The Ember's Call

el clutched the ember, its heat searing her palm, urging her to fight. Soren's staff blazed with arcane fire, but the wyrm's dark magic swallowed her bolts, the air curdling with rot. Torr

t erupted from her chest-not the ember's red glow, but a pure, radiant white, warm as dawn. It flared, driving the wyrm back, its

retreated, bones clattering, vanishing into the fog. Torren lowered his sword, hi

said, her voice sharp.

he stench of blood and ash-dark magic, Soren muttered, woven by Valthor's priests to guard the path to the Whispering Marshes. Kael's li

carved with glowing sigils. She was young, maybe Kael's age, with silver hair and eyes li

f glowed. "W

and someone who knows what you carry." Her eyes flicked to Kael's pocket, whe

ard, his hand on his sword. "Speak pla

ring Marshes, isn't it? Another shard waits there, guarded b

Kael asked, he

es distant. "A vow. When the

ust a bard? I'd so

howing a marsh aglow with starlight, Lys's

areful." His voice held a warmth that made her chest ache, a flicker of something beyo

kittered in the dark. The forest grew denser, its air thick with a curse that made Kael's skin crawl. Lys sang softly,

n the fog-wraiths, Soren warned, bound to a dark god's will. The ember pulsed, and Kael's light flickered again, it

bone and shadow, its blade dripping with blood-curse. Soren's magic flared, Torren charged, and Kael'

en roared, parrying

a god's wrath, and lunged at Lys. Kael tackled her, the ember searing her hand, her light shielding them bo

, venomous. "You ca

g silent. Kael stared at h

og parted, revealing a cloaked figure, her face a mask of starligh