Ariel

  The golden light dimmed from brilliance to a steady glow, pulsing in slow waves that matched the rhythm of Ariel’s heart. The last echo of Holly’s voice lingered inside her, not as sound but as a vibration that thrummed through her veins, weaving itself into the flame that made her.

  Thirteen years.

  The words repeated themselves, circling through her mind until they struck something deep and fragile. The fire in her chest wavered, the furious red shifting to a faint, trembling gold. Her pulse stuttered.

  Thirteen years

  The number sank into her like a blade. How could it be? She’d only just felt Holly’s hand, only just heard her voice...

  But as she looked ahead, the answer stood before her.

  Holly.

  The woman glowed faintly in the swirling dust, her body framed by the faint halo of her Soulweaver threads. They shimmered around her like strands of moonlight caught in motion, golden and alive... and for the first time, Ariel truly saw her. Not as memory. Not as illusion. But as she was now.

  Time and grief had left its mark in ways that no flame could erase. The smoothness around Holly’s eyes had given way to soft lines, fine but unmistakable. A depth lingered in her gaze, the kind born of too many nights spent waiting for someone who never came home. Faint streaks of silver threaded through her long golden hair, and in the glow, they shone like molten stars. Her shoulders carried both weariness and grace, her face steady and kind but touched by sorrow.

  Ariel’s breath quieted. The heat around her lowered, the flames fading until only the faint shimmer of warmth remained. She floated closer without realizing it, eyes drinking in every detail, every change... every proof of the years she’d lost. A tremor caught in her chest, part disbelief, part grief.

  “Thirteen years…” Her voice cracked, raw with disbelief. She swallowed hard. “Holly… how?”

  Holly didn’t answer at first. Her throat worked around a breath that shuddered on its way out. She met Ariel’s eyes, and the storm of light between them steadied. Her expression was a thousand things at once. Shock, reverence, and heartbreak stitched together. Her lips parted, but no words came.

  A single tear slipped down her cheek, glinting in the light of the fire.

  Ariel’s flames dimmed further. The rage that had once consumed her ebbed away, replaced by something gentler, more fragile. Human.

  She reached out, hand trembling, though the distance between them still glowed with heat. The air carried their breath, the hum of memory threading between them like a heartbeat shared.

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  The world stilled. The air between them hummed, soft and golden, and for a fleeting heartbeat Ariel could almost believe the battle was over.

  Then the canyon shuddered.

  A low, grinding rattle slithered up her spine. Chains, slick and alive, dragging through molten glass. Ariel’s body moved before thought. She spun, wings flaring in a blaze of instinct, just as a massive shadow cleaved through the haze.

  A monstrous leg, sinewed, and dripping with green fire, came crashing down toward them. Ariel caught it mid-strike. The impact drove her backward through the air, her wings struggling but managing to keep her afloat. Her arms screamed under the weight, but she held firm, every muscle burning with controlled fury.

  The abomination loomed above her, reformed and grotesque. Tréga’s new body stretched into something that defied anatomy. The face was half-bone, half-void; the laughter that spilled from its throat was shrill enough to split the air.

  Ariel’s eyes narrowed. The fire around her arms shifted hue, red bleeding into gold where Holly’s threads still clung to her skin. The tether steadied her heartbeat, turning her anger into focus.

  “You don’t get to take anything else from me.” Her voice was low, fierce, steady.

  She drew the fire inward, shaping it. Heat condensed in her palms, light pulsing brighter until it sang against her bones. Then, with a sharp exhale, she released it. The explosion tore the air apart. A pillar of white flame swallowed the monster’s limb, hurling it backward into the canyon wall. The stone cracked on impact, sending sheets of molten debris cascading like rain.

  For a moment, the roar of the flames drowned everything.

  When it faded, Ariel hovered in the air, smoke curling from her fingers, breath ragged but even. She could still feel Holly’s threads pulsing faintly against her wrist; a heartbeat that wasn’t her own. A reminder that she wasn’t alone in this anymore.

  Her gaze flicked back to Holly, who hovered in the distance, golden light shimmering around her. The sight grounded her. The fire stilled just enough for the next breath to come steady.

  For a moment, neither spoke.

  “I need your help,” Ariel finally said softly, the words thick with exhaustion and something like hope. “I can't do this by myself.”

  Holly’s eyes met hers. Fear still trembled beneath the gold but so did resolve. She nodded once, threads rising from her fingertips like living veins of light.

  “You'll never have to again.”

  Ariel drifted nearer until they stood side by side, wings flaring half open, fire rippling down their span in measured waves. The threads Holly wove wrapped lightly around her wrists and shoulders, glowing in time with the flicker of her flames. The two powers did not fight each other; they breathed together.

  Across the canyon, the creature began to stir again. The shape that had been Tréga rose from the rubble, molten ichor sluicing down its sides. Its body towered, skeletal ribs spreading as it reformed its dual chain scythes of bone and sinew. The sound of their grinding filled the air with a dreadful rhythm.

  Tréga’s voice slithered through the heat, layered and broken, half human, half void.

  “Two sparks against the dark? How quaint. Let’s see which one fades first.”

  Ariel’s jaw tightened.

  “You're not laying another hand on her.”

  Her gaze shifted to Holly, their eyes locking in silent understanding. Years apart hadn’t dulled the wordless communication between them. Holly adjusted her stance without being asked, threads swirling outward into a defensive lattice. Ariel lowered her hands, flames spiraling at her fingertips.

  Side by side, they faced the monster; the Phoenix and the Weaver, ready to burn and bind the darkness together.