The air was heavy with the scent of decay as Kael stepped into the forest. Towering trees twisted unnaturally, their branches gnarled and reaching like skeletal fingers. The path before him was shrouded in mist, each step crunching over leaves that seemed far too old for the season. Somewhere in the distance, the sound of water dripping echoed like a mournful song.

Kael’s breath was shallow, his twin blades strapped tightly to his back. His mind was still reeling from the Weaver’s attack—and from Siris’s death. Yet he clung to the faintest sliver of hope. He hadn’t had the strength to bury her properly; instead, he’d hidden her body among the rocks at the cliff’s edge.

I’ll come back for her. The thought repeated in his mind like a mantra, though the emptiness in his chest warned him there might be nothing left to return to.

The forest deepened, growing darker with each step. Shadows moved in his peripheral vision, darting between the trees, and the air grew colder. Kael gritted his teeth and pressed on, the weight of his new blades comforting against his back.

After what felt like hours, the forest opened into a clearing. Kael stopped, his breath catching in his throat. Before him stood the remains of a grand structure—a ruin of stone and light that seemed to pulse faintly with residual energy.

In the center of the clearing lay two bodies.

Kael’s stomach churned as he approached. The first was a man, his robes singed and tattered, his silver hair matted with blood. His lifeless eyes stared at the sky, a silent testament to the horrors he’d witnessed. The second was a woman, her delicate features frozen in an expression of sorrow. Her armor bore the sigil of the Keepers, though it was tarnished and cracked.

Kael knelt beside them, his heart pounding. He didn’t need anyone to tell him who they were—these were the Keepers he’d heard about in whispered tales. High Keeper Arannis and the Crystal’s guardian, Ellara.

“This is where it happened,” Kael muttered, his voice hollow. “This is where the Crystal was taken.”

His gaze shifted to the center of the ruin. There, a pedestal stood empty, its surface scarred and blackened. The ground around it was cracked and warped, as if the very fabric of reality had been torn apart.

Kael’s fists clenched, anger boiling in his chest. The Weaver had done this. The world was unraveling, and it all led back to this moment.

As the rage built, Kael felt a familiar heat rising within him. His firepower surged to the surface, unbidden and uncontrollable. Flames erupted from his hands, licking at the air and casting the clearing in a flickering orange glow.

“I’ll make them pay,” he growled, his voice shaking with fury. “For this. For Siris. For everything.”

The flames grew brighter, hotter, until they illuminated every corner of the clearing. The heat made the air shimmer, and Kael felt as though he were standing at the edge of an inferno. Yet as the fire consumed him, a strange sensation washed over him—an instinct, ancient and primal, that called to him from deep within.

He turned back to the bodies of Arannis and Ellara. The fire in his hands dimmed, replaced by a faint golden light that pulsed softly, almost like a heartbeat. Kael’s breath hitched as he reached out, the light spreading from his hands and enveloping the fallen Keepers.

“What… what is this?” he whispered, his voice trembling.

The light grew brighter, and suddenly, Arannis’s chest rose as he gasped for air. Ellara’s eyes fluttered open, her hand reaching weakly toward the sky.

Kael stumbled back, his heart racing. “I… I brought them back,” he realized, the weight of his power sinking in.

Arannis sat up slowly, his gaze locking onto Kael. His eyes, though weary, burned with an intensity that pierced through the haze of death. “You… possess the Spark of Renewal,” he said, his voice hoarse. “A gift… and a curse.”

Ellara groaned, her movements sluggish as she turned to Kael. “The Crystal… is gone. The world… fractured.” Her voice was weak, but her words were clear.

Kael dropped to his knees, desperation flooding him. “How do I stop it? How do I fix this? The Weaver—”

“Can’t be stopped by mortal means,” Arannis interrupted, his expression grave. “The Crystal must be restored, or time itself will consume us all. But beware… the path you tread is perilous.”

Before Kael could respond, the forest erupted with a deafening roar. The ground trembled, and a temporal beast emerged from the shadows, its grotesque form a twisted amalgamation of time and decay. Its eyes glowed with a malevolent light, and its claws shimmered with an energy that defied reality.

“Get back!” Arannis shouted, drawing a dagger from his belt.

Kael scrambled to his feet, his blades drawn in an instant. The beast lunged, its claws swiping at Arannis with terrifying speed. Kael moved to intercept, flames bursting from his blades as he swung, but the creature was faster.

Arannis fell first, the beast’s claws ripping through him as though he were paper. Ellara screamed, her voice cutting through the chaos, but her cries were silenced as the beast turned on her.

