The Vault closed behind them with a final, echoing groan. As the stone slid into place, sealing the relic chamber once again, Kaen stood alone in the fading glow—his breathing shallow, his hands trembling.
The shard had fused with him completely.
He could feel it now—a second soul flickering beneath his skin.
They exited into the mountain's upper levels, greeted by fading sunlight and snow flurries. The world outside hadn't changed.
But Kaen had.
"What did it show you?" Mira asked, her voice cautious.
Kaen didn't answer immediately. His gaze was distant, as if the mountains were just an illusion veiling something far older.
"I saw a man… a Firebearer," Kaen finally whispered. "He wasn't me. But I knew his pain. His choice. He gave up everything to save a city that feared him."
"Another soul within the Vault?" Selyra asked, gripping her staff tightly.
"No," Kaen replied. "A version of me. Or maybe… what I could become."
Tane grunted, cracking his knuckles. "Don't lose yourself in visions, kid. Fire's only useful when you control it."
But control was slipping.
That night, Kaen's dreams burned.
He stood on a battlefield once again, but this time… he was not himself.
He wore armor etched with forgotten runes. Fire bled from his eyes. Whole cities fell with a word. And his voice—ancient, wrathful—spoke to a god and challenged it.
He awoke, drenched in sweat, to see his arm glowing faintly with ember patterns that hadn't been there before.
Mira, half-asleep, noticed. "You're burning again."
Kaen looked at his hands. "It's not fire. It's memory."
The next day, they descended the mountain.
The world below waited. But as they stepped into the valley, something new loomed in the air.
Smoke.
A village nearby—Sunnar's Hollow—was burning.
Kaen's heart froze. "No... not now."
They ran.
By the time they arrived, flames had consumed half the village. Screams rang out. Shadows danced in the firelight—twisted figures cloaked in black and crimson. Not bandits.
Hunters.
One turned toward them—his mask marked with the sigil of the Ashbound Order.
Kaen's eyes narrowed.
They were hunting him.
The shard inside him pulsed in warning.
Before anyone could speak, Kaen stepped forward, flame rising from his palms.
This wasn't just about survival now.
It was a declaration:
The Firebearer had awakened… and his toll was only beginning.