Fire In The Blood

By morning, the winds had changed.

Mira said the air smelled of silver and rust—an omen in the Old Tongue. Marek said nothing at all. He simply stared eastward, toward the far mountains, where clouds twisted unnaturally, forming a shape that resembled a massive eye.

Kael stood alone in the center of the Bone Orchard, where the Warden of the Blood had fallen the night before. The ashes had cooled, but his spear still glowed faintly, flickering with dark red fire.

He remembered the Warden's last words.

> "You are already late."

"What did he mean?" Kael murmured. "What's coming?"

Mira's voice broke the silence behind him.

"He meant the gates are opening."

---

They left before sunrise.

With Alin still unconscious and Mira weakened from spellcasting, their pace was slower. They moved through fog-soaked hills, avoiding the roads. Marek led them along a hunter's trail that wound through the ruins of fallen keeps and burned-out villages.

The world around them felt different now.

Not empty—watched.

Kael felt it most of all.

His senses had sharpened since the Archive. He heard whispers in the trees, saw shadows moving just beyond lanternlight, and when he closed his eyes, he sometimes felt like he was standing in two places at once—his own body and something… older.

"Is this what Awakening feels like?" he asked Marek.

The older man looked at him sideways.

"No. This is what comes after."

---

They reached a hunter waystation carved into the cliffs of Kareth Spire by the third night. It was a fortified rest stop—a cathedral fused into stone, lined with wards and watchtowers. Inside, Kael saw other hunters: battle-worn, suspicious, eyes ringed with exhaustion.

Mira paid the tithe and arranged for Alin to be kept under warded care.

Kael stayed outside.

He needed space.

He needed answers.

---

That night, Kael entered the Echo Room—an ancient chamber carved from obsidian, used by hunters to commune with ancestral memories.

It was a place of silence.

Of blood and truth.

Kael stepped barefoot into the center, where a bowl filled with liquid obsidian shimmered. He pressed two fingers into the bowl and whispered the words Mira had taught him:

> "By the line of flame, I call the fire back to its source."

The room shuddered.

And then he was no longer alone.

---

He stood in a mirrored void.

Thousands of reflections surrounded him—versions of himself from different times, different paths. Some wore armor. Others bore scars. One stood with a demon's skull in hand. Another bled from the eyes, smiling.

And then a figure stepped forward.

Not a reflection.

Not a vision.

A memory.

Elaine Greyflame.

His mother.

Kael's breath caught. "Mom…"

She smiled softly. "You found the Creed."

Tears stung his eyes. "I thought you were dead."

Her expression darkened. "Not yet. But I'm close. Trapped between planes—caught in the breach where Malrekh's soul was torn."

Kael stepped closer. "Tell me how to find you. I'll bring you back."

Elaine shook her head.

"No. Listen carefully. There's no time. Malrekh doesn't want you dead, Kael. He wants you reborn. As his vessel."

Kael reeled. "But Alin—he was the Vessel."

Elaine's voice broke like glass. "There's more than one. You were his original choice. The purest blood. He can still claim you."

Kael whispered, "He won't."

Elaine stepped forward, touching his face.

"You must find the Seal of Embers. It's hidden in the Ruins of Velgrath. Before the Solstice. Before the Ninth Flame consumes the others."

The vision began to collapse.

Elaine's voice echoed.

> "Do not let the fire in your blood become the fire that ends the world."

Then—

Darkness.

---

Kael woke gasping.

His hand still burned with the symbol of the Greyflame—a rune of three lines intertwined, now glowing faintly orange.

Mira was waiting just outside the chamber.

"You saw her," she said quietly.

Kael nodded.

"She's alive. And she told me what to do."

Marek joined them. "What's the next step?"

Kael looked toward the horizon.

"To Velgrath."

---

They departed the next morning, leaving Alin under heavy ward and care.

Delros Hollow sent two more hunters to join them—Tana and Korrin, twins from the Stormbound tribe. Tana was silent but lethal with a chain-blade. Korrin spoke too much but could collapse a wall with a single rune.

They moved fast, following Kael's directions as if he'd always been the leader.

And in a way, he had.

The road to Velgrath was long and broken, winding through blighted lands where nothing grew and the sky hung low. Creatures stalked the edges—half-formed demons, husks of twisted men, things born from dreams and spite.

Kael led them with fire in his veins.

And with every mile, the fire grew hotter.

---

Three days later, they saw Velgrath.

A ruined city half-sunk in the earth, its towers tilted like bones of a long-dead god. Smoke rose from its center, thick and black, though no one lived there.

Kael stepped onto the broken road.

And immediately, the ground shook.

Mira grabbed his arm. "You're triggering something."

"No," Kael said softly. "It's calling me."

---

Inside Velgrath, time felt broken.

The streets shifted. Buildings bled. Lanterns flickered between decades. At one point, Korrin stepped into a house that didn't exist, and came out coughing up ash and spider legs.

"We're walking through memories," Mira muttered. "This city was part of the first war. Every drop of blood spilled here left a scar."

Kael followed the pull in his chest, deeper into the ruins.

Until he found it:

A black tower. Sealed. Silent. At its center, a stone throne with a symbol carved into it—

The Seal of Embers.

He stepped forward.

And the world exploded.

---

Flame erupted from the seal.

Not fire—but memory.

Kael screamed as his body was pulled through time—through his own bloodline. He saw hunters in ancient armor. Saw the fall of the first demon city. Saw his mother slay a creature with a blade of starlight. Saw himself—older, cloaked in fire, facing down a storm of wings and teeth.

And then—

Malrekh.

Full.

Awake.

Watching him.

> "Welcome, Kael. My chosen."

Kael raised his hand—and the fire obeyed.

"Not yours."

He reached forward—and claimed the Seal.

The tower cracked.

The seal burned into his chest.

And Kael Greyflame rose—no longer just marked.

Now, forged.

---

Outside, the ruins trembled.

The ot

hers fled as the tower collapsed.

Kael emerged from the smoke, clothes scorched, eyes burning orange-red.

Mira stared.

"What… what are you?"

Kael looked at his hand.

Then at the distant stars.

And whispered:

"The beginning of the end."