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Chapter Six: What the Fire Left Behind

The storm stopped, but the silence it left behind was worse.

Blood stained the floor. Shattered glass crunched beneath their feet. Aelina and Yvonne were still in the shrine room beneath their home, staring at the journal their mother left behind.

The air was cold. The candles shone violently even though there was no wind.

Yvonne read aloud:

> “Before your twentieth year, you must find Her—the Mother of All. She alone can awaken what sleeps within you.”

As the last word left her lips, the flames around them surged. The journal snapped shut, its edges blackening, and then—

FWOOM.

The book caught fire.

They were scared.

Yvonne gasped and stumbled back.

But in the middle of the burning pages, words formed in fire, glowing, alive:

“The river knows. Follow it.” These words stood boldly in the fire

Aelina stared. “Did you see that?”

Yvonne nodded, pale. “The fire was speaking.”

They didn’t know what it meant—but something deep inside them did. Something that was waking up.

---

Later that night, they searched more through the hidden shelves in the shrine. Most of it was ruined, torn pages scorched, scrolls burned. But a few pages remained.

One was of a worn map of Vale Hollow, drawn in ink. A strange black mark was written over the center of the forest.

Another parchment held only one line:

“The Hollow must remain sealed. He paid the price to contain it.”

“Who paid” Aelina thought aloud

Yvonne whispered, “ And what is sealed?”

Yet, no answers came. By the corner of the page stood a strange sigil besides it was some faded symbols

Neither of them knew what it was .

Neither of them recognized it.

But the man who once wore that sigil would.

And he was their father.

Though they didn’t know it yet.

---

One assassin had survived.

Broken ribs. Burns. But still breathing, still alive.

He crawled out of the woods that night, clutching his shattered mask and bleeding from his mouth.

By morning, the elders of Vale Hollow knew everything.

“They’re not just girls,” the man said. “I saw it. One burned me with light. The other commands shadows at her will. They’re cursed. They need to leave or they would cause a problem”

Fear spread like fire through dry fields.

The Hollow always feared what it didn’t understand. Mystery like this was fear itself.

---

Two nights later, Tala met the girls as they were returning from gathering herbs

“You should leave” She said

“ Is not safe for you anymore, the people are angry, they all believe that you are witches leave now i will come find you”

Then she ran from them. As they reach home. They found their door wide ajar

Inside the house had been ransacked. Furniture overturned, paintings torn.

On the wall, was written in black ash:

“We know what you are.”

Outside, torches glimmered. Dozens of villagers gathered, faces twisted in rage and fear.

Yvonne pulled Aelina back. “They’re coming.”

A stone flew through the broken window.

Now, They need to leave immediately

Aelina clenched her teeth. “We need to leave now

---

They didn’t have time to pack much, scraps of the scorched journal, the sigil, and a small blade their mother had once hid beneath the floorboards.

As they moved out the back door, someone shouted.

“There The cursed ones! Catch them”

Another torch lit. Then another.

They ran.

---

Behind them, people of Hollow screamed while chasing them.

People they once called family now hurled insults and threats. Someone set fire to their garden. Another threw salt across the ground, others threw stones at them.

Aelina didn’t look back, as she held Yvonne’s hand that was shaking in hers tightly.

As they reached the edge of the forest, the pendant around Yvonne’s neck shone.

The same words echoed in both their minds:

“The river knows. Follow it.”

---

Far Beyond Hollow…

Beneath a dying tree, a man knelt by a stream. Gazing at the almost lifeless tree

His hands shaken as he touched the water, eyes glowing faintly with power long buried.

He felt it like a tremor through the land.

> “They’re about to be awakened. They must find her,” he whispered. “Too soon…”

He gritted his teeth.

The Hollow had stirred.

The seal was weakening.

And the twins had begun their journey.

---