Cracks in the Flame

The embers of celebration had barely cooled before Kai made his first move.

He stood before the Council of Elders in Emberheart's Inner Hall—its walls lined with relics, its floor etched with flame sigils older than the sect itself.

But Kai didn't bow.

He challenged.

"The sect cannot survive by guarding flame like treasure," he declared.

"It must become a forge for all who burn with purpose."

The elders exchanged tense glances.

Elder Ma of the Flame Altar narrowed his eyes.

"You speak boldly, boy. Too boldly. Reform takes decades."

Kai's voice was steady.

"We don't have decades."

He unrolled a scroll.

Reforms.

Opening lower-tier techniques to all inner disciples

Creating a shared cultivation hall across sect branches

Training combat teams for unified defense

Banning spirit stone bribes and favoritism in rankings

"You'll burn the old ways down," Ma growled.

"No," Kai said. "I'll burn what holds us back—and forge something stronger."

That night, as whispers spread through the sect, something else spread beneath it.

A rumbling in the depths.

Hidden chambers below the Spirit-Blood Tree cracked further. Ash seeped through sacred stone like black veins.

Far below, Vaelorn took his first steps in centuries.

He wore no armor, held no weapon.

But fire coiled around him—wrong, ancient, and filled with vengeance.

"They called my fire too wild," he muttered, dragging one hand across the wall, scorching it black.

"Now let them see what restraint has cost them."

He stepped into a forbidden shrine—a place erased from records.

On the altar lay a mask of scorched jade.

He placed it over his face.

And the fire howled.

Back at the Emberheart main courtyard, Kai walked alone toward the Phoenix Flame Fountain.

There, he lit a single candle, a ritual of remembrance.

He wasn't just thinking of victory.

He was remembering the people he couldn't save—the ones lost in his village fire, the rivals who'd fallen during the Trials, and the vision of his younger self in the Trial of Soulfire.

"We're still not done," he whispered.

Behind him, Linya approached with a scroll.

"Something's wrong," she said. "The Spirit-Blood Tree is… bleeding ash."

Kai stood up instantly.

"Where?"

"From the roots. And the elders won't talk about it."

Kai's hand closed into a fist.

"Then it's time I went to the roots myself."