Chapter 4 The Hollow Path

The rogue's final words echoed in my mind long after his last breath.

"She walks in fire."

It should have meant nothing. A dying wolf’s whisper, that was barely more than a riddle. But something about the way he said it created a new flame of unease in my chest.

We had gone expecting spies but met something entirely different.

Back in Crescent, the atmosphere had changed. The guards burned the bodies while Rae carried back the torn cloth with the rune symbols. Mira remained quiet, barely speaking since the ride back. And I… I couldn't stop pacing the mountain trails.

“What if this isn't about Moonshade anymore?” I asked Rae one evening as we stood outside the walls of Crescent on a high edge, watching the trees below.

He didn’t answer at first. Then the wind tangled through his dark hair, and the forest whispers like it was also holding secrets.

“They used to say the Ember Queen held fire not just in body, but also in her soul,” Rae said eventually. “That her flames reached places even the Moon Goddess feared to walk.” he continued.

I looked over. “ Do you believe those stories now?”

“I only believe in what I see.” He turned to me. “And I’ve never seen fire answer anyone like it does to you.”

I sighed, slow. “Then, what if I’m the one waking up to something that I shouldn't?”

“That’s the problem with fire,” he said quietly. “It doesn’t ask permission. It burns whatever stands in its way.”

Two days later, the Crescent Council called me forward.

The chamber was dark, lit with only torchlight and the glowing stone in Theron’s hand.

“This symbol,” he said, holding up the rogue’s rune, “hasn’t been seen in any pack territory for over a century. But the ancient scrolls speak of it as a forgotten faction. ‘THE HOLLOW FLAME’.

I frowned. “What does it mean?”

“A cult,” said one of the Elders. “They believed the Moon Goddess lied. That balance was a weakness. They wanted to revive the original flame, the one that was destroyed before it was created.”

“They followed a wolf who promised fire would make them gods,” Mira added softly.

“And when she fell, they were divided,” Theron finished. “Buried Or so we thought.”

My heart began to beat faster. “And now they’re back, you mean?”

“No.” Theron stared at me. “Now they’re following something new.”

Or someone, I thought.

The mission was decided that night.

A team would be sent beyond the safe lands. Past Crescent borders. Into the empty Path. In a stretch of cursed woods that was once avoided by all packs. It was said that nothing grew there. No wolf howled there and every warrior who walked that path came back either dead or half-dead.

Theron’s voice was firm. “You will lead the team.”

I blinked. “Me?”

“They’re hunting you, Aria, which means they’re waiting for you. If this cult, or whatever they’ve become, is waking something ancient, they’ll sense you before anyone else does.”

“I’m not ready.” I responded with fear.

Rae stepped forward. “You are.”

“You’re not sending me into that place just because I burn brighter than the rest are you?”

“No,” Theron said. “We’re sending you because we believe your fire can survive what waits there.”

The next morning, the team assembled.

Rae, Mira, two giant guards, Joss and Elric, Crescent strongest warriors. And me, armored in thick leather and rune-bound cuffs to help contain my magic if it flared too hard.

We moved fast, slipping between trees and shadow. I wore a hood, but my mark still shines beneath my shirt like it was reaching for something just beyond sight.

By sunset, the forest changed. Birds had stopped singing, branches faced downward, the ground grew soft and ash-like beneath our boots. Just then, Mira touched a tree and pulled back instantly.

“It's hollow.” she said

Elric frowned. “What do you mean?”

“It’s still standing. But it’s dead inside.”

The next morning, we journeyed on the hollow path and I could feel it immediately.

The energy there was wrong. Like something had been drained long ago and was never allowed to heal. The air was cold, although no wind moved, the trees leaned together like they were whispering secrets, roots curled up from the earth like fingers trying to grab at their ankles.

My fire stirred with unease. We walked in silence as hours passed, then a day, then two days.

