Flame devours. Silence erases. But what happens when both refuse to bow?
"They told us stories make the world.
But they never warned us…
what happens when stories go to war."
— The Ashborne Writ
I.
The throne room of the Unwritten Citadel was carved from echoes.
Every step Reginal took whispered back pieces of himself.
"You loved her."
"You betrayed him."
"You were a boy once. You believed."
He did not flinch.
He no longer remembered —
He was the memory.
And at the throne sat Vessira the Hollow-Womb, flesh of parchment, eyes ink-blind, tongue severed but thoughts screaming louder than thunder.
Behind her floated six glyph-masked sorcerers.
Each had forgotten their own birth.
Each was ready to erase Reginal J. Ashveil from time itself.
II.
"You are a fire lit by accident," Vessira's thoughts rasped into his skull.
"We are the silence before creation. The void that keeps truth clean."
"You aren't truth," Reginal said aloud, voice like breaking doors.
"You're fear dressed in riddles. And I'm done pretending silence is wisdom."
He stepped forward.
Mournshard ignited.
But this time… the fire was not alone.
III.
Kammy stepped beside him.
Her eyes burned gold — Dreamfire flaring with conviction.
"I'll be your anchor," she said. "If you start to forget yourself again… I'll cut your way back."
And from the dark, Milo emerged.
Shadow tattoos rippling.
Breathing… Soulfire.
"If they want silence," he said, cracking his neck,
"I'll make them choke on it."
IV.
The room shifted.
This was not a battle.
This was narrative warfare.
Each glyph-caster wielded concepts as weapons:
One struck with Oblivion, causing parts of Reginal's armor to vanish mid-move.
Another cast Guilt, forcing Kammy to feel every soul she'd killed.
A third used Mistrust, making Milo see visions of Reginal leaving him behind.
But the Ashborne Writ was not alone anymore.
He remembered his empire.
He remembered the pain.
And with every swing of Mournshard, a lie was burned out of history.
V.
The final blow did not come from fire.
It came from Milo.
The Warden within him whispered a name.
Not Vessira's.
Hers.
The name she'd given up when she joined the Silent Circle.
He spoke it.
And Vessira screamed.
The ink peeled from her bones.
Her silence shattered.
"I REMEMBER—!" she shrieked.
"Good," Reginal growled.
"Because now, you die with your story."
And he struck.
VI.
When the flames died…
The Unwritten Citadel stood empty.
Pages drifted through the air like leaves that had lost their tree.
And Reginal…
Fell to one knee.
"It's done," Kammy said.
"No," Reginal whispered.
"It's started."
VII.
For across the sea, in the throne halls of the remaining kingdoms…
Something felt the flame awaken.
Something older than the Silent Circle.
Something that once wore fire as armor and time as a leash.
And it opened its eyes.
TO BE CONTINUED…
Next: Chapter XIX – The Throne Without a Name
As the world reels from the fall of the Silent Circle, Reginal returns to a broken realm. But a new force is rising — one that claims he stole the fire that was never meant to be his.
A god will speak.
And Reginal will answer.