The light spilling through the doorway was not blinding, but it felt… heavier than sunlight, as if each beam carried weight. Kaelen stepped through and found himself in a vast, circular chamber.
The walls were not stone. They were formed from layers of shifting ember-dust, flowing like sand caught in a slow, eternal whirlpool. The air hummed, resonating in his bones.
In the center, suspended above a blackened pedestal, floated the Heart of Ash.
It was not a jewel, nor a flame. It was an orb of pulsing smoke, swirling with faint traces of fire. Each slow rotation revealed glimpses inside—shapes, faces, and memories that weren't his. It felt alive, and its presence pressed against his mind like a whisper just out of reach.
Kaelen took a step forward, and the Heart reacted. The smoke parted for a moment, revealing a faint image—his village, years ago, untouched by fire. Then the image shifted to the night it burned, flames rising high, the air choked with screams.
"You see it," came the guardian's voice from the doorway behind him. "The Heart remembers all things touched by ash."
Kaelen's fists clenched. "Then it knows what happened to them."
"It does," the guardian replied, "but it does not speak to just anyone."
Kaelen reached toward the orb, the warmth from before still burning faintly in his chest. As his fingers neared, the swirling smoke surged toward him, coiling around his arm. The world tilted—suddenly he was standing in that night again, but not as himself. He was above it, watching. Shadows like the ones he had just fought poured through the village, leaving cinders in their wake.
But there was something else. A figure cloaked in the same shifting ash, holding a blade that glowed faintly red. They moved through the fire as if it bowed to them.
The figure looked up—directly at Kaelen—and for a heartbeat, he was certain they could see him.
The vision shattered.
Kaelen was back in the chamber, his breath ragged. The Heart pulsed once, then went still.
"You have been seen," the guardian said gravely. "That changes everything."