Francis_9439

Ashes of the First Flame

A novel by [Francis 9439]

For centuries, the world of Elaris has burned under the divine light of the First Flame, a sacred fire worshiped by the tyrannical Solar Dominion — a theocratic empire that claims godhood and unity through conquest. The Empress rules with holy fire and iron will, casting down cities that refuse her light, branding all who resist as heretics and rebels.

But across the shattered lands of the Free Marches, a spark of defiance refuses to die.

Kaelen Virelth, the exiled son of a disgraced noble house, is thrust into leadership after his brother is assassinated. Once a scholar and a pacifist, Kaelen becomes the reluctant face of a rebellion. As war spreads like wildfire, Kaelen must decide whether to become a killer to save the world — or lose everything he loves.

On the other side of the war, Serenya Valir, a devoted priestess of the Flame, begins to question the cost of blind faith. Sent to root out traitors within the Dominion, she uncovers dark secrets buried beneath sacred temples — and a prophecy foretelling a choice that will either redeem the world or end it in ash.

Amid the chaos rise other forces: the exiled Scorched Order, mage-knights blamed for a forgotten catastrophe; the elemental Aetherborn Tribes, whose magic the Dominion fears and hates; and the seductive spies of the Sable Garden, who pull strings behind every throne.

As old gods stir and ancient powers awaken, love blooms between enemies, loyalty crumbles into betrayal, and the line between salvation and damnation blurs. To stop the cycle of fire and ruin, someone must destroy the First Flame — or become its final bearer.

But power never dies quietly.

Ashes of  the First Flame

For three days, Rien heard nothing.

But it was not the silence of defeat.

It was the silence of thinking.

Then, on the fourth morning, a single thread appeared on her windowsill.

Just a raw, delicate cord of silver-gray.

The voice was not the Seamwright's.

"I see what I did. I see why I did it. And I still don't know if I was wrong."

"But I remember now… I was Tessen. I wanted to fix what I couldn't understand. So I built something that couldn't feel what I felt."

"So if you'll let me—I want to try. One last thread. One last truth. Let me help unbind what I built."

Rien let the thread slip through her fingers.

The Council Divided

When she called the Flamebearers together at the old hall of Myrialune, the air was taut with unease.

"You want to let him near the Codex again?" Lira asked, stunned.

"He built it," Elyra replied. "If he's willing to unbuild it—"

"Or rebind us all from the inside," Vel cut in.

Kaelen stood silent, arms crossed.

"Intent matters. But so does consequence."

"That's why I'm not handing him power. I'm meeting him. In the place where this all began."

"No," Rien said softly. "Before the Loom."

Return to the Ashfield

It took them two days to ride there.

The sky was overcast, thick with the scent of rain.

The ashfield stretched for miles—endless gray grass swaying in silence. It was where the Seamwright's village had once stood. Where fire had erased an entire story. Where a boy named Tessen had knelt with a broken loom and vowed never to let anything be forgotten again.

And there, beneath the ghost of a tree burned down a century ago—

The others stayed back, watching from the edge of the field.

"I thought if I removed choice, I'd remove pain."

"But you only removed truth."

"So tell me what to do. What thread do I cut?"

Rien stepped closer and knelt beside him.

"You don't cut it. You share it."

And for the first time in over fifty years—

Tessen Vale touched the Loom again.

The Message Between the Glass