“No!” Kael roared, his firepower surging wildly.

The flames engulfed the beast, and Kael drove his blades into its torso, channeling all his fury into the attack. The creature writhed and screeched, its form collapsing under the onslaught of fire and steel.

When the flames died, the beast was nothing more than ash. But as Kael turned, his heart sank. Arannis and Ellara lay motionless once more, their bodies beyond saving.

Kael fell to his knees, his chest heaving as the reality of his power sank in. He had brought them back, only to lose them again.

“The Spark of Renewal,” Arannis’s voice echoed faintly in his mind, “is a gift… and a curse.”

Kael clenched his fists, the heat of his firepower burning beneath his skin. He had gained something extraordinary, but at what cost? The power to bring someone back, only to lose them forever after one fleeting moment.

As the forest grew silent once more, Kael rose to his feet, his resolve hardening. He would not let their sacrifice—or Siris’s—be in vain.

The Weaver’s castle loomed in the distance, a dark silhouette against the horizon. And Kael knew, with every fiber of his being, that he would stop at nothing to see it fall.

Kael's hand trembled as he wiped the sweat from his brow, his mind reeling. He had brought them back. For a fleeting moment, they had returned—alive, aware. But now they were gone again, slipping through his fingers like sand.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He dropped to his knees beside their bodies once more, staring at them in silence. The forest was eerily still around him, save for the faint rustle of leaves in the breeze. The air felt thick, oppressive, as though it too was mourning. But amidst the silence, something else lingered—a strange, almost palpable sensation that Kael couldn't shake.

He had done something wrong. Something was wrong.

The feeling gnawed at the back of his mind, a quiet whisper in the deepest recesses of his thoughts. His firepower, the flames that had burned with such intensity moments ago, seemed to churn uneasily inside him. But it was more than that. Something had stirred in the very air around him—a shift. A presence, distant but unmistakable.

Kael’s breath quickened as his eyes darted toward the darkened trees. The feeling only intensified, an oppressive weight pressing down on him. Something was coming, something he could not see but could feel with every fiber of his being.

Suddenly, it hit him—the temporal beast.

His mind flashed back to the moment he had resurrected Arannis and Ellara, to the quiet stirring in the air just before the beast had appeared. The same oppressive weight, the same chilling sensation.

Kael’s pulse quickened, and a cold shiver ran down his spine. Every time I use the Spark of Renewal, he thought, a temporal beast will come.

It was a horrifying realization, one that made his stomach churn with dread. He had thought he was doing something noble, something that might bring hope to a broken world. But the price was far steeper than he could have anticipated.

He stood, his legs unsteady beneath him. The flames that had roiled within him moments ago flickered weakly, responding to the anger and panic that surged inside.

I can't control it.

The thought echoed through his mind like a prison he couldn’t escape. Every time he resurrected someone, it seemed, the beasts would be drawn to his power—a consequence he hadn't foreseen.

He turned his gaze back to the bodies of the Keepers. The power to restore life had been a fleeting gift, and now it felt like a curse.

“I can’t keep doing this,” Kael muttered under his breath. “I can’t…”

But as his eyes lingered on the fallen Keepers, a new fire burned within him. No. He couldn't stop. He couldn't leave their deaths unpunished. He couldn’t let the Weaver's destruction go unanswered.

The weight of his decision settled heavily in his chest. He had already used the Spark of Renewal once. But the fact that he could only bring someone back once… that terrified him more than anything. He had no idea what would happen if he tried again. Would he destroy himself? Would the world around him crumble? The consequences of his power were unknown, and the danger it brought loomed large.

But Kael knew that he could not let this power slip away. He would find a way to control it. He would find a way to use it to reshape the world—to rebuild it in his image. And if the temporal beasts were the price he had to pay for his power, so be it.

Kael took one last look at the bodies of Arannis and Ellara, his heart heavy with a mix of sorrow and rage. The Weaver’s castle still loomed in the distance, waiting for him.

Kael stood motionless in the clearing, the weight of his actions bearing down on him. The air around him was still, silent. The forest had swallowed the noise of his fury, leaving only the echo of his own breath and the crackling of the distant flames he had once unleashed. He felt an icy coldness creep through his chest as the realization settled deeper into his bones—he had made a grave mistake.

Yet, something stirred inside him, an undeniable pull, a gnawing feeling at the edges of his mind. Siris.

Her face flashed before his eyes, her smile, the warmth of her presence. I’ll come back for her, the thought repeated in his mind, like a desperate promise.

