Chapter 30: Caelum's Flame

Chapter 30: Caelum's Flame

The hidden sanctuary was silent save for the soft hum of magic-infused crystal lamps and the rhythmic breathing of resting souls. Even in recovery, pain left echoes—visible in the way the children clutched blankets, in the tremors that rippled through their dreams.

But there was peace here too. Not the false peace of numbness, but the fragile kind born from survival.

Volundr stood at the edge of the chamber, watching.

His arms were crossed, his back straight, but his mind weighed heavy. Not from regret, but from responsibility.

His eyes lingered on Caelum, seated cross-legged on a stone bench beside a softly purring flame spirit summoned to offer warmth.

The boy had refused a proper bed, refused healing spells that dulled his nerves. He wanted to feel it all—the aches, the bruises, the rawness of life.

He needed to.

Caelum's violet eyes lifted. Despite the fatigue in his limbs and the stiffness in his posture, that gaze didn't waver. Not from Volundr.

"You're watching me," Caelum said.

"I'm learning from you," Volundr corrected.

He stepped forward, his boots echoing gently on the crystalline floor. "There's a difference."

Caelum blinked. "…What could someone like you learn from someone like me?"

Volundr crouched before him, leveling their height. His expression was unreadable, yet soft.

"How to endure," he said. "How to protect even when broken. How to carry pain without letting it rot the soul."

The boy's throat bobbed in a swallow.

"And what do you see when you look at me?" Caelum asked. Not as a challenge. But as a plea.

"I see fire," Volundr answered. "A spark not even divine cruelty could snuff out. And I see a future."

Unspoken Bond

They sat together, the silence between them not awkward, but sacred. Volundr eventually handed Caelum a rolled parchment. Not with orders. But with plans.

A blueprint of a future peerage.

Drawn by Volundr's hand, inked with arcane sigils and marked not with names but with symbols.

A knight's blade crossed by wind. A rook's gauntlet wrapped in flame. A bishop's staff flowering with vines. And at the center, a Pawn's seal aflame.

Caelum's seal.

"I don't have my Evil Pieces yet,"

Volundr said. "The ceremony awaits. But when the time comes…"

"I'll be your first," Caelum said quietly, a strange conviction hardening in his voice.

Volundr didn't nod. Didn't smile. Instead, he reached out and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder.

"You're not a burden. Not a broken relic of war. You're a cornerstone. My foundation begins with you."

Caelum's fingers clenched around the blueprint.

"…Then I'll become someone worthy of that faith."

Promise Forged

Later that night, under a dome of false stars and enchanted sakura trees planted to inspire peace, Volundr stood before a sealed vault—one only he could open. Inside was not treasure, but a chamber crafted in preparation.

For the Evil Pieces.

They would come soon—granted by the Agares clan and blessed by high devils to honor his ascent into the Rating Game arena.

But he wasn't rushing.

He was preparing.

Each mark on his blueprint represented more than strength. It was a future family. A unity not built on bloodlines or conquest, but on choice.

He held up the parchment again. "Soon," he whispered, "the game will begin."

Outside, the wind rustled the enchanted petals.

Foreshadowing: Arc Two – Rise of the Pieces

In the days that followed, rumors began to spread through the Underworld.

That the heir of Agares, long considered strange and distant, had returned from a ruin the Church abandoned.

That he brought back survivors. That he refused rewards and instead requested silence.

But nobles talk. And shadows listen.

In the outer courts, Seekvaira heard her brother's name whispered beside the words "unconventional," "tactical," and "dangerous."

In the Gremory estate, Rias read the report left by her brother. Her eyes paused at the name "Caelum"—a child no one had recorded before.

And far, far beyond them, a pair of golden eyes watched from the ruins of an ancient monastery, where an angel had fallen and something twisted waited to rise.

A new player had entered the board.

Volundr Agares.

And the foundation had been laid.

One by one, the Pieces would gather. One by one, the rating games would change.

End of Arc One: Foundation of a King

Next Arc: Rise of the Pieces – When the Evil Pieces arrive, and the first to rise stands not with legacy, but with flame in his soul and scars on his skin.

Caelum's journey begins.

And Volundr's kingdom starts to take shape.