Chapter 16 — Ash-Bound Oaths
The stone beneath the sigil still shimmered faintly as Kael knelt beside her. Wind rustled the charred remains of the courtyard—only embers remained of the Blood Hounds. But Seris's eyes never left the mark. It pulsed, then went still.
"It wasn't there before," she murmured.
"No," Kael said, touching the scorched stone. "But it's ancient. I can feel it."
The air carried a hum—an invisible vibration that sang through bone and blood, a sound you didn't hear but felt. Kael's brows drew together. "This is old magic… old like the First Tongue. Maybe older."
Seris's voice was quiet. "It reacted to me."
They both knew what that meant. The fire she had summoned hadn't been just magic. It had been a key.
—
Beneath the Courtyard
It took Kael's sword and Seris's flame to unseal the stone, but beneath it lay more than just rock. A staircase spiraled down, flanked by murals half-faded by time and soot.
On the walls: warriors cloaked in fire, eyes like stars, blades forged of light. But there were also monsters — serpents with a thousand mouths, crows with human faces, shadows that bled from their edges.
"I don't recognize these runes," Seris whispered.
Kael did. "They're Oathmarks. My grandfather spoke of them — ancient binding scripts. The kind that keep demons sleeping."
They paused at the final step. A heavy door loomed ahead, carved from obsidian, veins of blood-red ore pulsing like a heartbeat. In its center, a single phrase glowed:
"One may enter, but only if bound."
Kael turned to her. "What does that mean?"
Seris reached toward it. Her hand trembled. "An oath," she said, voice dry. "A pact. It demands a vow of loyalty—or of sacrifice."
"To what?"
She looked up, eyes flickering with blue light. "To the flame."
---
The Binding
Kael drew his blade. "I swore my life to protecting you long before we met this door. If that's what it takes—"
"No." Seris stopped him, placing her palm over his chest. "I'll make the vow. The fire answers to me, not you."
"But—"
"I won't risk you."
Her words were quiet, but ironclad.
She stepped forward and placed her palm on the stone.
"By fire unbroken, by ash undying… I bind myself to the First Flame," she whispered. "Its will, my burden. Its memory, my blood."
The sigil ignited.
Pain ripped through her, raw and ancient, as if her very name was being rewritten. Kael caught her as she staggered, but the door ahead swung open with a thunderous groan.
—
The Chamber of Remnants
The room beyond was vast—larger than any catacomb they'd seen. Walls carved from crystal and volcanic glass reflected their torchlight endlessly. At its center, suspended in air, floated a shard of flame—contained within a silver ring, ancient, humming.
Seris approached. "It's alive."
"Is that… a piece of the First Flame?"
"No," she said. "It's what's left after it burned the world the first time."
Kael swallowed. "That's comforting."
But as they drew closer, shadows stirred beyond the crystal. Not monsters. Not spirits.
People.
Six figures in cloaks of soot and bone emerged, silent and watchful.
The one in front removed his hood—revealing not a face, but a burned skull crowned in living flame.
"You carry the mark," the figure said, voice like cracked stone.
Seris's pulse quickened. "Who are you?"
"We are what remains of the first oath-bound," the figure said. "The guardians of the Flame's memory."
He stepped forward. "You've awakened something far older than your bloodline, Flamebearer. And now… the world will burn again."
---
End of Chapter 16