The name still echoed in Kaen's mind.
Aetherkind.
Not a title. Not a blessing. A curse carved into blood and time.
Scroll in hand, Kaen descended the canyon path from Selyra's hut, each step heavier than the last. The winds had shifted. Even the birds were silent. Something unseen stirred beyond the cliffs—a silence not born of peace but warning.
As he neared the village border, a low hum rippled across the land. It wasn't sound. It was pressure—like heat rising just before a wildfire erupted. The ground beneath his boots vibrated slightly.
Then came the scream.
It wasn't human. It was too old, too layered—like a thousand mouths crying from beneath the earth. The villagers rushed out of their homes. Children cried. Elders fell to their knees, clutching their chests.
Selyra emerged beside Kaen, her eyes wide. "They're already here."
A shape emerged from the edge of the trees—tall, cloaked in cloth woven from ash and ember. Its face was hidden, but the void beneath the hood seemed to pull in the light.
Another figure followed. Then another.
Five in total.
Selyra whispered, "The Silent Pyre."
Kaen narrowed his eyes. "Who are they?"
"Once protectors of the Aetherkind," she replied. "Now... extinguishers. Their purpose changed when your kind was hunted. Now they burn what remembers."
The figures halted. One stepped forward and raised a hand wrapped in flame-eaten bandages. The ground cracked.
"Return the scroll, Aetherkind," a voice like crumbling coal demanded.
Kaen stepped in front of Selyra. "No."
The figure tilted its head. "Then you have chosen the flame. So be it."
Suddenly, the sky turned red.
Flames burst from the ground like serpents, coiling toward Kaen. But before they could strike—his hand moved on instinct. He raised the scroll.
The ancient symbols glowed.
Time stilled.
The fire bent backward—then collapsed into embers at his feet.
Even the Silent Pyre paused.
Kaen's voice was steady. "I don't know what I am… but I know I'm not kneeling."
The lead Pyre stepped back. "Then the Echoes awaken. And your soul… becomes the battlefield."
The five figures vanished into cinders, their forms scattering into the wind.
The silence that followed was deafening.
Selyra turned to Kaen, her voice laced with both awe and fear. "You've just declared war on a forgotten flame. There's no turning back now."
Kaen's grip tightened around the scroll, and his gaze rose to the sky.
"Good," he whispered. "Let it burn."