Lirae walked ahead in silence
Her violet eyes glowing faint beneath her hood
Kael followed with blood on his knuckles and ashes on his back
They were heading toward Emberhymn
Once the last sacred seat of the flame
Now a ruin half-buried beneath a graveyard of forgotten gods
The path was narrow
Cut through cracked stone and ghostroots
The air here didn't move
It hung like breath held too long
Kael glanced at the sky
Still no sun
Just an endless swirl of pale gray
It had not changed since he had awoken with fire inside his bones
Why do the Scorchless follow me
He asked
Lirae didn't look back
Because you're not just a man anymore
You're a beacon
And everything in this world crawls toward flame
He clenched his fists
What if I don't want to be that
You don't have a choice
She said
Kael stopped walking
Then what's the point
If I'm cursed to be hunted
If everyone I meet dies or fears me
What's left
Lirae turned slowly
You want a reason
Then earn it
Power without cause is just rot wearing a crown
If you want more than survival
You'll have to find it in the ashes
They walked in silence again
Hours passed
Maybe days
Time bled here
They crossed a ravine filled with scorched bones
A battlefield that smelled of long-dead spells
Kael saw a sword still burning faintly where it pierced a corpse's ribs
Lirae did not let him touch it
Eventually they reached the edge of a forgotten city
Obelisks leaned sideways
Temples collapsed
Fire glass glittered in the dirt like shattered stars
This is Emberhymn
Lirae whispered
Kael stepped forward
The earth trembled beneath him
A slow humming
Like something old breathing in its sleep
We are not alone
She said
From the center of the ruined city
A scream tore through the air
Not human
Not beast
Something in between
Kael drew his blade
The one Lirae had given him
They ran toward the sound
In a courtyard shaped like a shattered sun
They found the source
A child
No older than ten
Hair burned white
Eyes blank with terror
Standing within a broken glyph of red sigils
Surrounding him were corpses
Not Scorchless
Not human either
Warpriests of the Ember Rite
Twisted
Mummified
Their armor grown into their skin
The boy looked at them
His lips moved
But no sound came
Kael stepped forward
The child flinched
But didn't run
Lirae examined the glyph
This is a prison seal
Blood-forged
He was a sacrifice that never finished
What happens if we break it
Kael asked
He lives
Lirae said
And something else wakes
Kael looked into the child's eyes
And saw himself
Alone
Powerless
Afraid of what he had become
Then he stepped into the glyph
And dragged the blade across the sigils
The red light vanished
The ground split
From beneath the stones
A voice rose
Ash… still lives…
Kael grabbed the boy and pulled him back
Lirae shouted something
But Kael couldn't hear
The earth exploded behind them
Something emerged
A creature twice the size of a man
Skin made of burned scripture
Eyes hollow but bleeding golden light
Chains wrapped around its limbs
Its mouth stitched shut with emberwire
Lirae stepped in front of Kael and the child
That's an Echo Knight
A guardian bound to forgotten vows
If it's awake
Then the flame inside you is waking the old world
The Echo Knight charged
Kael tossed the child aside
Ducked the first blow
Rolled beneath the second
His blade cut through the chain binding its leg
The creature howled silently
Its stitched mouth vibrating
Kael shouted
What does it want
Lirae screamed back
To finish its oath
To kill the Ashborn
Kael's fire surged
But Lirae's voice cut through his rage
Don't burn
It will grow stronger
Then what do I do
Use its chains
Its own bindings are its weakness
Kael moved fast
Slid beneath the creature's swing
Wrapped one chain around its arm
Then another around its throat
The creature struggled
But Kael pulled tight
Twisted the blade through a link
And drove the whole thing into the creature's core
The Echo Knight convulsed
Then crumbled into ash
Silence returned
But Kael could still hear the humming
He turned to Lirae
This will keep happening
Won't it
She nodded
Every step you take
You wake more of what was buried
The world will remember
And it will try to kill you for what it once was
The child was still staring at Kael
Tears running down his face
But not from fear
From recognition
Lirae knelt beside him
What's your name
The boy whispered
Veyne
Kael looked at him
And the boy whispered again
You're the flame that fell
Kael's eyes narrowed
What do you mean
But the boy passed out in Lirae's arms
Kael stood over them
His shadow long beneath the broken sunstones of Emberhymn
And the flame inside him pulsed again
Not with rage this time
But with memory