The House That Burned Itself
"In their final breath, they said: 'Let no one remember us.'"
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📍 [Scene: The Forgotten Vaults – Beneath the Citadel]
Riven followed the map burned into the Nameless Coin left by the assassin.
It led beneath the Citadel.
Deeper than even the Flame Archives.
Lower than the royal tombs.
To a vault so forgotten, it was no longer on maps.
The Vault of Aurellien.
There was no door.
Only a wall.
But when Riven pressed the coin into the stone, it cracked.
The wall crumbled into embers.
And the truth behind House Aurellien began to breathe again.
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🩸 The Family That Chose Erasure
Inside were relics: swords made of molten stone, scrolls sealed in volcanic glass, a family crest half-scorched.
A burning hand holding a mirror.
Riven touched it, and the room flared alive with flame-memory.
He saw:
A grand house of scholars, warriors, and fire-scribes.
A family once equal to the Valtoris bloodline.
A woman: Lady Vael Aurellien, cloaked in red ash, arguing with King Theron.
> "You fear what we remember!" she screamed.
"You fear what our flames can reveal!"
> "Your fire sees too much," Theron snarled.
"It questions the throne."
> "Then let us burn. But not for you."
And so, they did.
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🔥 Their Final Spell
Lady Vael and the Aurelliens gathered their archives…
their scrolls…
even their children.
And they spoke a spell older than the royal line itself:
> "Forget us."
"Forget our fire, our names, our power."
"Let the world be spared the burden of what we knew."
A suicidal spell of memory erasure.
Their house vanished not just from history — but from consciousness.
Until now.
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👁 The Secret They Tried to Hide
In the center of the vault stood a glass sarcophagus.
Inside: a girl. No older than 19. Eyes closed.
But her hair floated in flame.
A seal glowed above her heart: Vault Sigil – DO NOT WAKE.
> "She's the last Aurellien," Riven whispered.
> "And they didn't burn her."
"They preserved her."
A scroll beside her body read:
> "If you awaken her, the world will remember.
But it may also fall apart."
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❓ What Did They Know?
Riven read the remaining flame-scrolls and found it:
> 📜 The Chronicle Fracture – A moment in time erased from every record.
It happened on the day Aedric was condemned.
Aurellien's magic had shown:
The trial was fake.
The high priest had lied.
King Theron rewrote the flame-archives.
> Aedric was innocent.
The Aurelliens tried to warn the people.
So the crown erased them.
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⚠ The Dilemma
Riven stood over the sarcophagus.
He could wake her.
Bring back the last witness.
Let the world remember the lie.
But doing so might unravel the flame-magic that held the realm together.
> "Do I reveal the truth," he asked the quiet vault,
"even if it breaks the flame forever?"
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💠 Power Unlocked: Flame of Erasure (Hidden Path)
> 🔥 Can access hidden records that were magically erased
🧠 Once per arc: restore one "forgotten" character, event, or ability
🩸 Choice: Wake the Girl OR Leave Her Sealed — only one path leads forward
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📘 Final Lines
Riven looked at her face.
So peaceful. So untouched by lies.
He held the Flamechron Quill above her seal…
But did not write.
Not yet.
> "Some truths must wait…
until the world is strong enough to hear them."
He turned. Left the vault sealed.
For now.
But he took the coin back.
Because memory… never truly forgets.
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