Chapter 21
The Sanctuary trembled.
Eliendara stood in the center of the crumbling altar, veil remnants floating around her like scorched feathers. The air was heavy with the stench of burnt illusions, broken spells, and ancient memory.
But Thorne did not flee.
He smiled.
Slowly.
As if all had gone exactly to plan.
"Did you think this was the end?" he asked, voice calm, almost mournful. "No… this was only the stage. The wedding was just the dress rehearsal."
From within his coat, he withdrew a dagger.
It was unlike anything Eliendara had seen.
Carved from bone, polished obsidian-black, etched with crimson veins that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. The handle bore the symbol of the Sixth Sealing Lord—the one said to be unkillable. The one whose name had been erased by fire.
Kael lunged forward. "Thorne—drop it—!"
But Thorne had already pressed the blade to his palm.
Blood spilled onto the altar.
The runes across the sanctuary walls ignited in a violent red glow.
"I offer my vow," Thorne said, voice echoing like thunder inside a tomb. "Ash to ash. Flame to flame. Burn my name into the gate, and awaken the one who sleeps beneath the stone."
"No—" Eliendara whispered, stepping forward. "You'll awaken him! You don't know what you're calling!"
"I do," Thorne said, eyes wild now. "And I offer myself willingly. Let the Sixth rise through me. Let his fire remember my name!"
The altar cracked beneath him.
Flames roared up—not normal fire, not soulfire.
But living fire.
It coiled around Thorne's body, burning everything except him. His flesh darkened, turned to obsidian and embers. His eyes vanished, replaced by two glowing coals.
Eliendara reached out with her magic—but it recoiled. This fire couldn't be extinguished.
Kael stood beside her, blade raised, unsure if he was still looking at a man—or something else entirely.
Then the voice came.
It didn't come from Thorne's mouth.
It came from the flames themselves.
"Who disturbs the Ashgate?""Who dares call the Sixth?"
Thorne's voice answered, layered with something deeper.
"I am your vessel. Burn me. Use me. Rewrite the oath."
And then, from behind the altar—The stone floor split open.
A hand reached up.
Coal-black.
Wreathed in fire.
Grasping at the edge of the world.
A being began to rise—taller than any man, robed in flickering smoke, eyes like twin furnaces. He stepped into the temple and every candle died.
The Sixth Sealing Lord had awakened.
And he looked directly at Eliendara.
"I remember you," he said."You're the girl who screamed when we carved the first gate."
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 22: The Fire That Remembers
The Sixth Lord walks again.
But his memory isn't whole—He seeks something buried in Eliendara's soul. A fragment she never knew she carried.
To stop him, Eliendara must unlock her final sealed memory…
The moment she betrayed the Seven—And burned her own name from the Book of Flame.