Exiled Mage of the Outlands

They heard the crack before the flame.

A pop of sap bursting in the fire?A twig beneath a night-creeper's paw?

No.

A glyph igniting mid-air.

Kael didn't need to see it to know something was wrong. His pulse kicked into his throat like a drumbeat. He rose to his feet, yanking Riven with him a half-second before a flaming spear burst through the side of their camp, smashing into the log where they'd been sitting.

Ash exploded upward. Their fire went out instantly.

Kael raised his hand, summoning a barrier of flame-root instinctively.

"Show yourself!" Riven barked, already drawing both her blades.

Laughter answered.

Low.

Female.

And familiar.

She stepped into the ring of dying embers like a specter from a fever dream. A tall woman draped in red leathers, her cloak scorched and stitched with symbols older than the Circle's founding. Her hair was flame-orange, shaved on one side and tangled on the other. Her right arm glowed from wrist to elbow, runes of burning brass carved into her skin.

Kael felt it before she spoke.

She was born of the same fire.

"Kal'Veyr," she said, tasting the name like a curse. "Or Kael now, is it? Took me a while to track your scent through the Outlands."

Riven stepped between them immediately. "Who the hell are you?"

The woman didn't blink. "I'm the one who burns monsters before they become gods."

Kael stepped forward slowly, heart pounding.

"I don't know you."

"You don't remember me," she corrected. "But I remember you. I was a child the day you set the Hollow Vale on fire. Dozens dead. Forests leveled. My parents were your loyalists. Your disciples. They thought you were a savior."

Kael's breath caught.

"I watched them turn to ash when you lost control. When you screamed."

She lifted her rune-carved hand. Fire sparked to life, dancing along her knuckles like hungry serpents.

"My name," she said coldly, "is Aelyra Vynn. The Ember Huntress. I've been waiting a long time to return your gift."

Kael tried to speak—but the guilt hit too fast, too deep.

Memories from Kal'Veyr's life bled through the walls of his mind. Smiling acolytes. Fervent chants. Magic rising—wild and unchecked. A scream of flame that swallowed everything.

"I'm not him," Kael said.

Aelyra stepped forward. "You carry his power. His blood. His voice."

She pointed a finger at Riven.

"And now you carry attachments. How poetic. Want to watch her burn too?"

That did it.

Kael moved.

So did Riven.

The fight exploded like a storm of sparks.

Aelyra moved like liquid fire—her attacks fast, chaotic, brutally elegant. She didn't throw fireballs; she wove fire into her limbs, her blade, the very air around her.

Kael barely blocked a strike before her second blow melted part of his shield spell.

Riven slashed toward her flank, but Aelyra twisted impossibly, fire coiling around her leg and launching her over Riven's shoulder.

She landed, spun, and slammed her glowing fist into the ground.

The forest around them ignited.

Kael screamed a binding word and the earth rose up—roots soaked with Lifebinder magic, forming a dome of bark and green flame. It absorbed the worst of the blast, but even inside, the heat was unbearable.

"We can't hold her in the open!" Kael gasped. "She's feeding on ambient fire!"

Riven was bleeding. Smoke clung to her silver hair like mourning silk.

"She's not trying to kill you," she said darkly. "She wants to break you."

Kael's hands trembled. He could feel it—Kal'Veyr's rage pressing against his soul. Calling for fire. For revenge.

For annihilation.

He looked at Riven.

At her eyes—fierce and terrified.

At her wounds.

At the way she still stood, guarding his side.

And then he looked inside himself.

He could kill Aelyra.

He knew how.

The spell Kal'Veyr had once used on the Hollow Vale still slept in his blood—an incantation of pure elemental ruin.

But if he used it…

Would Riven still recognize him after?

Would he?

He stepped out from the barrier, palms raised.

"I'm not going to kill you," he said to Aelyra.

She snarled. "Then die."

"No," Kael said. "I'll carry it. Your pain. Their deaths. All of it. Because I am him. But I'm not going to repeat him."

Aelyra froze, flames flickering uncertainly in her eyes.

Kael stepped closer. "If you want revenge, take it. But don't pretend it'll heal you."

Her magic wavered. Her lips trembled.

And for a heartbeat, she looked very young. Very broken.

Then she vanished in a puff of heat and wind, leaving behind a scorched Circle seal.

A message.

They're coming.

Later, after the fire had died, Kael sat beside Riven, his face in his hands.

"She could've killed you."

"But she didn't," Riven said.

"She will next time."

"Then next time," she said, leaning against him, "we make her regret trying."

Kael looked at her, weary and scared and utterly grateful.

"I don't know who I am anymore."

Riven's hand found his.

"You're the man who chose mercy."