Last Ember:ashes of the World

Night had fallen over the Ruins of Oras, though here, night was a relative term. The sky remained a perpetual twilight, the air heavy with Mist that shimmered like starlight trapped in fog. Jack sat by a collapsed column inside the spire's hollow core, his mind still echoing with the visions he'd seen in the shards.

He'd seen the twin suns, the alien obelisks, the faceless beings who had sent the Mist — and above all, the shadowed figure with starless eyes. The First Host.

> "They're coming," Jack whispered to himself. "Through me. Through all of us."

Lena crouched beside him, her eyes searching his pale face.

> "You've been quiet for hours. What did you see?"

Jack shook his head.

> "Something bigger than all of us. We're just... a stepping stone."

Veyne stood nearby, staring at the walls of the spire as if listening for something distant.

> "And that's why we came here," Veyne said. "To awaken what sleeps in you. Because if the First Host finds you before you're ready... he'll either claim you or crush you."

Lena frowned.

> "You keep talking about him like a myth. But who is he really?"

Veyne turned slowly, his silver eyes solemn.

> "The First Host was once human. A soldier, a scholar — the stories vary. What's certain is that when the Mist first arrived, it didn't kill him. It chose him. He became the first to merge with the Echo fully, without losing himself."

> "But then he vanished," Veyne continued. "And when he returned decades later... he wasn't human anymore. He had changed — mind, body, soul. They say he sees time differently, speaks with the voices of the dead, and carries the Mist in his veins."

Jack's throat was dry.

> "And he wants me."

> "You're the next bridge," Veyne said. "The Mist isn't just in you. It's awake in you. The First Host will come to test you. To see if you're worthy — or if you're just another corpse."

As if summoned by those very words, the Mist outside the spire stirred violently — spiraling into the air, twisting into shapes like screaming faces before dissipating.

Veyne's eyes darkened.

> "He's here."

Jack stood abruptly, adrenaline cutting through his exhaustion. He could feel it too — a presence vast and heavy, as though the sky itself was watching him.

A figure emerged from the fog — tall, cloaked in shifting shadows, his face hidden beneath a hood. But even from a distance, Jack saw his eyes: black voids speckled with collapsing stars.

The First Host.

He walked slowly, each step silent, yet carrying the weight of eons.

> "Jack," the First Host said, his voice deep, resonant, carrying more echoes than one man should have. "You've awakened. At last."

Jack stepped forward instinctively, daggers ready, heart thundering.

> "What do you want?"

The First Host stopped mere meters away, his aura suffocating.

> "I want to see what you are," he said softly. "You've danced on the edge of the Echo's power. But you haven't embraced it."

> "Because I won't lose myself," Jack spat.

The First Host tilted his head.

> "Foolish pride. Do you think yourself stronger than those who came before? The Mist is inevitable, Jack. You can fight it, deny it, but in the end... it will either make you a god, or consume you as dust."

Veyne stepped between them, voice sharp.

> "He won't be yours."

The First Host chuckled — a sound like crumbling stone.

> "You think you're his guide, Veyne. But you're just another delay. Another failure."

Jack's vision blurred — for a second, he saw other Hosts, shadows standing behind the First Host — men and women like himself, all with dead eyes, all swallowed by the Mist.

> "I'm not them," Jack whispered. "I'll find my own way."

> "Then prove it," the First Host said. He raised a hand, and the Mist surged upward, solidifying into a perfect double of Jack — same height, same face, but with burning red veins and eyes like molten glass.

> "Fight yourself," the First Host commanded. "If you cannot defeat your reflection, then you have no right to the Echo."

The doppelganger lunged, moving with all of Jack's speed and strength — but without restraint. Their blades clashed, sparks flying as Jack parried and countered. His clone was relentless, every move familiar, every tactic anticipated.

> "He knows your every weakness," the Echo whispered.

Jack gritted his teeth, his clone slashing his arm — pain flaring hot.

> "He's me," Jack muttered. "But that means I know him too."

He switched tactics — less predictable, using the terrain, throwing debris, exploiting openings even his own reflexes might miss. Slowly, he gained ground, driving his double back.

But the clone grinned — then its form split, becoming two, then three versions of Jack, each attacking from different angles.

Jack was overwhelmed, barely parrying, exhaustion dragging at his limbs.

> "Let me in," the Echo urged. "Let me guide your blades."

> "No... I have to do this myself."

He forced himself to breathe, to focus — not just on the fight, but on the Mist itself. He could feel the Echo in the clones, a resonance that vibrated differently in each. He closed his eyes for a moment — and the battlefield lit up in his mind, like sonar. He struck blindly — but precisely — and his blade found flesh.

One clone dissipated in a cloud of vapor. Then another. Then the last.

Silence.

Jack stood, panting, bleeding from shallow cuts but victorious.

The First Host watched him with unreadable eyes.

> "Interesting," he murmured. "You're further along than I thought."

> "I'm not your pawn," Jack said.

> "Perhaps not," the First Host said. "But when the door opens, when the true Mist comes through... you'll either join me, or be the first to fall."

He turned, dissolving into the fog.

Jack stood trembling, but alive.

Veyne approached, placing a hand on his shoulder.

> "You survived."

> "Barely," Jack muttered.

Veyne nodded solemnly.

> "And now you know. The First Host isn't just powerful — he's preparing for the return of the ones who sent the Mist."

Jack looked to the horizon, where the fog churned and writhed.

> "Then we'll stop them. I don't care what I have to become... I won't let this world fall."