Ashfall Cliff came to life as the lanterns glimmered, and the windchimes sang in the branches.
And then it all vanished again, and I had to know.
“Come.” Taking Rook’s hand, I pulled her through the wreckage, heading toward the back of the estate where the old family temple used to be.
The roof had rotted long ago and only two of the walls still stood. The memorial tablets inside were weathered and faded, but I took the time to clean each one, reading the inscription of all those who’d died.
My hands stilled as I found Uncle Wen and Auntie Mei’s tablets.
Rook came to my side, closing her eyes and focusing on their souls. “They lived until they were old. They were happy.”
“Do you know where they are now? Could we bring them back?”
She frowned before shaking her head. “Just like Dillon, I can hear them, but...I can’t touch them. They’re obscured behind some kind of wall.”
I nodded, hiding my disappointment.
Placing the memorial tablets next to my father and mother’s, I headed out of the ruin and stared at the Gaoligong Mountains. The reds and purples of the setting sun painted the ranges in fire, highlighting the scars I’d caused when I’d lost control the night I’d stupidly left Rook behind and went to the Eastern Crucible.
Even after all this time, the lava and volcanic ash ensured the forest couldn’t grow, leaving a wasteland instead of woods.
The guilt I’d felt ever since I’d lost control grew worse.
We’d been gone so long. We’d destroyed so much and killed so many creatures and...I needed to rectify those sins before I could move on.
“You want to do what we did by the river?” Rook asked softly, picking up on my thoughts.
Turning to her, I shrugged. “Is that even possible?”
She frowned a little as she looked past me to the destroyed mountain range. “It wasn’t just you who killed countless animals that night. The ice I cast went far further than your fire. I’m as much to blame.”
“So we should do something about it, right?” I held out my hand. “At least try?”
Whisper nudged my knuckles with his nose as if he wanted tobe part of our attempt at healing what we’d broken. I scratched his ear. “We won’t be long, Whisp. We’ll go and see what we can do. Wait for us here, alright?”
The panther huffed and dropped to his haunches just as Rook placed her hand in mine.
Together, we stepped into the dreamscape.
The meadow of wildflowers and twinkling sun swallowed us whole before we focused on the mountain range where all of this had started to fall apart.
Together, we stepped from the dreamscape onto the barren wasteland of lava.
Ashfall Cliff perched far in the distance on the cliff edge, barely visible in the dusk. This part of the world looked largely the same, even after three hundred years. Water levels hadn’t crept this high and the twinkling lights dotted in the hills and valleys hinted people still lived here.
Which only made me more determined to fix what we’d destroyed.
“Together?” I held up my hands, summoning the fire. Golden light ignited in my palms, eager and powerful, full of life and energy.
Rook nodded and copied me, her hands filling with silver.
What Frank had said echoed in the back of my mind. She was ice and yin—in touch with death and stillness, the quiet protector of all the echoes that once were, able to manipulate time and carry every history of those who went before us.
But me...I was heat and yang—fire and chaos, able to create life and possibilities.
Together, we were the perfect balance.
And for the first time since we’d awoken, I truly understood what we had become.
