CHAPTER 7: THE LAST EMBERBORN

PART 1: THE WEIGHT OF ASH

The Hollow King's words hung in the air like smoke.

"I'm not the villain. I'm the lesson."

Aric clutched Lysara's dagger, its blue flames flickering weakly against the ruin of the Ashen District. Around them, the city groaned—buildings collapsing into memory, streets folding like parchment in fire. The Hollow King watched him, his molten armor cooling into jagged black scars.

"They made us to burn," the Hollow King said. "But you? You were made to "choose".

Aric's scars ached. "Choose what?"

The Hollow King extended a skeletal hand.

"Oblivion…"

Behind him, the flames parted, revealing a wasteland where no Emberborn had ever existed.

...or this.

The fire shifted, showing Aric himself—older, crueler, seated upon a throne of bones. "The next Hollow King".

PART 2: THE FIRST DAUGHTER'S GAMBIT

A voice cut through the silence.

"Don't listen to him." Lysara—"real" Lysara—stood at the edge of the ruin, her throat bare of scars, her eyes burning with familiar fire.

The Hollow King snarled. "You."

"Me," she agreed. Then, to Aric: He's lying. The Pyre didn't speak to you. 'I" did.

Aric stiffened. "What?"

The voice in the flames, the memories—all me. She stepped closer. The Hollow King isn't a lesson. He's a "cage".

The Hollow King lunged.

Lysara moved faster.

Her fist slammed into his chest—not with fire, but with "memory".

"Show him," she hissed.

And the world "split".

PART 3: THE HOLLOW KING'S ORIGIN

Aric stood in a time before time.

The first Pyre Temple stood whole, its spires piercing a blood-red sky. At its heart knelt a man—not a god, not a king, but a "scholar".

Kael.

"Young" Kael.

He pressed his hands to the temple floor, his voice raw with grief.

"Bring her back."

The flames answered.

"A life for a life," the Pyre whispered.

Kael didn't hesitate.

"Take mine."

The fire "laughed".

"Not yours."

Then the vision shifted—Kael standing over another body, his hands dripping with liquid embers.

Lysara's body.

"First" Lysara.

"No," Aric breathed.

The Hollow King's voice echoed around him.

Yes. The first Emberborn wasn't a warrior. She was a sacrifice.

PART 4: THE BREAKING POINT

Aric wrenched himself free of the vision.

The Hollow King loomed over Lysara, his fingers wrapped around her throat.

"You always talk too much," he murmured.

Aric moved without thinking.

Lysara's dagger plunged into the Hollow King's back—not with blue fire, but with his fire.

The Hollow King stiffened.

Then he smiled.

"Good."

His body crumbled, not into ash, but into "words", swirling through the air like sparks.

"The more you burn, the less you become."

"The last Emberborn must rise."

"She is waiting."

Then he was gone.

PART 5: THE TRUTH UNBOUND

Silence.

Lysara knelt amidst the ruins, her hands pressed to the ground.

"It's done,"she signed.

Aric's voice was hoarse. "What's done?"

She looked up.

"The Pyre's hold. The cycle. 'Him."

Then she touched her throat—and the scars "reappeared", but different now.

Not burns.

"Words."

—EMBERBORN—

"LYSSARA"

"KAEL"

And beneath them, freshly carved:

"ARIC"

CHAPTER ENDING: THE PYRE'S LAST WHISPER

The wind carried the Hollow King's ashes away.

In their wake, a single ember glowed—a voice, faint but clear.

"Find me."

Then the fire died.

And the world began to "remember".

—TO BE CONTINUED—