Smoke curled up from a field of charred grass, dancing like memories in the brittle morning air. The beacon, now cradled in an obsidian cradle within Kaela's quarters at the Umbra Tower, pulsed with a slow, hypnotic rhythm as if aware, as if waiting.
Kaela sat at her desk, fingertips tapping against a spread of ancient maps and scrolls. Her hair was unkempt, the tired sort of beautiful that made her look more dangerous. The first fragment of Aelira's soul was secured, but it raised more questions than it answered.
"Three resonance points lit up the moment we took the beacon," Mirex said, entering her office with a tablet glowing in his hands. "One in New Orleans.... which we already took, one under the ruins of an old elven sanctuary in the Siberian forest, and one... well, this one's strange."
Kaela tilted her head. "Strange how?"
"It's in the middle of a scorched village that doesn't officially exist anymore. Burned down fifty years ago. It was known as 'Ashmere' and it used to be a haven for outcast witches and rogue shifters."
Kaela stood immediately. "I know the name. It was purged during the War of Blades and Blood. The first Concord tried to defend it... and failed."
"Correct," Mirex nodded. "We're talking mass grave levels of trauma. The kind of place that twists magic into... nightmares."
Kaela didn't flinch. "Prep the squad. We go by nightfall."
-----
They arrived under a blood-red dusk.
Ashmere was nothing more than charred husks of homes now, clawing at the sky like the skeletons of forgotten gods. The air smelled of ash and iron. No birds, no wind. Just silence thick with guilt.
Ilara's voice was barely above a whisper. "There are echoes here. Loud ones."
Kaela glanced at her team: Seris, Torren, Ilara, Verran, and Mirex. All alert, all already sensing the shift in magical pressure.
"This place doesn't just remember," Ilara said, eyes glowing with banshee energy. "It relives."
Kaela drew a rune across her chest with a flick of her finger, a ward of stability. "Then let's tread lightly."
They passed a burnt chapel, the bones of benches scattered like broken ribs. Symbols of old gods had been half-carved into the walls, layered over with protective sigils now faded into ruin.
Mirex stopped, eyes narrowing at a strange pattern in the soot. "This... this is a shadow trap. Not active, but recently disturbed."
"Someone's been here?" Seris asked.
"Someone or something that didn't want to leave a trail."
Kaela approached the center of the village. There, among cracked stones and scorched symbols, stood a monument: a half-melted statue of a woman cloaked in ivy. Aelira again.
Ilara stepped forward, placing her hand on the statue.
A sudden wave of pain slammed through the group visions, emotions, memories not their own.
A village under siege. Fire raining from the skies. Screams. Children dragged from cellars. Aelira stood at the center, bleeding, hands raised to cast a desperate ward. Her voice echoing in Old Tongue:
"May this place sleep until the world is ready to remember."
Then darkness.
Ilara collapsed, gasping. Verran caught her.
Kaela stepped toward the statue. "This is a soul marker. She left a piece of herself here."
As if on cue, the ground trembled.
Flames erupted from the earth, spiraling into a figure—twisted and malformed, a phantom built of fire and regret. Its face was a blank mask of scorched bone. It screamed, and the flames exploded outward.
The squad scattered.
Kaela hurled a glyph into the air, shattering the first blast. "It's a Remnant! A twisted soul-echo! Keep your distance!"
Torren spun midair, daggers flashing. "You think?! It's trying to eat my face!"
Seris called down shimmering barriers, reflecting blasts of heat away from Ilara. "I can't hold it for long!"
"Don't!" Kaela shouted. "This thing feeds on resistance. It wants fear."
Verran concentrated, conjuring a mirror of shadow and mist. "Then let's give it something else."
He directed his spell at the monument using it as a focus. The mirror caught the fire creature's attention and showed it… peace. Memory. The village before the flames.
The Remnant hesitated.
Kaela moved quickly. She retrieved a second containment orb and stepped into the circle of scorched earth.
"I don't want to fight you," she said quietly. "You're a whisper of something noble. Let me help."
The creature's fire dimmed.
Kaela channeled her third-stage ability—Dominion Tier—and spoke a command that vibrated with her affinity:
"Return to the chord that bore you."
The fire cracked. Shattered.
And within the core of the Remnant, a shard of golden-green light floated.
Aelira's second fragment.
Kaela sealed it in the orb, which clicked shut with a hum of ancient energy.
The village exhaled smoke drifting upwards like the breath of a spirit freed.
-----
Back at the tower, Kaela stood before the twin fragments resting in containment.
Torren leaned on the doorway. "Two down. One to go."
Kaela didn't answer immediately. She felt the pressure, the complexity. Each fragment made her feel closer to Aelira and yet reminded her how shattered the Lifebinder was.
"She gave everything," Kaela murmured. "To stop a monster we haven't even seen yet."
Torren stepped forward, voice lower. "We'll find her, Kael. You'll put her back together."
Kaela looked up. "Not just for her. For all of us. Because if we fail…"
She glanced at the beacon.
"…we won't survive what's coming."