first to step into the ring. His power was subtle — shadow weaving between his limbs, clinging to his skin like a living mist. He vanished and reappeared between trees, dodging strikes that hadn't even come yet.
Lyra followed, her movements fluid and fierce. Her air magic made her quick — dangerously quick. She moved in spirals, flicking compressed wind-blades through the air, slicing targets cleanly in half.
Then came Jax.
Jax's power was chaos.
He absorbed energy from the surroundings — fire, heat, even kinetic force — and then released it in wild, explosive bursts. He once accidentally sent a practice dummy flying into the sky, and Kael hadn't stopped grumbling since.
"I'm working on aim!" Jax yelled, shielding his face from the flames. "It's a creative process!"
"It's a disaster," Lyra called back, laughing.
But it was Ariya's turn that made everything still.
She stepped into the circle.
The moment her boots hit the stone, the mark on her shoulder lit up, golden and bright. Heat poured from her fingertips, swirling like a ribbon of sunlight in the air. Her breath hitched. Every time she focused, the fire responded.
But she didn't feel in control.
She felt like a dam about to burst.
"Don't fight it," Kael called from the edge. "Feel it. Move with it."
Ariya closed her eyes. The fire stirred beneath her skin, dancing with her heartbeat.
She raised her hand.
And the flames obeyed.
A perfect spiral of fire twisted upward, curved in a wide arc, and exploded above the sanctuary in a shower of golden sparks. Even Jax was speechless.
Ariya opened her eyes, stunned.
"I… did it?"
"You did," Lyra said softly.
"Not bad, flame queen," Jax added, grinning.
That night, they sat around the fire eating roasted fruit and bread that Jax half-burned (again).
"You're all improving fast," Kael said. "Too fast. It's like something woke up inside each of you."
"Weird that it all started after the temple," Lyra added. "You think it changed us?"
"I think," Ariya said slowly, gazing into the fire, "that it remembered us."
They were quiet for a long while after that.
The fire crackled. The stars glittered. The Emberwood breathed around them.
Later, while the others slept, Ariya walked alone to the edge of the sanctuary.
Her hand touched her mark. It glowed faintly under her fingers — warm, pulsing. Something inside her stirred. Not just power… but purpose.
"I want to understand you," she whispered to the flame. "Not just use you. I want to deserve you."
A gust of wind passed. The mark flickered once.
Almost… like a response.