The chamber quaked as the ember split in two, casting twin lights that flickered across the stone walls. One burned with soft, golden warmth — steady, alive, forgiving. The other was deep crimson, pulsing with hunger and fury.
Emma stood between them, the air searing her lungs. Luke was frozen, eyes locked on the dark ember, his body trembling with the weight of old sin. Mara's spirit loomed behind him, her form wreathed in shimmering heat, her voice like wind through flame.
"Truth or love," she whispered. "One will save you both. The other will consume you."
Emma's mind spun. She wanted to scream at Luke, to demand the rest of the truth, but part of her — the part that had loved him despite the lies — still ached to protect him.
Luke's voice cracked. "Emma… I never meant for her to die. I tried to pull her out. The fire took her before I could—"
Mara's laughter slashed through his words. "You let me burn! You sealed the door, Luke! You were afraid the ritual would finish. You feared what you couldn't control."
Emma staggered back, shaking her head. "No… no, that can't be true."
The golden ember floated closer to her chest, pulsing in time with her heartbeat. When she looked into it, she saw herself and Luke in the early days — the laughter, the warmth, the promises whispered in dark rooms. But behind that light, faintly, was another image: a door closing, and Luke's face on the other side, shadows swallowing him whole.
The red ember hissed. It drifted closer to her outstretched hand, whispering in her ear: The truth burns, but it frees.
Emma's breath trembled. "If I take the truth," she said slowly, "what happens?"
Mara smiled, a flicker of beauty and cruelty. "Then he burns as I did. But the house will rest."
"And if I take love?"
"Then you burn with him. And the house will feed forever."
Luke turned to her, desperate. "Emma, please — don't listen to her. The fire twists everything. Whatever I did, whatever I hid — I can make it right. We can fix this."
Emma stared between them — the man she loved and the ghost he betrayed. The two embers hovered inches apart, their light bleeding into one another, waiting for her choice.
She reached out — her hand hovering over both — and whispered, "No more lies."
Then she did the unthinkable.
She closed her fist around both embers.
A violent shockwave tore through the chamber. The walls screamed, the markings ignited, and fire erupted from the floor, swirling around her like a storm of light and shadow. Luke shouted her name, trying to reach her, but the heat drove him back.
Emma's eyes glowed with twin colors — gold and crimson. When she spoke, her voice echoed with two tones: her own… and Mara's.
"The fire remembers. But now, so do I."
The chamber imploded with light.