The ruins of Fort Emberfall were quieter than death.
Kael stood before the burning tree—its fire didn't crackle, didn't spread, didn't consume. It simply burned, steady and alive. The flames were white, flickering against the dark sky like they remembered something the world had forgotten.
"It's not natural," he said, voice low.
Aurelia stepped beside him. "No. It's not."
He watched her—how the light shimmered off her silver hair, how her eyes didn't flinch from the impossible fire.
"This isn't just magic," she added. "It's memory."
Kael frowned. "You mean a spell?"
"No. Something older."
Suddenly, the wind stopped.
And a voice—neither loud nor soft—spoke from everywhere and nowhere at once.
> "You walk where gods once bled."
Kael instinctively reached for his sword. The Crimson Blade pulsed, but no threat came.
Only the fire.
A shadow rose from the ashes beneath the tree. Not solid, not human—just shape. A figure formed from grief and time.
Aurelia didn't move. Her hand glowed faintly at her side.
> "Crimson Blade. Iceborn. You return to what was left buried."
Kael narrowed his eyes. "What are you?"
> "A warning."
Then it vanished.
No fight. No riddle. Just those words.
The tree flared once, then calmed.
Ash began to fall upward.
---
Back at the capital, silence followed them like a second shadow. The guards didn't ask questions. The scouts stayed behind. Only Kael and Aurelia knew what they had seen.
And neither of them wanted to speak of it yet.
Until they reached the hidden archive.
They descended together into the War Library, past old maps, forgotten banners, and sealed scrolls. Aurelia led him to a room behind a rune-marked wall—Kael had never been inside it.
She placed her palm on the seal.
The wall shifted.
Inside, a single book floated over a pedestal.
She whispered the title aloud. "The Flame That Remembers."
Kael raised a brow. "You've read this before?"
"No. But I've dreamed it."
She opened the book—and images spilled out. Not words. Not drawings. Visions.
A tree. The same one.
Burning in a world made of stars and snow.
Two thrones. One of fire. One of ice. Both empty.
Aurelia trembled. "It's not just a seal… It's a crown. A calling."
Kael didn't ask what she meant. He knew.
And when she turned to him, her voice broke.
"I saw myself on one of those thrones, Kael. Alone."
He stepped closer. Held her hand. "Not if I can help it."
---
That night, Kael stood at his balcony, watching the stars. They looked colder.
Inside, Aurelia slept uneasily.
His blade hummed quietly, reacting to something distant.
Far to the north, where flame and memory slept.
Where something had just… awakened.