He could feel his firepower flickering again, like a tiny ember threatening to ignite. It was raw, untamed, and uncontrolled. But it was his only option. The cost of bringing back Arannis and Ellara had been catastrophic. But Siris… She deserved better than this.

The Spark of Renewal was a curse, but it was also a key. He had to use it again, no matter the consequences. He couldn’t leave her in the cold grasp of death.

"I won’t let you go," Kael whispered to the wind, his heart pounding. He dropped to his knees, his hands trembling as he reached for the ground. His fingers brushed the soil, the rawness of it grounding him, pulling him into a deeper state of focus. The firepower that simmered within him began to grow, roaring to life as he called upon the golden light again.

For a moment, there was nothing but an overwhelming warmth, a consuming flame. But it was not the wild, uncontrollable inferno it had been before. It was something else—something more focused, more precise.

Focus, Kael. Focus.

His heart beat in rhythm with the crackling energy. His hand glowed with golden fire as he let the power flow through him. He pushed, channeled the power not into anger or revenge, but into hope, into the desperate need to see Siris alive once more. He could feel her presence, faint but real, calling to him.

He closed his eyes, centering himself. When he opened them again, his entire being was alive with a golden blaze. The light expanded, reaching out to the spot where Siris’s body had been left.

And then it happened.

The ground beneath him quaked as a new, intense wave of energy shot from Kael’s hands, a shockwave of raw power. He felt the fire within him devouring everything—everything that had once held him back, every fear, every doubt. The beast, the threat of the temporal creatures, even the weight of the curse—everything burned in that moment.

His firepower surged, responding to the call of life itself, and the world around him seemed to warp. The forest trembled, the leaves rustled as though caught in a great storm. For a moment, Kael saw nothing but the blinding light of his own power.

And then—nothing.

The clearing was still again. Kael stood there, breathing heavily, his chest heaving with exertion. He lowered his hands, his firepower still simmering beneath his skin. But there was something else now. A warmth. A pulse. A faint, yet undeniable presence.

Kael’s heart skipped a beat.

Slowly, he turned around, his breath catching as he saw her.

Siris.

She lay before him, not cold or stiff, but breathing, her chest rising and falling. Her eyes fluttered open, and she gazed up at Kael with confusion, then recognition.

"Siris..." Kael’s voice cracked as he dropped to his knees beside her. He reached for her hand, his touch trembling as he held it against his chest.

She blinked, her gaze soft but full of questions. "Kael? What… What happened? How…?"

Kael’s breath caught in his throat. "You’re alive. You’re really here."

Her lips parted, but before she could say anything, Kael’s eyes flicked to the shadows beyond the clearing. He felt it again, that oppressive weight. Something was coming.

A growl rumbled from the depths of the forest.

The temporal beast.

This time, Kael knew. His firepower, still burning within him, was not done. The beast had been drawn here by his resurrection of Siris. The cost of the Spark of Renewal was clear now—it could restore life, but it also invited destruction.

Kael’s hand clenched, and the flames around him grew hotter, brighter. His anger flared once again, this time fully under control. He had already paid the price once.

The beast emerged from the shadows, its grotesque form shimmering with fractured time, its claws reaching toward them. But Kael was no longer afraid. He was no longer uncertain.

The fire within him roared, and with it, he unleashed all the fury, all the rage, and all the pain he had carried with him. The flames erupted from his hands, engulfing the creature in a blaze of golden fury.

The temporal beast shrieked, its form consumed by the flames, its movements slowing as Kael’s fire devoured its essence, erasing it from existence. The beast’s form buckled under the onslaught of fire and energy until, with one final scream, it dissolved into nothingness.

Kael stood, breathing heavily, the flames in his hands flickering and crackling with intensity. The forest around him was silent once more.

Siris, still kneeling on the ground, stared at him in awe and disbelief. "Kael… that… that was incredible."

Kael’s chest heaved as he looked at the spot where the beast had vanished. His heart was pounding, and his mind reeled with the implications of what he had just done. The firepower within him had devoured the beast, but at what cost? What would this power do to him? To the world?

For a moment, there was only silence between them.

Then, Kael met Siris’s gaze, his expression hardening. "I won’t stop. Not now. Not ever."

The weight of his decision pressed down on him, but it only fueled his determination. He had already paid the price for his power. He would pay it again if it meant stopping the Weaver, saving the world, and ensuring Siris’s death wasn’t in vain.

But Kael knew now, more than ever, that the path ahead was fraught with peril. His fire could devour the world if he let it.

And yet, he couldn’t bring himself to care.

For Siris. For the world. For himself.

He would reshape the future.