The flames had long since died down, but the forest still reeked of scorched wood and seared flesh.
Aria stood at the edge of the glade, watching the blackened ground where the Court Enforcers had fallen. Smoke curled from the earth like whispers rising from graves. The blood on her hands had dried, cracked, and flaked away, but the weight of her actions clung to her bones like iron.
She had killed.
Not by accident. Not in self-defense alone.
She had chosen to. She had felt the power rise within her, and she hadn't held back.
Kael returned from where he had buried the bodies deeper in the woods. "We need to move. More will come. This was a scout party."
"They weren't scouts," Aria said, her voice low. "They were executioners. They came prepared to burn everything."
Kael met her eyes. "Then let's give them fire in return."
Journey to the Forgotten Stronghold
By midday, they were traveling north, deeper into the forest's cursed territory. Kael spoke little, but when he did, it was always with purpose.
"We're going to Varyn's Teeth," he said, navigating through a stretch of broken stones and gnarled trees. "It's an old ruin where the Flamekeepers once trained in secret. The Court tried to destroy it decades ago, but its heart survived."
Aria lifted her hood against the sudden chill. The deeper they moved, the colder it became, as if even the sun feared the ruins ahead.
"Why there?" she asked.
"Because it's where you'll learn the rest. About the Order. About her."
He meant the Flamekeeper. The one who'd died. The one whose soul now pulsed in Aria's veins.
The terrain shifted. The air grew heavy with old magic. The kind that made the skin itch and the breath shorten. Trees gave way to towering cliffs, and nestled between them lay a place half-buried by time.
The ruins of Varyn's Teeth looked like fangs biting into the earth. Jagged spires. Broken towers. Walls etched with runes so old even Kael had to stop and whisper to them.
"Wait here," he told her, placing a hand against the stone. The ground vibrated softly. Energy pulsed like a heartbeat.
"What are you doing?"
"Waking the wards. If this place still breathes, it will know you."
The stones responded. Runes lit up with faint amber light, and somewhere within the ruined fortress, a door groaned open.
Kael turned to her. "It remembers you."
The Chamber of Echoes
Inside, the stronghold smelled of ash and dust. But beneath that was something else—embers still warm. The deeper they walked, the more Aria felt the presence of something ancient watching her.
In the heart of the fortress, they entered a round chamber carved from obsidian. It was lined with twelve thrones, all cracked, some overturned. At the center stood a basin filled with black sand.
Kael nodded toward it. "Place your hand there."
Aria hesitated. "What is this?"
"A memory well. It only answers to the Flameborn."
She stepped forward, every part of her tense, and laid her fingers on the sand.
The room shifted.
Suddenly she was elsewhere.
---
A Vision of the Past
The sky was crimson. Ash fell like snow. The palace—her palace—was in flames.
She stood on a balcony, watching the city below burn. But it wasn't fear she felt—it was betrayal. Her people screamed. Her guards lay slaughtered.
And behind her, a voice whispered, "You were never meant to rule."
She turned.
A man stood in her chambers—his face hidden beneath a crown of silver and black fire. His eyes glowed the same molten gold she'd seen in her dreams.
"You will rise again," he said. "But not in this life."
His blade pierced her chest.
Aria screamed—
---
Return to the Present
She fell backward, gasping, the chamber spinning.
Kael caught her before she hit the ground. "What did you see?"
"A man with fire in his eyes," she said breathlessly. "He killed me. I was standing in the palace, and he—he said I wasn't meant to rule."
Kael went still.
"You remember his crown?" he asked.
She nodded. "Black fire. Silver rimmed."
Kael's face darkened. "That's not a Court crown. That's older. That's pre-Covenant. It means he wasn't working for them—he was something worse."
Aria tried to stand. "He said I'd rise again. And I did."
"Yes," Kael said. "But maybe he planned that, too."
---
Secrets in the Flame
They spent the night in the chamber, and Kael told her the truth of the Flamekeeper's fall.
"She wasn't killed in battle," he said. "She was betrayed. By one of her own."
Aria leaned closer. "Who?"
Kael looked to the wall. "The records were destroyed, but rumors say the betrayer had no flame. A councilman, once loyal, turned jealous. They say he made a deal with an ancient power in exchange for eternal rule."
"The man in the vision?"
"Could be."
Aria curled her fingers. "If he still lives…"
Kael shook his head. "Then he's the reason the world rots in silence. The Court is only a mask. He's the one holding the strings. And he knows you're alive again."
---
Fire in Her Blood
The next morning, they trained harder. Kael began teaching her how to summon flame not just from her hands, but from her soul. The fire bent around her now, answered her commands faster, with more precision.
She shaped spears of flame and shattered rocks with a single strike.
But the more power she unlocked, the more her dreams twisted. She saw that man again—the one with the black-fire crown—standing in ruins, smiling. Always waiting.
One night, Kael woke her from her trance. Her hands were ablaze, and she was chanting in a tongue older than their world.
"You were channeling something," he said, voice tense. "Something not born of you."
"I don't remember," she whispered. "It felt like drowning. And flying."
Kael exhaled. "We don't have time. We need allies."
---
The Message
A week later, a raven arrived with a sigil burned into its wings—the mark of the Shadow Order.
Kael frowned. "They know we're alive. And they want to meet."
"Who are they?"
"Enemies of the Court," he said. "But not exactly allies."
Aria raised a brow. "Then why reach out?"
"Because the prophecy said the Flameborn would return." Kael looked at her. "And they've been waiting for a long, long time."