The Dream
Kai opened his eyes, but the world was wrong. He wasn't in the forest anymore. He stood on scorched earth. Ash rained from the sky like black snow. Fires burned in the distance, flickering crimson against a darkened sky. The wind carried whispers—fragments of forgotten words. In front of him, a figure stood with their back turned. Tall. Barefoot. Cloaked in golden flame.
Not fire that destroyed, but fire that remembered. Every ember was a memory. A life. A name. The figure turned. Eyes the color of molten gold stared into Kai's. Not cruel. Not kind. But knowing.
"You've come far," the voice rumbled—low, echoing, like something speaking from beneath the earth. "But the seal will not hold much longer." Kai tried to speak, but his voice was locked. The figure stepped closer. Their face was flickering. Blurred. Ancient. "The blood you carry once sealed me. Now it opens the gate."
Kai gasped, a hand rising to his chest. "What are you?" The flames surged.
"I am what was forgotten. What your family buried. But I remember. And soon, so will you." The world shuddered. Kai saw flashes. A great city made of bone and fire, swallowed by darkness. A ritual gone wrong. A child—himself? —crying in a circle of flames.
And then—
He awoke.
Morning in the Camp
Lucien stirred beside him, eyes opening slowly. "Another vision?" Kai nodded, rubbing his eyes. "He spoke to me." Lucien sat up, concerned. "Who?" Kai looked toward the ancient tree. "The one they sealed away. The Firebound. I don't know his name… but I think… I think he's waking through me."
Rhydian was already awake by the fire, sharpening his blade. He looked up sharply. "Then time is short." Celira stepped from the woods, carrying herbs and scrolls. "We need to go back into the chamber."
Back Into the Roots
The staircase groaned beneath their feet as they descended again into the earthen vault beneath the tree. The air felt thicker. Warmer. The stone bowl still shimmered. But now, next to it, something new had appeared. A box. Carved of obsidian and bone. Covered in dust.
Celira knelt, whispering a charm to break its seal. The box clicked. Inside lay a shard of black crystal wrapped in golden wire. It pulsed softly, like a heartbeat. Kai reached toward it instinctively. Lucien caught his wrist. "Wait." But the shard pulsed again. A glow spread over Kai's skin. The crystal reacted—to him.
Celira gasped. "That's a Memory Core." Kai blinked. "A what?" "It's old soul magic," she explained. "It holds pieces of a person. Their power. Their memories." Lucien stared. "Whose?" Celira didn't answer right away. "Maybe… the Firebound himself." Kai's hand hovered. "Then I need to see."
Before anyone could stop him, he touched it.
The Memory
Flame.
The sound of chanting. Screams. The vision pulled Kai into the past like a tide. He stood inside a great hall. Arches twisted into runes. A man stood before a crowd—robed in dark fire, voice echoing. "Let the curse break. Let the truth return." And behind him—a circle of Kai's ancestors, channeling their magic. Sealing something away. The Firebound figure knelt in the center of the spell, his eyes full of fury and heartbreak.
"They feared me," the figure whispered. "Feared the truth of the bond. So they sealed it. And me." Kai fell back, panting. Lucien caught him again. "Are you alright?" he whispered, voice firm with concern. Kai nodded shakily. "He was… one of us. Maybe the first. And they locked him away because of it."
"Because of what?"
Kai looked at him, voice soft. "Because he loved someone he wasn't supposed to."
Lucien's fingers tightened around his. "And now he's coming back through you."
Kai didn't answer.
Because it felt true.
Later That Night
They stayed by the chamber for the night.
Kai couldn't sleep. He sat by the bowl of water, watching its surface shift with flickers of flame. Lucien came to him, wrapping a cloak over both their shoulders. "You're shaking." "I feel like I'm a door," Kai whispered. "And something is knocking harder each day." Lucien held his hand. "Then I'll stand on the other side with you. We'll open it together. Or keep it closed."
Kai looked at him, warmth spreading in his chest. "Do you think he was alone?" "The Firebound?" Kai nodded. Lucien's voice was soft. "No. He had someone. And maybe that's why he's still trying to come back." They sat in silence for a while. Then Lucien leaned in, brushing Kai's hair back and kissing his temple. Soft. Grounding. Kai closed his eyes. "When I'm with you… it doesn't feel so heavy."
Lucien smiled. "Good. Because I'm not going anywhere."
At dawn, the ground quaked.
Rhydian was on his feet first, sword drawn. "Something's wrong." From deep in the chamber, runes on the wall began to glow. The stone cracked. The bowl shattered with a sharp crack. Celira cursed under her breath. "He's trying to break through." Then came the voice. Echoing from nowhere.
"Let me out. Let me speak. Let me burn."
Kai staggered. "He's inside me. I can hear him." Lucien held him. "Fight it." The runes surged. Rhydian stepped between Kai and the wall. "We need to get him out of here. Now." But it was too late.
The vision hit again.
The Truth Revealed
This time, it wasn't fire. It was cold. Kai stood before a younger version of his own father—wearing the same ring Kai now wore. He stood over a map, whispering to someone. A name: Ashvryn. Kai whispered it aloud.
Celira turned pale. "That was the Firebound's name. It's in the forbidden histories." The scene shifted. Ashvryn—the Firebound—stood at the center of a council, hands chained, eyes blazing.
He wasn't evil.
He was in love. With another Alpha. Another heir.
The council feared what their bond would mean. Power shared between two of equal strength. Unity they didn't control. So they sealed him. And the man he loved never returned for him. Until now. Kai fell forward.
Lucien held him tightly. "I've got you. I've always got you." When the light faded, the chamber had gone silent. The Memory Core was cracked. Kai lay curled against Lucien, eyes closed, tears running down his cheeks.
"He remembers," he whispered. "And he's not angry. Just… broken." Celira picked up the fragments of the core. "There may still be time to understand what he wants." Rhydian knelt near them, resting a hand on Kai's back. "We need to leave this place. Regroup."
Lucien helped Kai to his feet. "We'll face him. Together."
And for the first time, Kai felt it.
Not fear.
But fate.