The sound of her voice fractured the silence.
Lyra knelt before the cracked obsidian seal, its surface pulsing faintly — black veins glowing with ember-red light. Her hair clung to her shoulders, soaked from the moisture that dripped from the cavern's ceiling. Each drop hissed when it touched the floor, vaporizing on impact.
Teik stood at the edge of the chamber, the Rebirth Flame flickering violently in his chest.
> Something inside that seal… it's breathing.
"Lyra," he said, his voice low, careful. "What is this place?"
Her fingers trembled as she pressed them to the stone. "The world's first mistake," she whispered.
The words hit him harder than any sword.
---
1. The Seal Beneath
Light surged through the cracks, crawling like veins of molten gold. Symbols etched along the walls began to glow — not in unison, but like a heartbeat struggling to find rhythm.
Teik felt the pull immediately — a deep vibration that called to his essence, to the Rebirth Flame that had slept in his soul since the day he woke as an infant.
"Don't move," Lyra said sharply. "It's responding to you."
"I can feel it," he breathed. "Like it knows my name."
"It does," she said, eyes distant. "It's the same flame… but older. Purer."
A sharp crack split the air, and the seal's center fissured like glass. From within came a single whisper — a man's voice.
> "...Teik."
He froze. The voice was impossibly familiar.
"Who—"
> "Do you remember what you burned?"
His vision blurred, the cavern spinning around him. For an instant, he saw something impossible — a skyline of metal and glass, lights flashing red and white, sirens echoing in the distance. His old world.
Then it was gone.
---
2. The Monastery Above
Far above the sealed chamber, the monastery was in chaos.
Master Eira stood before the Grand Bell, her staff planted into the earth. The disciples gathered beneath the trembling sky, sensing the surge of spiritual energy below.
"Contain the Essence Field," she commanded. "No one enters the lower tunnels."
Ren and Mira exchanged worried looks.
"He's down there," Mira said. "You know he won't listen."
Eira's eyes hardened. "Then pray he's strong enough to return."
Lightning tore across the horizon. The mountains shook.
And far beneath them, the world began to stir.
---
3. The Old World's Echo
Teik staggered back as visions flooded his mind.
He saw a boy — himself — younger, human, standing in a hospital room. A woman wept beside his bed. Machines beeped in rhythm with his heartbeat.
He could hear her voice — faint, desperate.
> "You can't leave me, Teik. Not like this."
The smell of antiseptic, the chill of metal, the hum of life support — all of it returned in a rush.
And then — fire.
> "You died once," the voice within the seal whispered. "And you will again, unless you remember what you promised."
Lyra's hand shot out, grabbing his arm. "Don't listen to it!"
Her eyes flared silver again — no, not silver. Something deeper. Ancient.
In that reflection, Teik saw himself, older, battle-scarred — and beside him, Lyra, carrying a blade forged from flame.
They were standing together before this same seal.
> We've done this before.
---
4. The Secret of Lyra
The energy around them began to spiral, tearing at their robes.
Lyra screamed, pushing against the growing pressure. "Teik! You have to leave!"
"No," he shouted back. "Not until you tell me what this is!"
Her lips parted, but before she could answer, the seal spoke again.
> "The Guardian cannot hide forever."
Teik felt her grip falter. The truth hung in the air like a blade between them.
"Lyra," he whispered, "you're not here to help me. You're here to contain me."
Tears welled in her eyes. "It wasn't supposed to be like this."
The obsidian seal burst open with a deafening crack.
Light — red, gold, and violet — exploded outward.
When it cleared, Lyra was gone.
Only the whisper of her essence remained, clinging to the cavern walls like fading smoke.
And Teik — he was alone, staring into the open maw of the seal.
Something stirred within. Something old. Something that remembered him by name.
---
5. The Fracture
Above, the monastery's foundations quaked.
Eira fell to her knees, her eyes widening as the mountain groaned.
Ren shouted, "What's happening?!"
"The seal has been broken," she said grimly. "The Rebirth Flame has remembered its other half."
Mira paled. "Other half?"
Eira nodded slowly. "The Flame of Ruin."
---
6. Between Worlds
Teik knelt before the empty seal, his heartbeat slowing.
The voice was gone, the world silent once more. But deep within his soul, the Rebirth Flame flickered uncertainly — two colors now instead of one.
Red… and violet.
He closed his eyes.
And for the first time since being reborn, he was afraid of himself.
---
End of Chapter 17 — The Fractured Flame