CHAPTER 6: THE PYRE’S ANSWER

PART 1: THE CITY OF MEMORY

The Ashen District was burning.

Not with fire. With "echoes".

Aric stumbled through streets that twisted like living things, buildings melting into one another, cobblestones reforming into staircases that led nowhere. The sky pulsed with memories—flashes of battles, pyres, a woman with Lysara's scars signing words he couldn't understand.

"She's remaking the city," a voice said.

Kael's corpse stood beside him, its starry eyes fixed on the chaos. The wound in its throat gaped like a second mouth, but no blood spilled out.

"Who is?" Aric demanded.

"The first daughter," Kael said. "The one you call Lysara."

Then the ground "opened" beneath them.

PART 2: THE HOLLOW KING'S GAMBIT

They fell into a throne room of black glass.

The Hollow King waited atop a dais of bones, his molten armor now still, his skeletal fingers steepled.

"Took you long enough," he said.

Aric raised Lysara's dagger—but the Hollow King "laughed".

Put that away. We have "real" enemies now."

Behind him, the shadows parted.

Three figures stood there.

The frost-woman.

The Guild's leader, his face hidden behind a mask of gold.

And Lysara—her eyes empty, her scars "bleeding" blue fire.

Hello, little ember," the Hollow King whispered. "Meet your makers."

PART 3: THE FIRST DAUGHTER'S TRUTH

Lysara stepped forward.

Her hands moved, but the signs were wrong—older, crueler.

"You were never supposed to remember," she signed. "You were just kindling."

Then she "ripped" the scars from her throat.

Beneath them was "another mouth", its lips sewn shut with black thread.

The Hollow King sighed. "Ah. There she is."

PART 4: THE BATTLE OF SHADOWS

Aric fought like a man possessed.

Lysara's dagger burned blue, carving through the frost-woman's illusions, the Guild's golden lies. But the real Lysara—the "thing" wearing her face—was faster.

Her fingers pierced his chest, not to kill, but to "remember".

"Let's see what you're made of," she whispered.

And Aric "screamed" as she tore a memory loose—the first Emberborn, kneeling before the Pyre Gods, begging for mercy— Then Kael's corpse moved.

Its hands closed around the false Lysara's wrists.

"Enough," it said—but the voice wasn't Kael's.

It was "Aric's".

PART 5: THE PYRE'S ANSWER

The throne room shattered.

Aric stood in the heart of the Pyre Temple, its walls alive with pulsing flame. Before him knelt the first Emberborn, his chains broken, his face upturned.

"You asked for an answer,"the first Emberborn said. "Here it is."

He pressed his palm to Aric's chest.

And the fire "spoke"

"THE HOLLOW KING MUST LIVE."

CHAPTER ENDING: THE CHOICE

Aric woke in the ruins of the Ashen District.

The Hollow King stood over him, his armor cracked, his voice weary.

"Now do you understand?" He asked. I'm not the villain. I'm the "lesson".

Behind him, the city burned.

And in the flames, Aric saw the truth:

The Hollow King was "right".

—TO BE CONTINUED—