The air was thick with smoke the scent of burning flesh. Heat unbearable, licked at Astra's skin as the world around her dissolved into chaos. The city once so alive with the sound of thousands of voices, was now a battlefield.
Astra gripped her sister's hand tighter, her heart pounding in her chest. Lyra's eyes were wide, her face filled with tears.
"You have to go!" Astra's voice came out rough. Her body ached, the fire inside her burning hotter than the blaze of the city.
"No! I won't leave you!" Lyra sobbed, clutching her sister's hand." We can find another way. Please, there has to be another way!"
Astra shook her head, forcing a smile through the pain. She had always been the protector, ever since their parents were taken by the same war that now threatened to consume them both. But Lyra didn't know the truth.not yet. She didn't know that Astra wasn't just her sister, her mentor, or her shield. She was more. And the time to reveal that truth was now, before it was too late.
"There is no other way, Lyra." Astra's voice softened, though the tremble in it betrayed her fear. "You're the one who has to survive this. You have a future, a destiny. But mine ends here."
"No…" Lyra shook her head, her lips quivering as she tried to deny what was happening.
Astra felt the power surging through her, that old, familiar warmth that had been both a gift and a curse since the day she was born. She had been hiding it for so long, fearing what she might become if she ever let it consume her. But now, there was no choice.
The truth spilled from her lips, quieter than a whisper, yet more powerful than any flame. "I am Fenix."
For a moment, there was silence between them, as if the raging fire around them had paused to honor the gravity of her words. Lyra stared at her, confusion mingling with dawning realization. She knew the stories, the legends of the Fenix, the immortal being born from fire, rising again from its own ashes. But she hadn't known the legend lived within her sister.
"What are you saying?!" Lyra gasped, taking a step back as Astra's eyes began to glow, the within her rising, desperate for release. "Astra,stop! Don't do this!"
But it was too late.
The fire within Astra exploded outward,her entire body engulfed in golden flames. She could feel the heat intensity, every cell burning. The power. The full weight of who she was, who she had always been. The flames roared around her, encircling her and Lyra, forming a protective barrier against the devastation beyond.
"I'm not afraid anymore," Astra whispered,her voice filled with the ancient power of the Fenix. Her body shimmered, the flames weaving around her like a living creature , responding to her every command. "I was always meant for this."
"Astra, no!" Lyra reached for her, but the heat was too much. She had to step back, shielding her face as the light grew blinding.
"You have to run, Lyra," Astra said, her voice both commanding and tender. "Run, and don't look back. I will always be with you. Always."
Before Lyra could protest, Astra raised her arms, and the flames obeyed. They surged upward in a towering inferno, blocking Lyra's view. Astra could hear her sister's sobs, but they were fading as the fire consumed her vision. She could feel the life force draining from her, the cost of this final act of power.
The pain finally came, sharp and overwhelming. Her body was breaking down, reduced to ashes. The fire was her own, but it was unrelenting, unstoppable. She was giving everything, every last piece of herself, to protect her sister.
In those final moments, as her vision blurred and the world around her faded into darkness, Astra allowed herself one last thought, one final flicker of hope. The Fenix was a creature of rebirth. She would rise again. But when? And where?
The fire roared, and then...nothing.
Blackness.
Cold.
For a long time, there was only silence. No fire. No heat. Just the void.
But then, from deep within the abyss, Astra felt something stir. A single spark, faint and fragile, but real. It burned quietly, steadily, and slowly began to grow.
She wasn't dead. Not truly. She was something else now. Something waiting to be reborn.
The Fenix had fallen, but Astra would rise again.
Somewhere, somehow, she would live. And when she did, the world would know the full fury
of the fire she had been holding back for so long.