The deeper the truth is buried, the more violently it surfaces.
Word of Kael's summoning spreads like wildfire through Aurorium.
The Crownwatch's involvement, the awakening of the Bone Crown, and the ghostly figure seen beside Kael during Moonfall become whispered legend among students. Some hail him as a chosen heir. Others call him cursed.
Instructors are divided — some, like Master Rhagor, try to protect Kael. Others seek to isolate him.
Lia, disturbed by the prophecy in the Thirteenth Archive, confronts Kael. She shares the lines she deciphered:
"When the Flameborne awakens… so too shall the Crownless rise. And the Firstborn Memory shall betray its bearer."
Kael doesn't understand.
But he begins to doubt someone in his circle.
Kael begins observing Riven closely.
The silent, ever-loyal companion has always been at his side. But Kael now recalls strange moments: Riven speaking to shadows, reacting before danger struck, and surviving wounds that should've crippled him.
When Kael meditates with his flame — diving into the memoryfire again — he sees seven shadows, the fractured souls of Vaelorian. One of them turns and smiles:
"You're not the only one who remembers. He remembers too."
The flame shows him Riven — in the Ashfields — kneeling before the original Bone Crown.
Kael wakes, heart racing.
"Riven… is a Firstborn Fragment."
To confirm his fear, Kael challenges Riven to a duel — but not publicly.
He invites him to the Red Mirror, an ancient training sanctum where memory and magic blur. The arena manifests your deepest identity — and reveals lies in combat.
Riven agrees, silently.
Inside the Red Mirror, Kael sees Riven's reflection split — his normal face overlaid with a golden helm shaped like a serpent. A crown of flickering bone hovers above his reflection.
Kael attacks.
"You knew. All this time, you knew what I was — what we were."
Riven parries calmly.
Then he speaks — for the first time in the series:
"I remember everything. I remember dying. I remember becoming a crown. And I remember you — the one who let the world burn and called it mercy."
The duel is explosive — godflame vs. forgotten flame, two fragments of a dead king in civil war.
But Kael cannot kill him.
And Riven — with sadness — throws his blade aside.
"I never meant to betray you. I only meant to watch. But now that the Crownless rise… I must return to them. I'm sorry, Kael."
He vanishes in memoryflame.
In the wastelands beyond Aurorium, the Crownless gather. Riven joins their camp — where he is addressed not as a warrior, but as First of the Seven.
The Crownless general, a woman in crimson armor with her face obscured by glass, bows to Riven:
"The bearer of betrayal has returned. Then the time has come. We march — not to conquer… but to reclaim what was erased."
They unfurl a massive banner:
A broken crown over seven stars.Their creed: We were kings, made slaves. We will be memory again.
Back at Aurorium, Kael stands atop the tower where he first arrived.
The stars shimmer strangely. The memoryflame inside him is louder now — whispering names, cities, and lovers long lost. But he clutches the Crownmark on his chest.
"Riven betrayed me. But I understand now… we are all fragments. Pieces of a forgotten war."
He turns to Lia.
"No more waiting. If the Crownless march, I'll meet them — not as a king. Not as a god."
"As Kael Vaelorian. And I'll remember everything."