The Ashmere didn't burn Kaen's skin—it burned his soul.
Each step across its seared plains tore open hidden scars, not of wounds, but memories not his own. Whispers in tongues he couldn't name called to him, begged him, warned him. Selyra's grip on her staff tightened. Mira was silent, her glowing eyes darting with tension. Even Tane—ever the unshakable relic-hunter—walked like a man stalking shadows.
Then, the earth trembled.
Not an earthquake—but a pulse, rhythmic and alive.
They had reached the foot of a jagged obsidian hill, but it wasn't a hill at all.
It was the entrance.
"The Ember Vault," Selyra whispered. "It's not just buried beneath the Ashmere… it's a living relic."
As Kaen approached, the blackened stones shifted. A crack formed, slow and wide, releasing a breath of warm air and crimson light from within. The ground below hissed like it was exhaling.
They stepped inside.
Instantly, the noise of the outside world vanished. The vault swallowed sound, light, and time. Its walls were carved with runes that flickered between flame and shadow—ancient writing that pulsed in rhythm with Kaen's heartbeat.
"It knows you're here," Mira murmured.
Kaen walked ahead, drawn by something unseen. At the heart of the chamber, a towering monument awaited—an altar encircled by scorched murals. The images were shifting with every flicker of flame.
A boy consumed by fire.
A cloaked figure reaching for the sky.
A great beast with burning wings falling into darkness.
And finally… a circle broken in two, spilling flame and void.
Kaen's hand hovered over the altar. "What is this place?"
Tane knelt by one of the murals, running his fingers across a symbol. "This vault predates the kingdoms. Predates even the gods most believe in. It was built by the first Aetherkind—those who shaped fire not just as energy… but as memory."
Selyra added quietly, "And the vault stores both."
As Kaen's fingers touched the altar, a searing light flashed through the chamber.
Suddenly, he was standing elsewhere—alone—on a battlefield of fire and falling stars. Shadows of warriors flickered around him, some familiar, others monstrous. At the center, a blazing figure turned to face him—its eyes hollow, its chest cracked open with fire pulsing inside.
"You are the Echo," it said.
"The Flame returns… but it does not forgive."
Kaen gasped and staggered back.
He was in the vault again.
Everyone was staring at him.
"What did you see?" Mira asked.
Kaen looked at them—and for a moment, the fire danced in his eyes.
"I saw… who I used to be."
But deep inside, he knew it wasn't over. The vault hadn't given him a gift. It had awakened something.
And now it wanted more.