The stars above flickered.
Not from distance, but from disturbance.
Something—someone—had awakened.
Far beneath the roots of the world, where no light dared to crawl, an ancient prison groaned open. Not of stone, not of flame… but of memory. Of betrayal. Of forgotten oaths.
A voice whispered across the void like cracking ice:
"The Flame has chosen… but it forgot its promise."
---
In the Sanctuary of Embers
Amina, Kai, and Valec stood before the Judicator, the newly-forged tri-flame hovering above them.
The air had changed.
It shimmered with balance, with power, with… uncertainty.
Kai turned first. "That presence. Did you feel it?"
Valec nodded. "More than that. I remembered it."
Amina's eyes narrowed. "You knew it?"
Valec's expression darkened. "No. But it knew me."
The Judicator's voice trembled—not with fear, but regret.
"There was one before Amariel."
That silenced the chamber.
Amina's throat tightened. "Before Amariel? I thought she was the first Flamekeeper."
"She was," the Judicator replied. "But before there were Flamekeepers, there was one called Zorai'el. The Watcher. The First Flame that turned to shadow."
---
The Flame that Betrayed
A flicker rippled through the air and a vision emerged—grainy, ancient.
A figure cloaked in fire, wings of ember and ash, once hailed as protector of the Realms.
Zorai'el.
He had loved too deeply. Protected too fiercely. And when the Council of Flame denied him the power to stop a great war… he stole it.
And burned a continent to silence.
"He became something else," the Judicator whispered. "Not evil. Not good. Unbound."
"And we just woke him," Kai muttered.
The flame above them dimmed, as if trembling.
---
Valec's Fracture
Later that night, as the others slept in the Flameguard chambers, Valec stood alone before the ember mirror.
His reflection flickered.
Then… shifted.
Zorai'el's image stood in his place. His face—part Valec's. Part unknown.
"You carry my blood," the figure said softly. "They do not know what you are."
"I'm nothing like you," Valec growled.
"But you could be," the voice whispered.
Then the mirror cracked.
Not shattered—cracked.
Valec stared at it… and didn't turn away.
---
Back in the Flameguard Halls
Amina awoke with a start.
Her dreams had shown a child—a girl with eyes of burning silver—alone, calling out her name.
"Mother…"
She touched her stomach instinctively. Nothing.
"Who was she?" she whispered.
Behind her, the shadows of prophecy crept closer.