Chapter 37: The Flame Core Awakens
The sky above Caelora shimmered with unnatural light.
Eron stood atop the newly completed Flame Watch Spire, his cloak billowing in the heat rising from the central forge below. The entire city pulsed with quiet energy. Beneath the stone and steel, thousands of conduits had been activated — the very veins of Caelora's future.
Eric's voice echoed in his mind.
> "Status: 97% integration complete. The Prime Flame Core will be online in thirty-six minutes. Would you like to initiate your family's bloodline awakening?"
Eron looked down at the glowing red seal in the center of the courtyard. It bore the mark of his lineage — the Velis Crest — entwined with his father's rune and his mother's lost sigil.
He took a slow breath. "Not yet. I want to test it myself first."
Eric hesitated.
> "That's extremely dangerous. You're still recovering from the last synchronization."
> "That's why I need to do it now," Eron replied, stepping into the rune. "If I can't control this core, I don't deserve to build anything."
The moment his foot touched the central sigil, the world pulsed.
The temperature surged. Wind vanished. Time felt like it folded inward.
The Prime Flame Core beneath Caelora surged upward through the tower, its energy responding to his will.
And then—
> [Authority Request Detected: Blood Signature — Eron Velis]
Do you wish to awaken the Flame King's Heart?
Eron's heart pounded.
This wasn't part of Eric's planned sequence.
> "Flame King's Heart?" he asked aloud.
Eric answered after a pause.
> "An ancient core. It predates Caelora. It's not in my databanks. I believe… your father left this hidden in the city's foundation."
Eron clenched his fists. His father had always spoken of a final legacy, something that would only awaken when Caelora had a true ruler.
He understood now.
> "Yes," he whispered. "I accept."
---
A column of blinding red-orange light erupted from the spire, rising into the sky like a signal to the gods.
Throughout the city, everyone stopped — soldiers, builders, children — all turned toward the light.
And deep beneath the capital, hidden in the heart of the core, ancient mechanisms unlocked.
> [Flame King's Heart — Awakened]
Bloodline Unsealed: Crimson Sovereign Lineage
Unique Skill Gained: Flame Resonance (Level 1)
Unique Title Gained: Heir of the Eternal Pyre
Eron gasped as memories flooded in — battles fought long before the first walls of Caelora had been built. Visions of a burning realm, a throne surrounded by ash, and a man with eyes like his own…
His ancestor.
The first Flame King.
Eric spoke again, but slower… almost reverent.
> "Eron… you've become something else. This city will no longer just protect your family. It will burn for them."
> "Good," Eron said, lifting his gaze to the sky. "Because something is coming. I can feel it."
And far away, beyond the horizon… in the ruins of the old world, someone else felt it too.
He smiled.
> "So… you finally found it, little brother."