The Cinders Beneath
The battle was over.
But the smoke refused to clear.
Even a day later, the valley where the rebels made their stand clung to the ash like a shroud. Fires had long been extinguished, but the air still choked like it remembered something unclean.
Kael stood near the heart of the old battlefield, gazing into the blackened remains of the command tent. The earth where the Knotted Flame had fallen had turned to stone—gray and veined, as if scorched from within.
He held the shattered Velcras pendant in his gloved hand, its surface pulsing faintly under his thumb.
Rin crouched nearby, scribbling frantic notes.
"This symbol's weird," she muttered. "It wasn't in any of the archive books… but I saw one like it when we peeked at the Thorn Vault diagrams back home. Do you remember the—?"
"I do," Kael said.
He didn't need reminding.
He remembered exactly where he'd seen that symbol—engraved onto the inner ring that sealed the figure beneath the crypt. It had been faded, but unmistakably the same shape: the broken circle, rimmed with runes of bondage.
It wasn't just rebellion.
This was resonance.
---
Hours Later – Inside the Burned Forest
Ives rode beside Kael as they moved through the edges of the forest where the last group of rebels had supposedly fled.
"These woods were cursed," the commander explained. "During the old wars, mages used binding fire here to trap shadow beasts. The flame still lingers… in the roots."
Kael nodded, slowing his horse.
Lyra trotted up from the rear, her expression serious.
"Scouts found something," she said. "You should see it."
---
The Ritual Pit
They reached a glade that had been completely cleared by fire.
At its center was a pit—circular, about twenty meters wide. Its walls were lined with scorched stones, and faint runic traces glowed along the edges like embers.
At the bottom, half-covered by soot and cracked wood, stood a monolith of black metal, half-buried and humming faintly.
Kael dismounted, boots crunching on cinder.
"It's ancient," Serentha murmured. "Not Velcras-made. This is pre-Scholar Era… pre-unification."
Kael walked slowly toward the pit, ignoring the protests behind him.
As he neared, the dagger at his side began to thrum.
Softly. Insistently.
And then—a whisper in his mind.
> "This… is where he fell."
Kael blinked.
"What?"
The voice didn't reply.
He stood over the pit, staring down at the monolith.
Rin had joined him and was staring in open curiosity.
"There's something inscribed here."
She traced one line with a cloth and revealed a single word, written in archaic Thornscript:
"Severance."
Kael's blood ran cold.
---
Later That Night – Campfires and Questions
The camp had settled around the edge of the forest, the sky above uncomfortably quiet. Even the stars were fewer here.
Kael sat alone with the dagger unsheathed in his lap.
It had not glowed since the pit.
Lyra joined him, dropping beside him with a tired exhale. She handed him a tin of warm broth.
"You've been staring at that thing for two hours."
Kael looked at her.
"Velcras wasn't trying to win the battle," he said.
"They were trying to wake something."
She tilted her head.
"That pit?"
Kael nodded. "That monolith... it wasn't just a remnant. It was a lock. And their rituals weren't meant to destroy the province. They were meant to synchronize with something buried under our estate."
Lyra went silent.
Finally, she said, "Kael… what exactly did your ancestors seal in that vault?"
He looked at her.
"…I don't think they ever meant for anyone to find out."
---
Elsewhere – A Chamber of Echoes
Far from the forest, deep beneath House Vaelthorn's estate, inside the Thorn Vault, the sealed figure stirred.
The chains trembled.
A faint line of red light pulsed along the inner circle, the same pattern from the Velcras pendant now flickering alive on ancient stone.
And a voice, dry as dust, murmured into the dark:
"He has touched the ash."
"The blood stirs."
"The bloom begins."
---
End of Chapter 62