The air beyond the sanctum door was wrong. Callan stepped forward, each stride echoing not only against stone, but through his mind—like the space itself remembered everyone who had walked here before him.
Ren and Seris followed cautiously. Solenne hesitated at the threshold, her eyes scanning the rune-lit archway. "This place predates the Ember Saints," she murmured. "Even our records say it was here before the flame was born."
Inside, the passageway spiraled downward in slow, wide turns. The walls were inscribed with runes Callan couldn't read—but something about them felt familiar. He ran his hand along one.
It burned slightly.
Not from heat—but from recognition.
Descent into Memory
As they descended deeper, the light from their torches dimmed, even though the flames burned as usual. The stone absorbed sound. Even their breathing felt quieter.
Finally, the spiral opened into a massive cavern.
It was a vault.
An impossible one.
Pillars of crystal lined the walls, each glowing softly with an inner light. The floor was etched with concentric circles of gold and blackened iron. Floating above the center, suspended in invisible chains, was a coffin of glass and flame.
Inside it, a man lay sleeping.
Wearing Callan's face.
The First Flamebearer
Callan approached slowly, sword lowered. He stared at the man in the coffin—same jawline, same scar along the temple, even the same crooked furrow between the brows. But his armor was different—older, regal, forged in flame.
Solenne's voice cracked. "That's… impossible."
"It's not him," Ren said. "Can't be."
"No," Solenne replied. "It's not Callan. It's the first Flamebearer. The one who ended the Age of Ash. The one who sealed the War-Relics."
"Then why does he look like me?" Callan asked.
Seris snorted. "You sure you're not some kind of reincarnated god?"
The flame in the coffin pulsed.
Then—the man opened his eyes.
A Voice from the Flame
None of them moved.
The coffin did not open. But the air vibrated with power, and the voice came not from the figure's mouth, but from everywhere at once.
"At last. Another spark."
Callan steadied himself. "Who are you?"
"The first. The one who stood when the flame was born. The one who fell when it became too much."
Callan's heart pounded. "You sealed yourself down here?"
"To keep the fire from consuming the world again."
Ren drew his bow. "Is he a threat?"
"No more than the future you bring."
The light in the cavern dimmed.
"The Ashen Order seeks the Heartflame. If they find it before you do, the world will burn—not in fire, but in hunger. The void walks with them now."
"Where is the Heartflame?" Callan asked.
"Beyond the eastern spine. Beneath the black sands. In the city that does not die."
Then, the voice became colder.
"But first, you must remember what you are."
Flames of the Past
Callan's mind was ripped away.
He staggered. Fell.
The cavern vanished.
He stood in another place, another time.
A battlefield.
Not one he remembered—but one he knew. Hundreds of warriors burned with fire like his. Monsters made of shadow screamed through the sky.
He stood at the head of an army, commanding gods and monsters alike.
He was the Flamebearer.
But something went wrong.
The fire turned on them.
Friends turned to ash. Cities collapsed in holy inferno. The very air screamed.
In his vision, he stood atop a mountain of skulls, eyes glowing white.
And he laughed.
Return
Callan gasped and jolted upright, back in the vault.
Seris caught him before he fell. "Hey! You with us?"
He blinked. "I… saw it. The fire. What I was."
Solenne stepped closer. "That was an echo of memory. A truth buried in your soul."
Ren frowned. "So what? You were some kind of war god who lost control?"
Callan clenched his fists. "No. I was the last one who tried to stop it."
The voice returned one last time, soft now.
"Find the city. Reclaim the Heartflame. Or the world ends with ash in its throat."
The coffin dimmed.
The vault fell silent.
Decision
Back above, as they stood in the monastery ruins beneath a moonlit sky, Callan turned to his companions.
"I'm going east," he said. "To the dead sands. To find the Heartflame."
Seris grinned. "Good. I like deserts. People die funnier out there."
Ren sighed. "Of course we're following you. You'd get eaten by vultures in an hour."
Solenne looked grim. "If the city he spoke of is real… the Ashen Order will already be searching."
Callan nodded. "Then we'll have to beat them."
He looked east, where the mountains ended and the horizon turned dark.
The fire inside him was no longer screaming.
Now, it was calling.