Chapter 21: The Mask Slips

  The fire crackled between them, its glow casting long shadows over the ruined remains of Sable Hollow. The town had been abandoned for years, yet tonight, in this moment, it felt full—not with people, but with something unseen, something inevitable. The night air was cool, but the tension radiating between Kael and Varyn made it feel suffocatingly thick.

  The others lingered just outside the conversation, close enough to hear, but not close enough to interrupt. They could sense it—something was coming. Something they couldn’t stop.

  Kael clenched his fists, watching Varyn’s unwavering smile. He had played along, had kept his thoughts quiet, his suspicions hidden—but now the game was over. Varyn knew everything.

  "You can stop pretending," Varyn murmured, the amusement in his voice sharp as a blade. His golden eyes, always unreadable, now held something more—mockery, satisfaction, power. "You don’t need to hide your flame anymore, Kael."

  The words struck like a hammer.

  Kael tensed, but forced himself to remain still. The flames from the fire flickered between them, caught in an unseen wind. His heart pounded, but he refused to give Varyn the satisfaction of seeing his doubt. "So what?" he said, voice level. "You’ve known all along. What does it matter?"

  Varyn exhaled a quiet laugh, shaking his head. "Oh, Kael… it matters more than you can possibly imagine."

  The others were silent, unmoving. Lirien’s gaze flickered between them, her body poised like she was ready to act. Sylas’ fingers twitched toward his dagger. Mira’s expression was tight with suspicion. Rhea had stopped leaning against the ruined wall, her entire stance now coiled, waiting.

  Kael knew they wanted to step in. But they also knew better.

  This wasn’t a fight of blades. This was something else.

  Varyn leaned forward slightly, his smirk never fading. "Tell me, Kael, why do you still hesitate? You wield the Flame Unseen, yet you refuse to embrace it. Why? Because it frightens you? Because you don’t understand it?"

  Kael’s jaw tightened. "Because I don’t trust it."

  Varyn chuckled. "You don’t trust yourself. That’s the truth, isn’t it?"

  Kael’s stomach turned.

  "Think of all you’ve faced," Varyn continued smoothly. "The Riftspawn. The scorpion. The gangs. The desert raiders. You’ve barely survived any of it. Do you really think any of that was by your own strength?" He tilted his head, eyes gleaming. "No. The only reason you are still breathing is because of them."

  Kael didn’t need to ask who he meant.

  The twin moons.

  Lirien stiffened at that, exchanging a quick glance with Sylas. The group didn’t know the full extent of Kael’s connection to Lumina and Noctis—not yet. But Varyn’s words made it painfully clear that he did.

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  "You think the moons chose you?" Varyn asked, voice dripping with amusement. "Tell me, Kael, do you even know what that means?"

  Kael swallowed his anger. "You seem to know a lot about me. But I don’t know anything about you."

  Varyn let out a low laugh. "Oh, but you do. You’ve known me since the moment you first heard my name." He spread his hands, gesturing to the ruins around them. "I walk the same path as you. I search for the same throne as you. The difference, Kael, is that I do not fear what I am becoming."

  The words sent a chill down Kael’s spine.

  "You’ve seen it, haven’t you?" Varyn continued, his smile turning sharper. "The visions. The whispers. The throne. You’ve seen what awaits you at the end of this journey. You’ve seen what must be done."

  Kael’s throat was dry. "I’ve seen a nightmare."

  Varyn leaned back, laughing softly. "And yet you march toward it all the same."

  The fire crackled louder.

  Then, Varyn’s expression shifted. His amusement faded, his smirk dimming into something colder, sharper—deadly.

  "Let’s stop pretending, Kael," he said, his voice no longer playful. "You already know what I am."

  Kael held his ground. "Then say it."

  Varyn’s smile returned—but this time, it was not human.

  "You are Flame Unseen," he murmured, his voice almost reverent. "And I am Void Manifest."

  The moment the words left his mouth, Kael felt it.

  A ripple of power, unseen to the others but felt in the very air. It was the opposite of his own—where his flame burned silver, radiant, celestial, Varyn’s power coiled like a black hole, devouring the light around it.

  The fire between them dimmed.

  The shadows stretched.

  Kael’s stomach twisted in realization.

  A void beam.

  If Kael could fire a Moonfire Beam, then Varyn could unleash something equally devastating—a Void Beam, a power that did not burn, but erased.

  Varyn tilted his head slightly, watching Kael’s dawning understanding. "You see it now, don’t you?" he said softly. "You understand."

  Kael’s breath came slow and even. "I understand that you need to be stopped." Varyn laughed.

  Not a quiet chuckle. Not an amused exhale.

  But a full, unrestrained, cruel laugh.

  The others tensed instantly. Mira gripped her daggers. Sylas shifted into a fighting stance. Lirien’s hand went to her sword. Rhea’s knuckles whitened around her blade. Then—everything exploded.

  A blast of Rift energy erupted from Varyn’s outstretched hand, slamming into Kael’s chest before he could react. The impact was like being hit by a wave of pure force, air ripped from his lungs as he was launched backward, crashing into the remains of a stone pillar.

  Lirien shouted his name, moving forward, but—

  Varyn was already gone.

  Not gone in the way a man flees into the night.

  Not gone in the way someone runs.

  Gone in the way only something unnatural could be.

  A ripple of darkness, a distortion in the air, and he was simply no longer there.

  Kael coughed, forcing himself upright, his vision blurry from the impact.

  Sylas was staring at the spot where Varyn had been, his usual confidence shattered. "What… what the hell was that?"

  Mira turned in a slow circle, daggers raised, scanning the darkness. "Where did he—?"

  Lirien’s face was ashen.

  Kael followed her gaze toward the sky.

  A pulse of violet energy burned above them, a rift in reality itself, opening for only a moment—

  And through it, in the far distance, Kael saw it.

  The Shattered Throne. Standing alone atop the broken mountains.

  And at its base—Varyn. Waiting.

  Watching. His laughter still echoing through the night.

  Kael forced himself to his feet, his body aching, his heart hammering.

  "He’s already there," Lirien whispered. Kael clenched his fists.

  "Then we’re out of time."