Ice and Fire - by Mariam Akorede

Chapter Four The Elders Speak The world’s balance had begun to unravel. And at last, the ones who had hidden truth for too long could hide it no longer. --- In the ancient Ice Monastery, high above the jagged cliffs of the north, Kaelara was summoned by Elder Tharen—a figure more statue than man, his robes as frozen as his voice. She entered the Hall of Stillness, expecting a reprimand for her lapse in training. But instead, he said: “You dream of flame.” Kaelara froze. She had spoken of it to no one. Tharen stepped forward, placing a single crystal on the table. Within it, flickered a memory: her as an infant, cradled beside a twin wreathed in fire. “You were not born alone.” The words were colder than the wind. He told her everything. Of Elenya, their mother. Of her rare gift—bearing both flame and frost. Of the prophecy that said the world would not withstand two children of such dual power. Of the choice the elders made to separate them at birth. “To raise you together,” Tharen said, “was to risk the return of the Hollow Flame.” Kaelara's voice was barely a whisper. “And now?” Tharen looked at her with something she had never seen before: fear. “Now it returns anyway.” --- At that same moment, far beneath the Flame Peaks, Seren stood in the Grand Ember Archive, flames casting tall shadows across the stone walls. Elder Nyra’s eyes shimmered with grief as she held a scorched scroll. “You had a sister,” she said. Seren’s heart thudded. “Had?” “She lives,” Nyra replied. “But if the Hollow Flame rises… not for long.” The scroll unravelled. The prophecy burned itself into the air, words alight with ancient magic:  “Twins born of one death, bearers of burn and freeze—Shall unmake the world, or bind it in peace.Divided, they weaken. United, they choose.One birth. One bond. One fate to lose.” Seren stepped back, fire curling from her fingertips. “All this time,” she murmured. “You let me think I was alone.” Nyra nodded. “Because we feared what you’d become if you weren’t.” --- Across mountains and oceans, the twins stared into truths older than themselves. Kaelara, who had been told she was enough only in silence. Seren, who had been taught she must always burn brighter to survive. Now, both faced a choice. Ignore the bond—and let the void consume the world. Or find each other again. And risk becoming exactly what the world feared.

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