Silence blanketed the plateau.
Kaen stood motionless before the fractured seal, golden embers flickering across his skin. His breath came shallow, his body still radiating the heat of awakening. But beneath the fire, something colder stirred—fear.
He hadn't just opened a path.
He had broken a prison.
And now… something was coming through.
A clawed obsidian hand tore free from the earth, dragging with it a pulse of pressure that made the air ripple. Lightning spiraled in the storm above, no longer chaotic, but drawn—summoned.
Kaen stepped back. The pendant around his neck had gone cold. The fire in his chest flickered.
"What did I do…" he breathed.
Another quake. Cracks spread outward as a second limb erupted—a grotesque wing, armored and dripping with dark, ancient blood.
Kaen's legs trembled. He steadied himself. He couldn't fall. Not now. Not after this.
"Will you burn the world to find the truth… or be consumed by the fire you've unleashed?"
The Matron's words rang through his mind.
He clenched his fists. "I won't lose control."
But the truth clawed at him—he already had.
The seal shattered.
From the chasm rose a towering figure, regal and monstrous. It wasn't a beast. It was a king.
A forgotten god.
Its golden eyes gleamed within a helm of black stone. Horns curled from its skull, and molten chains draped its massive shoulders.
Kaen's breath caught.
He'd seen this being before.
Not in a dream.
In a memory.
The entity turned its gaze to him—and the world seemed to tilt.
Kaen dropped to one knee, his mind flooded with visions: skies torn by war, empires crumbling to ash, and a crown of flame worn by a boy who looked just like him… but wasn't him.
"You…" the being spoke, voice echoing like thunder. "…bear the flame."
Kaen looked up. "Who are you?"
The figure stepped forward. "I am the Hollow Crown. Last of the Flame Kings. First of the Unforgiven."
Legends called the Flame Kings myths—gods of fire who shaped and unmade worlds.
"You are not ready," it said.
Kaen stood, trembling. "Then make me ready. Show me how to master this!"
The Hollow Crown laughed, the sound deep and cruel. "I am not your teacher."
"Then why are you here?"
"To reclaim," it answered.
"Reclaim what?"
The ground beneath it cracked and bled fire.
"You."
Kaen's blood turned to ice.
This wasn't a trial.
It was a war.
And it had just begun.
To be continued…