On the third night, the shadows moved. I jolted awake from my bedroll, heart pounding. The fire I had kindled minutes ago had snuffed out without warning. Rae was already on his feet, blades drawn. Mira whispered a protective incantation, her hands glowing pale blue.

The forest was too quiet. Then a whisper came. It was soft, cold and like a breath on the back of my neck.

As I turned slowly, a figure stood between the trees. It was tall, face hidden, but their presence was wrong. It pressed on the air like poison.

“Who’s there?” Rae barked, stepping forward.

The figure didn’t answer.

Then it turned and vanished with no trace of speed or movement. It was like it had never been there at all.

We kept moving the next day, increasing our pace. On the fourth night, we found the cave.

It was hidden behind a wall of moss and bone-like roots, the entrance yawning open in the base of a very dark hill. The symbols were carved into the stone and the runes were older than any I had seen.

“This is it,” Rae said.

I stepped forward as my fingers brushed the stone, my mark flared to life and the runes lit up, glowing red, then gold, then flame-orange.

The cave opened, inviting me in. The presence was so cold inside. It seemed like the cave had no warmth to give.

We moved carefully. The walls were lined with markings and drawings of different scenes drawn in soot and blood. It showed wolves bowing to a crowned figure with a fire blazing from my chest, armies made of shadows and symbols of the moon broken.

“It’s her,” Mira whispered. “The Ember Queen.”

“But she seems twisted,” I added. “Not the version we know.”

“The version they worship,” Rae said.

At the end of the tunnel, we found a chamber.

And in its center there was a pedestal. On it, a stone bowl flickered with blue fire and I stepped forward.

The flame didn’t burn me but instead, it leaned toward me like it knew my name.

Just then, her chest blazed. The mark shined bright, and visions crashed through her skull.

The flash of a burning temple, wolves chanting, The Ember Queen screaming as chains wrapped around my flames and a voice, low and ancient - this time, clear.

"It was not the fire that destroyed the world. It was the one who feared it." The voice echoed

I staggered back as my hands began to shake in fear.

“I saw her,” she whispered. “I saw her die. Not in glory… but in betrayal.”

The fire in the bowl mumbled and suddenly went off.

Everywhere became silent for a minute and suddenly, the shadows moved again behind us.

Immediately, Five figures stepped into the chamber.

They seemed unharmed but dangerous in a way I could feel in my bones.

The leader stepped forward, pulling back their hood. She was a wolf.

Eyes like silver glass, her hair like black smoke and her skin marked with glowing scars.

“You’ve awakened the path,” she said. Her voice was calm.“The fire has chosen again.”

I raised my hand as I noticed the fire had already begun to coil in my palm.

“Who are you?” I asked

“We are what remains of the Hollow Flame.” The woman said

“You’re a threat.”

The woman smiled. “Not to you. We serve the fire. You are its vessel. It's a promise.”

“I didn’t ask for that.”

“Neither did she.”

I froze. “Who?”

“The one who came before, I mean The Queen. No one understood her either.”

Rae stepped in front of me. “We’re not here for riddles.”

“No.” The woman’s gaze turned cold. “You’re here for warning.”

“What warning?”

She looked directly at me. “Moonshade is already moving. Not to stop you but to use you, your blood, your fire, and your pain. They want to bind you. As they bound her.”

My heart thudded in fear.

“They're preparing a ritual,” the woman continued. “One to trap your soul in flame and a weapon”.

“No,” I said sharply

“Yes,” she replied. “And only you can stop them. But you must decide what you will be. will you be a spark in someone else’s fire… or will you burn your own path?”

We left the Hollow Path by morning. Although the cult did not follow, their words did.

Every step back toward Crescent felt heavier. As I now know what my  visions meant.

It was never about power but about control.

Moonshade had always feared me because they couldn’t chain me.

And now… they would try again.

But this time, I wouldn’t be a girl begging for belonging.

I would be a flame that answered to no one.