The silence that followed the destruction of Kaelen's echoes was almost worse than the battle itself.
The fortress groaned around them, like a sleeping beast disturbed by dreams. Molten veins pulsed beneath the floor, red light flickering across Ethan's face, painting his expression in shades of determination and unease.
Ashara stood beside him, her embers dimming as the heat in the air settled. "You felt it too, didn't you?" she asked quietly. "The echo's voice. It wasn't just projection—it carried emotion. Fear, anger… and something else."
Ethan nodded slowly, his fire curling along his hands, soft and cautious. "Regret," he said. "I could feel it. Beneath all that rage, Kaelen's echo… it hesitated. Like part of him didn't want to fight."
Ashara's gaze lingered on the cracked walls. "Kaelen was not always what he is now. Before the fall of the Red Stone, he was one of its protectors. The flame didn't corrupt him—it chose him. But the deeper he delved into its power, the more it fed on what he buried: his fears, his guilt, his obsession with control."
Ethan frowned. "Control. That's what he said to me—'The flame bends to will, not heart.' He believes power comes from dominance, not balance."
Ashara gave a short nod. "And you believe the opposite. That's why the Red Stone chose you. It doesn't seek a tyrant—it seeks someone who can listen to it."
They moved deeper into the fortress, following the rhythmic hum that vibrated through the walls. The molten light grew brighter, revealing inscriptions etched into the stone—ancient sigils depicting flames, suns, and serpents of fire entwined with human forms.
"What are these?" Ethan asked, running his fingers across the markings. The symbols seemed to move beneath his touch, glowing faintly in response to his presence.
"Records," Ashara said softly. "The Red Stone's memories, carved into the walls by those who came before us. Every bearer leaves an imprint—a fragment of their legacy burned into the Stone's essence."
Ethan traced one sigil shaped like a spiral of flame surrounding an outstretched hand. "This one… feels familiar."
Ashara's eyes darkened. "That is Kaelen's mark. The Spiral of Dominion. The day he bound himself to the Stone, he swore to control its fire, not understand it. The day everything began to fracture."
As if her words had awakened something, the sigil pulsed. The ground trembled. A wave of heat rippled through the air, and suddenly the fortress shifted. The walls twisted, folding in on themselves, creating a corridor that hadn't existed a moment before.
Ethan drew back, fire coiling defensively around him. "What's happening?"
"The fortress is alive," Ashara said. "It responds to the energy of the Stone and those connected to it. You've touched too many fragments—now it sees you as both threat and key."
The corridor stretched into darkness, faint embers drifting like falling stars. A low, rhythmic sound echoed from within—metal grinding, fire hissing, and something faintly… human.
Without hesitation, Ethan stepped forward. "If the fortress is showing us something, I need to see it."
Ashara followed silently, the air around her shimmering with restrained fire.
As they walked, the walls around them shifted again—not physically, but visually. Shadows rippled across the stone, forming images like echoes from another time.
A man—tall, cloaked in crimson—stood over a blazing forge. His hands trembled as he pressed a shard of glowing red crystal into his chest. The same shard that now pulsed beneath Ethan's own skin.
Kaelen.
The vision sharpened, voices echoing through the air.
> "To master the flame, I must become it," Kaelen's voice said, trembling with desperation.
"If the Stone defies me, I will bend it. If it breaks me, I will rebuild myself stronger."
Ethan's chest tightened. He could feel the pain in the man's voice—not the fury of a tyrant, but the exhaustion of someone who had lost too much.
The vision shifted again—Kaelen standing before a vast army, his body half-consumed by fire, his eyes glowing like molten gold. The soldiers around him bowed, some in awe, others in fear.
> "You promised salvation!" one soldier shouted.
Kaelen's fire flared violently. "And I delivered! But the world rejected it! They feared what they could not control!"
The fire consumed the image, the vision fading into ash and silence.
Ethan exhaled slowly. "He wasn't born a monster. The Stone didn't destroy him—it twisted what was already broken."
Ashara's eyes softened, the embers around her flickering faintly. "He wanted to protect the world, once. But he believed only power could protect it. That belief turned him into its destroyer."
