They walked east
Through a forest where light refused to touch the ground
Trees leaned like listeners
And roots pulsed with breathless life
Veyne limped beside Kael
He hadn't spoken since the vision
Lirae led them through a hidden path
Her fingers glowing faintly with warding runes
Kael held the scroll
Still warm
Still unread
It will demand something
Lirae warned
Things like this always do
Blood
Memories
Or names you forgot you ever had
Kael didn't answer
His eyes stayed on the path ahead
He could feel it
The Gate of Cinders
Calling
Like a whisper burned into his bones
They reached a clearing that wasn't empty
A circle of stones stood
Each taller than a man
Carved with symbols that shifted when not seen
This wasn't here before
Lirae muttered
Someone's building wards around the region
Not just to trap
To erase
Veyne touched one stone
His hand burned
He pulled back
There are voices in this
Kael walked into the circle
Flames shimmered beneath his boots
The scroll pulsed
Read it now
A voice inside him hissed
Let the wound open
He broke the seal
The scroll unraveled with a scream only Kael could hear
Words etched themselves in the air
By flame unbound
By cinders unchained
Let the Gate open to what was never born
And let the world forget the shape of its death
Lirae fell to her knees
The runes on her skin glowed violently
The trees bent backward
The sky pulsed red
The stone circle shattered outward
From its ruins rose a shape
Black iron
Half in this world
Half in the memory of another
The Gate of Cinders
It didn't open
It bled
Molten blood leaked down its arch
Burning the ground
Turning the soil into ash-glass
Kael's heart raced
His flame surged
Not in power
In fear
From the bleeding gate
Voices came
Ashborn
You are not the only one who returned
Then they stepped out
Not Emissaries
Not Echo Knights
Something worse
Wrapped in silver chains
Clad in armor stitched from their own skin
Their faces bore no eyes
Only mouths
Too many
Lirae gasped
Cinder Heralds
The ones buried beneath the southern sanctum
How are they here
One Herald hissed
You open what must remain sealed
You walk paths written in extinction
So we will end you before the next name burns
Kael stepped forward
His hand rose
Flame blazed
Then he stopped
Veyne walked past him
The boy stared at the Heralds
His eyes were wrong again
Not scared
Not his
He spoke
But it was not his voice
You're early
You're uninvited
And you've forgotten the cost of facing fire
The Heralds froze
Then shrieked
Kael lunged as they charged
His blade caught one mid-scream
It split in half
But bled fire instead of blood
Lirae hurled a chain-spear
It caught another Herald by the neck
Snapped it back into the gate's bleeding frame
Veyne collapsed
Whatever held him had gone
Kael turned
Two Heralds leapt at him
He didn't dodge
He burned
His body ignited with silent fury
The fire didn't consume
It erased
The Heralds turned to ash before touching him
The last one knelt
Not out of fear
But reverence
You burn like the First
But you are not whole
The Forgotten One stirs behind your flame
Then it stabbed itself
Mouths laughing
And vanished in its own cinders
Silence
Kael stood in the wreckage
Breathing hard
The Gate bled slower now
But it remained open
A wound in the world
Lirae approached
You didn't just open it
You linked to it
It'll follow you now
Wherever you go
Kael looked at Veyne
The boy slept again
Peaceful
I need answers
Kael said
The kind only memory gives
Then we go to Emberhymn's tomb
Lirae whispered
To where the First Flame died