CHAPTER SIXTEEN:The Temple Of Forgotten Flames
Elianah
They followed the old map Lyra found etched into the bones of a fallen Seer — a spiral route leading deep into the caverns beneath Kareth's ruins.
The further they went, the colder the fire in their torches burned.
Until at last… they saw it.
A stone temple, half-swallowed by rock and time. Symbols on its archway shimmered faintly — not in light, but in memory.
> THE FLAME FORGOTTEN BURNS STILL.
Inside, the air pulsed. As if the walls themselves were breathing.
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Kael
He felt it before they crossed the threshold.
Power. Ancient. Twisted.
"Something's wrong," he whispered. "This place isn't dead."
Thorne unsheathed his blade.
"I think it's waiting."
They stepped inside. The door slammed shut behind them.
And suddenly, torches lit themselves on either side of the hallway — but not with fire. With echoes.
Each flame showed a different memory — their past lives, flickering like ghosts.
Elianah gasped. In one, she was a child in robes of gold.
In another, she was standing in a burning field, holding Kael's hand — as gods rained judgment from the skies.
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Thorne
He turned to a torch showing himself — kneeling before a queen with ash-gray skin and a voice like storms.
> "You will betray them," she said.
> "And when you do… I will make you remember what loyalty cost you."
He looked away quickly. The flame pulsed, then dimmed.
"Don't stare too long," Lyra warned. "This place feeds on forgotten guilt."
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Lyra
At the end of the hall, they reached a chamber with nine thrones — but only eight were filled with statues. The ninth stood empty.
And in front of it… a burning sword hovered above a pool of black glass.
Kael approached. The sword whispered to him.
> "Do you remember your oath?"
> "Will you take up the flame again?"
His hand trembled.
Then—
The shadows moved.
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Caelen
He stepped from the void beyond the pool, draped in black and flame. His eyes were not his own — not fully — but they flickered with something almost familiar.
"Elianah," he said softly.
"Kael."
His voice cracked on the second name. As if pain still lingered beneath the corruption.
Kael stepped forward.
"Caelen. I remember now. All of it."
Caelen's hands clenched.
"Then you know why I can't let you walk out of here."
> "Because to save me… you'd have to kill me again."
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Elianah
"No," she said, stepping between them.
"There's another way."
Caelen looked at her — as if seeing her for the first time. And in that second, his fingers twitched… the flame in his eyes dimmed.
But then a voice boomed through the chamber.
> "YOU DARE DEFY ME AGAIN?"
The shadows behind Caelen rose, forming the shape of the forgotten god — massive, void-eyed, furious.
> "You are mine, Caelen. You swore it when they left you to rot."
Caelen screamed. Black fire surged around him. His veins lit like cracks in glass.
Kael reached for the sword in the pool.
"Elianah! Say it with me!"
She met his eyes and nodded.
Together, they spoke the oath from lifetimes past:
> "By soul and fire, by time and truth — we break the chains of shadowed youth.
Let memory rise, let flame reclaim… the name, the heart, the holy name."
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The sword ignited.
Caelen dropped to his knees, screaming — but not in pain.
In release.
The shadows shrieked.
And for a moment… he looked up at Kael with his eyes. Real. Human.
> "Brother…"
Then the temple shook. Cracks split the floor.
The Forgotten God was not done yet.
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