🔥 Beneath Thalum – Ember Reaches, Heart Chamber
The cavern pulsed like a living forge.
Stone glowed. Ash floated. The breath of the world itself rumbled in rhythm.
Grim stood at the center, eyes locked on a being beyond all imagining.
The dragon's eyes flickered open—molten and ancient.
"So this is what they sent," it said. "Not a warrior. Not yet. Just a spark."
Grim didn't move. The weight of the dragon voice rooted him in place.
"I am Vortharion, first Guardian of the Flame.
The one who lit the forge before time.
You… are my inheritor. The one chosen by the remnant fire.
You burn weakly, Solace… but you burn true."
Grim's breath caught. "…I don't understand."
Vortharion shifted, flame swirling from his nostrils.
"You do. In your bones. You've always known there was more inside you than the Court could name.
They call you a Tier One. A weapon gone wrong.
But what they fear… is that you carry the spark of the Crown."
🜂 The Path of Flame – Inheritance Unlocked
Vortharion raised a claw, carving six flaming sigils into the stone around them. Each pulsed like a heartbeat.
"You walk the path now. From Flicker, barely awakened…
To Kindle, the first grasp of power.
Then Ember—where skill begins to shape fire.
Flare is when you command flames as a Guardian.
Inferna… few ever reach it. But beyond all stands the final truth:
Ashen Crown. The myth-class. Only those who master their soul and survive their truth rise there."
He leaned in, heat cracking the stone.
"You have two years, Grim of Ashen. Once that time passes, the flame dies—or consumes you entirely.
But know this—"
His voice lowered.
"You are not the only Guardian waking.
And Thalum holds more than fire."
🐲 The Forgotten Threats
Vortharion turned, his molten tail dragging symbols across the earth.
"There are monsters here that lived before thought. Before name.
Shaped from void. Starless. Ancient.
You and I sealed them in the Deep Coil before the first Lume well was born."
Grim felt his skin prickle.
"They're waking?"
"One already walks. Something stirred it. Maybe your siblings.
Or maybe the Court found something it shouldn't have."
🧿 The Gift – Dragon's Scale
Vortharion exhaled a single glowing breath and from his chest pulled a curved scale—deep red, etched with glowing lines like veins.
He set it before Grim.
"Take this. When the matter of blood is settled—when your family is either freed or lost—burn this in open flame beneath the Thalum moon.
I will find you."
Grim hesitated, then reached forward, and the scale seared into his palm like a second heartbeat.
Vortharion eyes dimmed.
"Until then… burn clean. Burn hard. And do not forget—
Even a spark can set the void ablaze."
⚠️ Sparks Breaks
Above, Sparks writhed in digital chaos.
Fragments of timelines, voices, and places that never existed bled through her form.
"He died," one projection gasped. "No—they killed him. Or was it me—?"
Grim reached for her.
"Sparks, stay with me!"
"They split you. The Court—they split your flame. You're not whole, Grim. You never were…"
She vanished.
Not erased.
Just... hidden.
⚔️ Max's Ambush – And Hadi's Return
Up top, Max fought three soulbound assassins—Court-corrupted flame wielders with phase-coded bodies.
He held them off—barely.
Then: a blur. A spin of pink energy. A scream.
One soulbound dropped.
Max turned—
Hadi stood, coat crackling, grin sharp.
"Told you I'd catch up, big bro."