By the time they returned to the Moonshade Realm, night had already fallen.


    Lydia was taken back to the stone hall Jared had been staying in.


    That room had been hers to begin with.


    Healers moved in and out without stopping, changing her bandages, feeding her medicine, and channeling ghostly miasma into her.


    ric kept watch at the bedside, holding his daughter''s hand and refusing to leave for even a moment.


    Jared was arranged to rest in another stone hall next door.


    Gwendolyn was in the room on the other side.


    Only one wall stood between them.


    Jaredy on the bed and turned over again and again, but sleep wouldn''te.


    It wasn''t because the bed felt unfamiliar.


    That pull was still there.


    Whatever was inside the Pyre Chasm was still calling to him.


    It wasn''t a voice. It wasn''tnguage.


    It was something more primitive than that, more direct.


    It was like blood answering blood, like a soul picking up another soul''s vibration.


    The moment he closed his eyes, he could see the mes in the Pyre Chasm. He could even sense the breathing of those heavenfire beasts.


    They were waiting for him.


    He sat up, pulled on his clothes, and walked out of the stone hall.


    Moonlight spilled through gaps in the ck mist, washing the ruins of the ancient city in ayer of silver-gray.


    A Ghost n warrior on night watch spotted Jared and started to bow, but Jared lifted a hand and stopped him.


    "Couldn''t sleep. Came out to walk around."


    The warrior nodded and didn''t ask anything else.


    Jared made a full circle through the ancient city''s ruins and ended up at the city gate.


    He stopped there and looked east.


    The sky in the east had been dyed a dark red by the glow from the Pyre Chasm, like


    a b of iron heated until it burned.


    That glow flickered in and out behind the ck mist, eerie and strangely hard to look away from.


    "You felt it too?"


    A cool voice came from behind him.


    Jared didn''t turn around. He knew it was Gwendolyn.


    "You felt it too?" he shot back.


    Gwendolyn walked up beside him and stood shoulder to shoulder with him, both of them looking at the dark red sky in the east.


    "I felt it back when we were inside the Pyre Chasm."


    "There''s something at the bottom of that pit," she said softly. "Not a heavenfire


    beast. Something deeper than that. Something older. It''s calling to you."


    Jared turned to look at her. "How do you know it''s calling to me?"


    "Because before you showed up, it never called," Gwendolyn said, ncing at him. "Then you came, and it woke up."


    Jared said nothing.


    "The Pyre Chasm has been there for tens of thousands of years. Countless powerful cultivators went in and never came back out," Gwendolyn went on. "But you went in, came back alive, and even killed the heavenfire beast king. Don''t you think that''s strange?"


    "I got lucky," Jared said.


    The corner of Gwendolyn''s mouth tipped up a little. There was a trace of mockery in that smile. "That''s what you always say. Every time, it''s luck. All the way here, every time, it''s luck. Jared, don''t you think you''re being a little too modest?"


    Jared still didn''t answer.


    Gwendolyn kept her eyes on the eastern sky, and when she spoke again, her voice had eased some. "You have the primal fire-essence inside you. The heavenfire in the Pyre Chasmes from the same source. And you carry chaotic force, something that can contain all things. I can tell the thing inside the Pyre Chasm is waiting for someone. It waited for tens of thousands of years. Now it''s finally found you."


    Jared drew in a deep breath. "Do you think I should go back?"


    "Do you think you should go back?" Gwendolyn shot back.


    Jared stood there for a long time without saying a word.


    "I think I should," Jared said atst. "But I don''t know what I''ll be facing once I go back."


    Gwendolyn nodded. "Then go back. Your instincts have never lied to you."


    She turned and headed for the stone hall.


    After a few steps, she stopped again.


    She didn''t look back.


    "Come back alive."


    Then she left.


    Jared stayed at the city gate and watched her back fade into the moonlight.


    Something warm rose quietly through his chest.


    This woman always sounded like ice when she spoke.


    But underneath it, there was a softness she never put on disy.


    He turned and looked east.


    The dark red glow flickered inside the ck fog, as if it were blinking at him.


    "Come back alive," he murmured. "Of course I will."


    *****


    Early the next morning, Jared went to find ric Wraithmoor. ric Wraithmoor was feeding Lydia Wraithmoor her medicine.


    The moment he saw Jarede in, he hurried to his feet. "Mr. Chance,


    injuries any better vel?


    s you here? Are your !!


    Jared nodded. "Much better. Sovereign, there''s something I need to tell you."


    ric Wraithmoor looked at his face, and the air around him tightened.


    "I''m going back to the Pyre Chasm," Jared said.


    The stone hall went still.


    Lydia Wraithmoor froze with the medicine bowl still in her hands.


    She lifted her head and stared at Jared, disbelief written all over her face.


    "Have you lost your mind?" Her voice came out sharp. "You just got out of there. Your injuries aren''t even healed yet."


    "I know," Jared said. "But I have to go back."


    "Why?" Lydia was nearly shouting. "What in that ce is worth going back there to die for?"


    Jared looked at her and said nothing for a moment.


    "I don''t know what''s in there. But I


    can feel it waiting for me. I have toet


    go


    out what it is." Jared


    thruth exactly as it was


    swnover


    Lydia bit down on her lip.


    Her eyes had already gone red.


    She set the medicine bowl down and struggled to sit up from the bed.


    ric put a hand out and held her down.


    "Lydia, don''t move."


    "Dad!" Lydia''s voice shook. "He''s going back there to die, and you''re just going to let


    him?"


    ric fell quiet for a moment.


    He looked at his daughter, then at Jared, and in the end he let out a long breath.


    "Mr. Chance, are you certain?"


    Jared nodded.


    ric let go of the hand that had been holding Lydia down.


    Then he got to his feet and walked over to Jared.


    "Then I''ll go with you."


    "No need." Jared shook his head. "You stay here and take care of Lydia. I can


    handle this alone."


    "But..."


    ?


    "Sovereign Jared cut him off.


    "Whatever''s in the Pyre Chasm isn''t something numbers can solve. The one it''s waiting for is me not anyone else. If you go, all you''ll do is add pointless casualties."


    is it


    ric parted his lips, ready to say something.


    In the end, nothing came out.


    He knew Jared was right.


    "Then you..." His voice had gone rough. "You have to be careful."


    Jared smiled. "Don''t worry. I still promised L I''de back and tell her stories."


    He turned to leave.


    Then Lydia''s voice came from behind him.


    "Jared."


    Jared stopped.