NOVEL WEB Chapter 34: Chapter 34: The Price of Fire
But the heat still lingered.
Veora lay in quiet ruin, its survivors sleeping beneath makeshift shelters, too tired to cry. The scent of scorched soil and grief hung in the air like a heavy fog.
Kun sat alone at the edge of the village, looking out across the plains where he had first arrived months ago—an alien in a world that had slowly become a home.
Now it was half gone.
---
[Scene 1 – The First Fracture]
He held out his hand.
A flame sparked—then died.
He tried again.
Nothing.
His heart raced. Again. Again. Still nothing.
Then—a burst.
Not gold. Not silver.
But a sudden flare of black.
It vanished in an instant.
Kun gasped, stumbling back, sweat on his brow.
"...Noctis?" he muttered. "But I never—"
His vision blurred.
Suddenly, he saw Herun again—the blacksmith, standing in the fire.
Alive.
"Why didn't you save me?" the man asked calmly.
Kun blinked. "You're not—this isn't—"
Behind Herun stood others. Dozens. Some he barely remembered. Faces from the Mawhold. The prison. Even from Earth.
"You hold the flame," they whispered.
"Then why couldn't you save us?"
Kun fell to his knees.
He screamed—but no one heard.
---
[Scene 2 – Elira's Concern
Elira found him an hour later, curled up behind the broken statue of the village guardian.
He was trembling, his breath shallow.
She knelt beside him.
"Hey," she said softly.
He didn't respond.
She placed her hand on his.
The moment she touched him, a pulse of light flared from his chest—and for a split second, she saw his mind.
The ocean of pain.
The guilt.
And… a figure in the center of it all.
Not Kael.
Not Velka.
But Kun himself, standing inside a flame, whispering words Elira couldn't hear.
She gasped and pulled away.
His eyes opened slowly.
"Elira?" he whispered.
"You're burning," she said softly. "But not outside."
Kun swallowed hard.
"I think the fire is… changing me."
---
[Scene 3 – Orlan's Truth]
Later that night, Orlan gathered the team inside what was left of the temple.
He laid out ancient star maps, scrolls, and fragments of Celestora records recovered from the Skygrave.
"There's something you need to understand," he said grimly. "The Starfire was never meant to be used for long."
Elira frowned. "What do you mean?"
"It's not a weapon. It's a containment system," Orlan explained. "Celestora scholars discovered that the star-gods they locked away could infect reality through thought and memory."
Rhea blinked. "Like a virus?"
"Yes," Orlan said. "They created the Starfire to give chosen vessels the ability to fight that infection… by burning it away. But the more you burn…"
He looked at Kun.
"The more you carry their echoes."
Kun stared at the flames dancing at his fingertips.
"Am I… becoming one of them?"
"No," Orlan said.
"Not yet."
---
[Scene 4 – Kael's Next Move]
Far to the north, Kael stood atop a floating citadel of obsidian, staring into a lake of still water that reflected nothing.
Maelis knelt before him, her face bandaged.
"I failed," she said.
Kael didn't respond.
Instead, he placed a small, black seed into the water.
The lake rippled—and a second Kun appeared in the reflection. But this one had no eyes. No mouth. Only a crown of silent flame.
Kael smiled faintly.
"You've seen the path," he whispered. "Now, I'll walk it faster than you ever could."
He turned to Maelis.
"Summon the Warden of Hollow Stars."
She stiffened. "But he's unstable. A last resort."
Kael's smile deepened.
"So is he."
---
[Scene 5 – Elira and Kun (Quiet Moment)]
Elira found Kun again after midnight, sitting on the cliff where the grass met the stars.
She sat beside him.
"You saved a village," she said quietly.
"But not all of it," Kun replied.
"Then save the rest of the world," she said. "Because I know you can."
He looked at her, eyes tired.
"I'm scared, Elira."
"I know," she whispered. "But you're not alone anymore."
They sat in silence, shoulder to shoulder, as the stars pulsed faintly above.
For a moment, Kun's flames did not flicker.
And for the first time in hours—
He did not feel like he was burning.