The wind screamed as it tore through the jagged mountain pass leading to Ashmere, like a warning whispered by the gods themselves. Despite the numbing cold, a heat more ancient than time itself radiated from the woman standing before us.
Mira.
Clad in dark crimson armor that seemed to shimmer with living fire, she stood tall and unflinching, her spear buried in the snow-dusted stone at her feet. Her flame kissed eyes locked onto Kaien with the weight of old wounds and silent accusations. When she finally spoke, her voice was low, like embers cracking beneath ash.
"They shouldn't be here. You know the law."
Kaien stood just as firm, though the strain in his voice betrayed his weariness. "Then let them face the law. You said it yourself: the Rite of Flame Proving is the path. Let them walk it."
Mira's gaze shifted to the rest of us. She studied us one by one me, Lyra, Eira, Rion, and the boy Fenn, who clutched my cloak with trembling hands. Her expression didn't change, but her eyes narrowed slightly when they landed on me.
"You," she said, voice sharpening. "You're the one the whispers speak of. The Ashborn."
The nickname again. I didn't know whether to be honored or terrified.
"My name is Auron," I said evenly. "And I didn't come to be judged by rumors. If you want proof that we belong here, give us the trial."
Mira's lips curved into a humorless smile. She turned, motioning us to follow her. "Then prepare yourselves. The fire doesn't test strength. It tests truth."
The Trial Grounds
We followed her into a cavern hollowed from black stone and ancient flame. The walls flickered with molten veins of lava that pulsed like veins beneath skin. At the center of the chamber lay a large obsidian circle etched with deep runes that glowed in a hypnotic rhythm. Suspended in the air were glowing orbs of fire silent sentinels watching our every move.
Mira stood at the edge of the circle, raising her spear.
"This is the Proving Circle. Each of you will enter alone. The fire will conjure a trial drawn from your soul's deepest scar. Face it. Survive it. Or leave these mountains in ash."
The air thickened with tension. The fire wasn't just heat it was memory, pain, and judgment made manifest. Lyra stepped forward first.
Lyra's Trial: The Silence That Burned
As she crossed the threshold, the circle erupted in flame, forming a dome of golden light around her. Her silhouette stood still inside as images flared across the dome's surface.
We saw a quiet village children playing, elders weaving stories around fire.
Then soldiers came.
The Empire's banner waved as homes were torched and people screamed. And at the center of it all stood Lyra younger, her face expressionless, watching from the shadows, a sealed letter in her hand.
She'd known. She'd known what would happen and said nothing.
Inside the dome, the ghosts of those lost circled her, whispering accusations, their voices rising in sorrow and rage. But Lyra didn't run. She dropped the letter to the ground and dropped to her knees.
"I remember all of you," she whispered. "And I'll never stop remembering."
The fire flickered, then vanished.
She stepped out with tear-streaked cheeks and hollow eyes.
Eira's Trial: A Healer's Flame
Eira followed.
Her trial was quieter, but the pain was no less brutal.
Within her dome, we saw her cradle a young boy, his body burned beyond recognition. Her brother.
She poured healing fire into his body, but instead of healing, he convulsed, screamed, and disintegrated in her arms.
She had lost control. Her gift had taken the only family she had.
But this time, she didn't beg the fire to stop. She embraced the burning vision, holding the flaming illusion of her brother until the dome slowly dimmed.
When Eira emerged, she looked older. Wiser. And at peace.
Kaien's Trial: The Ashes of Brotherhood
Kaien stepped forward next.
Inside his dome, the past unfolded in raw, unrelenting detail.
Ashmere, years ago, under siege. Fire and death. A younger Kaien sprinting through flames to reach a fallen boy his brother, Rehn.
Rehn was dying. And angry.
"You promised you'd come back. You left me!"
The boy's body twisted into a flaming wraith, striking Kaien again and again. Kaien didn't raise a hand to defend himself.
Instead, he stood, bloodied and broken, and whispered, "I never stopped looking for you."
The wraith let out a single cry, then faded into ash.
Kaien emerged from the dome limping but alive.
My Trial: The Flame That Remembers
My turn.
As I stepped inside the circle, fire rushed around me, and suddenly the world changed.
I was back in the Bleeding Wall. Shackled. Cold. Afraid.
But then I saw him the man I used to be.
My Earth-self.
He sat in a chair beside me, dressed in black, eyes weary.
"So," he said. "You made it farther than the last time."
"Last time?"
He nodded. "You've been reborn before. Always fighting, always failing. The fire isn't a gift. It's a curse. A burden passed down."
I looked at my hands. At the chains.
"Then I'll be the last," I said.
I stood, and the chains broke. The Pyra Compass on my belt pulsed, its second ring unlocking with a burst of ancient light.
The dome shattered.
And I stepped out, not as Subject 137, but as Auron Vale Bearer of the Flame.
Judgment and Welcome
Mira watched us from the edge of the circle. For a long moment, she said nothing.
Then she turned to Kaien and nodded.
"They faced the fire. And the fire spared them. Bring them in."
Behind her, the gates to Ashmere opened.
Warm light spilled out. Dozens of flameborn stood inside children, warriors, elders watching us with mixed expressions.
Some hopeful. Some wary.
But they stepped aside and let us pass.
We had survived the fire.
Now, we would learn how to wield it.