Chapter 9 The fire within

Chapter 9: The Fire Within

The forest exploded into motion.

Rami's monsters were on them in seconds-feral things made of ash and rage, their limbs bending at unnatural angles, their fangs too long, too jagged. They didn't move like vampires. They moved like weapons.

Ayo barely had time to react. One lunged at him with a shriek, claws swiping for his face. He ducked, stumbled, and swung his pack like a hammer. The blow connected with a crunch, and the creature went sprawling.

Malakai was already moving, a blur of teeth and fury. He slammed into one of the beasts, driving a dagger into its chest. It shrieked, but didn't die-just hissed and kept fighting.

"They're bound!" Malakai shouted. "To Rami!"

Ayo's heart pounded. The pendant pulsed at his chest, hot through his shirt, responding to the danger, to his fear. He could feel its awareness now, like a heartbeat beneath his own.

Another creature charged.

This time, Ayo didn't move away.

He stood his ground and reached inward, toward the fire he had touched in the hut, the name he had spoken, the soul he had remembered.

Sanyu. Fire-bearer. Soul-bound.

As the creature lunged, Ayo thrust out his hand-and the pendant flared.

A wave of gold light burst from him, slamming into the monster and hurling it backward with enough force to snap a tree in half. It hit the ground with a sound like wet stone, then crumbled into ash.

Ayo staggered, breathing hard. "What-what was that?"

"The relic!" Malakai shouted. "You've awakened it!"

Two more creatures circled. Ayo turned toward them, raising his hands. The light surged again, but weaker this time-just enough to blind them. Malakai finished them both with a pair of swift strikes.

Then the clearing went quiet-save for the hiss of steam rising from the pendant.

Ayo dropped to one knee. "That... took everything."

Malakai ran to him, helping him up. "You're drawing power faster than your body can channel. You have to pace it."

"Wish someone had mentioned that before I shot sunlight out of my chest."

Malakai smiled despite the danger. "You're becoming him."

"I'm still me." Ayo glanced at the ash-scattered ground. "But yeah... I think I understand now."

A slow clap echoed through the trees.

Rami stepped from the shadows.

He looked different-less human. His skin shimmered like obsidian, etched with runes that pulsed with silver light. His eyes were fully white now, like Nyasha's-but colder. Empty.

"You're stronger than I expected," he said. "But not strong enough."

Malakai stepped in front of Ayo. "You'll have to go through me."

"I planned to," Rami replied.

And then he moved.

Faster than anything Ayo had ever seen.

Malakai barely had time to block. Their blades clashed with a sound like thunder, sparks flying. Rami struck again-high, then low-forcing Malakai back step by step. Every blow was brutal. Precise.

Ayo tried to stand, to help, but his limbs felt sluggish. The relic's energy had drained him more than he realized.

Rami slammed a fist into Malakai's ribs. Bone cracked. Malakai stumbled-and Rami seized him by the throat, lifting him off the ground.

"You've always been the weak one," Rami hissed. "Soft. Romantic. Pathetic."

Malakai choked, fangs bared, but couldn't break free.

Ayo forced himself up.

The pendant flared again, but it was weaker now, flickering like a dying flame.

Rami turned to him.

"You think you've remembered who you are," he said. "But memory isn't power. Will is power. Control. Dominance."

"You murdered me," Ayo said. His voice shook, but he didn't back down. "And you murdered Elijah. You tried to kill love because you were too afraid to feel it."

"I killed a traitor," Rami snarled.

"No," Ayo said, stepping forward. "You killed a mirror. Because you saw something in him you couldn't bear to face in yourself."

Rami's face twisted with fury. He dropped Malakai and lunged at Ayo.

This time, Ayo didn't raise the pendant. He didn't need to.

He simply said:

"I am Sanyu. I am fire. I am love returned."

The forest ignited.

Not with flames-but with light.

Every tree. Every leaf. Every shadow burst into golden illumination as the relic surged. Ayo felt it rise through him like a second heartbeat, no longer burning-but becoming. The fire no longer consumed. It transformed.

Rami stopped mid-strike, caught in the brilliance.

Then screamed.

The runes on his body flared violently, as if the light was searing them from within.

"You can't-" he gasped. "You're not ready-"

"I don't have to be ready," Ayo said. "I just have to choose."

The pendant pulsed once more-and released a final wave of energy.

Rami was thrown backward. He slammed into a tree with a sickening crunch and slumped to the ground, unmoving.

The light faded.

Ayo collapsed.

Malakai caught him, lowering them both to the forest floor. For a long time, neither spoke.

Then Malakai whispered, voice rough:

"You just defeated one of the oldest vampires alive."

"Did I kill him?"

"No," Malakai said. "But you marked him. He won't come for you again-not until he figures out how to unmake what you've become. That might take... a century or two."

Ayo groaned. "Good. Maybe I'll finally get some sleep."

Malakai laughed softly. "You scared me."

"I scared myself. I didn't even know what I was doing. It just... happened."

"Because it wasn't your mind guiding you," Malakai said. "It was your soul."

Ayo leaned his head back, resting against Malakai's shoulder. The forest was quiet again-peaceful, for now.

"Is it over?" he asked.

Malakai shook his head. "Not yet. Rami was just the beginning. The relic is awake now, and the old bloodlines will feel it. Some will want to claim it. Others will want to destroy you."

Ayo closed his eyes. "Then we stay ahead of them. We find the rest of the story. And this time, we finish it."

Malakai took his hand.

"We will," he said. "Together."