The corridor opened into a new chamber—massive, circular, lined with blackened metal spires that reached toward the ceiling like skeletal claws. At the center, on a dais of molten stone, floated another fragment of the Red Stone—larger than the ones before, pulsing like a living heart.
Ethan stepped closer, feeling the fragment's pull. It vibrated in rhythm with his heartbeat, calling to the shard within his chest. "It wants me to take it," he murmured.
Ashara frowned. "Be careful. This one is different. It's tied directly to Kaelen's past—his final act before the fracture of the world. It may not want to be claimed."
Ethan reached out slowly, fire coiling around his arm, steady and controlled. But as his fingers brushed the fragment, a wave of force exploded outward.
He stumbled back as the world shattered around him—vision blurring, gravity twisting. The fortress faded, replaced by a vast expanse of molten fields beneath a crimson sky.
He wasn't in the fortress anymore.
He stood in Kaelen's memory.
---
He saw him again—Kaelen, younger, standing atop a broken tower, his cloak torn, his expression haunted. The Red Stone hovered before him, cracks spreading through it like lightning veins.
A woman stood opposite him, her hair white as ash, her eyes filled with sorrow. "You're destroying yourself," she said. "The Stone is not meant to be controlled—"
Kaelen roared. "Control is the only way to save this world! The flame chooses chaos—I will give it purpose!"
He thrust his hands into the air. Fire erupted, swallowing the horizon. The woman screamed his name—but it was too late. The Red Stone shattered, scattering fragments across time and space.
The vision blurred again, the sky tearing apart. Kaelen fell to his knees, the world burning around him. "What have I done…" he whispered. "What have I become?"
Ethan's chest ached as the memory collapsed. The voice that followed wasn't Kaelen's, but the Stone's—calm, ancient, and sorrowful.
> "Every flame begins as light. It is the will of its bearer that turns it to ruin or rebirth. Kaelen chose domination. What will you choose, Ethan Marlowe?"
The world shattered once more.
He gasped, finding himself back in the fortress, Ashara kneeling beside him, concern etched across her face. "Ethan! Speak to me! What did you see?"
He took a slow breath, eyes burning with purpose. "Kaelen's past. His fall. He wasn't just power-hungry—he was trying to stop something worse. Something the Red Stone was hiding."
Ashara's brow furrowed. "What do you mean?"
Ethan stood, fire flickering across his shoulders. "The Stone isn't just a weapon—it's a seal. It holds something back. Something ancient. And Kaelen broke it trying to gain control."
The air grew colder. The Red Stone fragment on the dais pulsed darkly, almost as if reacting to his words.
Ashara's voice dropped. "Then the fire's rebirth wasn't just about you—it's about what the Stone can no longer contain."
Ethan's jaw clenched. "Then we stop it. Whatever Kaelen unleashed, whatever the Stone is hiding—we find it before he does."
He reached forward once more, this time gripping the fragment firmly. The fire surged through him, overwhelming but alive, filling his body with both pain and understanding. His eyes flared bright red for a moment, then softened to amber.
When the light faded, the fragment was gone—absorbed into him.
The Red Stone within his chest pulsed in harmony, stronger, steadier, but heavier. He could feel Kaelen's memories inside him now—his knowledge, his rage, his grief. The burden was immense.
Ashara placed a hand on his shoulder. "You carry his past now. Don't let it shape your future."
Ethan nodded slowly. "I won't. But I'll use it. His mistakes, his fears—they'll guide me to what's coming."
Ashara glanced around as the chamber trembled, molten cracks spiderwebbing through the floor. "Then we move quickly. The fortress reacts to your strength—it won't let us linger."
They turned to leave, the molten veins glowing brighter as if watching them go. Ethan glanced back once more at the empty dais. "Kaelen," he murmured, "whatever you tried to do… I'll finish it. But my way."
The fortress roared in response, as though the fire itself had heard his promise.
And somewhere deep beneath the molten foundations, in the darkness beyond flame and shadow, a voice whispered back—
> "We will see, child of fire. We will see."