Ashes of the First Flame

A novel by [Francis 9439]

For centuries, the world of Elaris has burned under the divine light of the First Flame, a sacred fire worshiped by the tyrannical Solar Dominion — a theocratic empire that claims godhood and unity through conquest. The Empress rules with holy fire and iron will, casting down cities that refuse her light, branding all who resist as heretics and rebels.

But across the shattered lands of the Free Marches, a spark of defiance refuses to die.

Kaelen Virelth, the exiled son of a disgraced noble house, is thrust into leadership after his brother is assassinated. Once a scholar and a pacifist, Kaelen becomes the reluctant face of a rebellion. As war spreads like wildfire, Kaelen must decide whether to become a killer to save the world — or lose everything he loves.

On the other side of the war, Serenya Valir, a devoted priestess of the Flame, begins to question the cost of blind faith. Sent to root out traitors within the Dominion, she uncovers dark secrets buried beneath sacred temples — and a prophecy foretelling a choice that will either redeem the world or end it in ash.

Amid the chaos rise other forces: the exiled Scorched Order, mage-knights blamed for a forgotten catastrophe; the elemental Aetherborn Tribes, whose magic the Dominion fears and hates; and the seductive spies of the Sable Garden, who pull strings behind every throne.

As old gods stir and ancient powers awaken, love blooms between enemies, loyalty crumbles into betrayal, and the line between salvation and damnation blurs. To stop the cycle of fire and ruin, someone must destroy the First Flame — or become its final bearer.

But power never dies quietly.

Three months after the Vault sealed, the world was still trembling.


Kaelen stood on the balcony of a wind-worn tower on the southern coast, where once the Dominion had cast dissidents into the sea.


Behind him, laughter echoed down sandstone halls. Children, many born under Dominion rule, now read from books once banned and sang songs passed down in secret.


Serenya had named the place Virelth's Lantern — not after him, but after his family, whose history had been burned out of the records.


Kaelen turned as he heard the soft footfalls he would always recognize.


Serenya, robes traded for simple traveling leathers, hair braided in the old style of riverfolk, smiled as she leaned beside him.


"You should come see this," she said, voice gentler now. "They've translated a poem from before the Flame Wars."


Below, the sea shimmered. The sun set in slow gold. For the first time in years, no smoke choked the horizon.


"The temples in the east have begun rebuilding — without fire rites.


The rebels have laid down arms in three provinces.


And Tharek… vanished. After the Vault, he was never seen again."


Kaelen didn't smile. But he didn't frown either.


"Do you think it's really gone?" Serenya asked.


Instead, he reached into his satchel and pulled out a small ember, sealed in glass. It pulsed faintly, like a heart sleeping.


Serenya took the glass and held it to her chest.


"It's not power," she said. "It's memory."


Kaelen nodded. "And that's all we needed."


That night, across the world, those who had dreamed of fire dreamed again.


In the Vault beneath the mountain, the First Flame slept.


But in a hundred thousand hearts, something had reawakened.


Chapter 14 - The Fire That Remains