The Flamebearer’s Tomb

South of the Vale – The Ruined Expanse

Ashren had always thought power was something you earned—through pain, discipline, sacrifice. But the deeper he walked into the wilds beyond the Vale, the more he felt it humming in his blood like an inheritance that had been waiting.

The scouting party was small: Seris, Caelis, two rebel blades, and himself.

They traveled for days through jagged hills and cursed woodlands, following fragments of ancient maps and whispers from the sarcophagus core. Every step brought them closer to what Seris believed was the Sanctuary of the First Flamebearer—a lost citadel swallowed by war and time.

But nothing about this journey felt holy.

It felt watched.

---

The Haunting Forest

On the third night, the wind turned bitter. The trees seemed to lean in, their bark scarred with ancient claw marks and long-dead runes.

Seris whispered, "This place remembers."

Caelis frowned. "Remembers what?"

But Ashren already knew.

The war that began before memory. The first defiance. The first fire.

That night, they were attacked.

Not by Hollowborn—but by Remnants.

Spirit-bound warriors—half-corporeal, bound to duty long after death. They wore no armor, only scorched cloaks and glowing sigils carved into their skulls.

Ashren faced one, and as their blades met, his mind was flooded with visions—

A flamebearer dying atop a mountain of ice.

A queen bound in chains of moonlight.

A promise whispered through fire: He will come again.

Ashren struck the Remnant down—and it bowed as it vanished.

---

The Sanctuary Revealed

By dawn, they reached it.

A temple half-swallowed by the earth, encircled by volcanic stone and frost-choked vines. Its towers had crumbled, but the fire still burned within.

Literally.

Blue flames drifted through the air, untouched by wind. At the center of the sanctuary, a great brazier stood—sealed, ancient, and alive.

Seris read the inscription aloud:

"When the Blood of Ash returns, so too shall Judgment rise."

Ashren stepped forward.

The brazier flared—recognizing him.

And from the flames rose an echo of a man: armored in silver, crowned in fire.

The First Flamebearer.

---

The Memory Passed On

The spectral figure spoke in a language older than time, but Ashren understood it.

He saw the rise of the Hollow Queen—how she had been a healer, a protector… until grief broke her, and darkness answered.

He saw the Flamebearers rise to stop her—only to fall, betrayed by those they swore to protect.

And he saw himself—not reborn, but unfinished.

"You are the ember," the echo said. "But soon, you must become the pyre."

Then it shattered, and the brazier's fire flowed into Ashren's chest.

Frost and flame. Grief and fury. All of it, his now.

---

Back in the Vale – Darkness Moves

Far beneath the Vale, in tunnels slick with bone and sorrow, the Hollow Queen touched the walls and whispered:

"He has found the tomb."

Her generals knelt, silent.

"He is not yet whole. But he will be. And when he is…"

She smiled.

"I will take his soul like I did the first."

And the earth groaned.