The fissure widened beneath their feet, pulsing with a red glow that painted Aria and Kael in ominous light. The tome began to tremble once more before vanishing in a flash, absorbed into Kael's chest where the bond now lived.
"We have to go," he said, jaw tight. "The vision… it was more than a warning. It was a summons."
Aria nodded. "To where?"
Kael closed his eyes, reaching into the newly forged link between them. "To Velrath. The City of Flame. It once thrived on fire magic, protected by the Flamebound, an order long thought extinct."
"They were guardians," Aria recalled from half-forgotten lore. "They were wiped out centuries ago."
Kael's eyes opened, glowing brighter. "Or they fell… and became something else."
---
They journeyed east for days, through scorched lands and ruins where nothing lived. The closer they drew to Velrath, the thinner the veil between worlds seemed. Shadows whispered at the corners of their vision. Memories bled into waking dreams.
At last, the ruined gates of Velrath loomed ahead—twisted obsidian spires reaching like clawstoward a blood-colored sky. The city was quiet. Too quiet.
"Kael," Aria said softly, "do you feel that?"
He nodded. "The bond's reacting. Something… is calling us inside."
They passed beneath the broken gates, stepping into a city half-swallowed by ash and vine. Fires burned with no fuel. Statues wept molten tears. And then they saw them—figures in charred armor, eyes glowing faintly gold.
Flamebound.
But not alive.
Their leader stepped forward—his face skeletal, draped in flame like a crown. "Seer. Protector. You come bearing the bond… and with it, the curse."
Aria stiffened. "We're not here to bring ruin."
"No," the Flamebound said. "But you carry its seed."
He turned to Kael. "You wear the Mark of the Crown. It is your destiny to awaken the Devourer… or to kill him before he rises. But know this: one cannot stop the Devourer without becoming him."
Kael's hands trembled. "Is that what I saw? Me, crowned, surrounded by ash?"
The Flamebound nodded once. "The city burned because one protector chose to save the Seer… and in doing so, lost himself."
Aria's heart turned to ice. Was their bond not salvation, but a trial?
Before they could ask more, the earth shook. A scream tore through the air—high, keening, ancient. The sky split open.
The Devourer was waking.
The Flamebound looked grim. "The Devourer was the first to bear the bond. His soul fractured when his Seer died. And now his echo lives in the magic that binds you both."
Aria's hands trembled. "So the more our bond deepens…"
"…the louder he becomes," Kael finished. "It wasn't just a vision. That throne of bone—that was me."
Silence fell heavy.
"You must make a choice," said the Flamebound. "Sever the bond while you still can—or face him… face yourself… in the Cradle Below."
Kael slowly stood, his gaze locked with Aria's. "We go below."
Aria nodded, not because she wasn't afraid, but because she refused to leave him. Not to fate. Not to fear.
The Flamebound nodded, stepping aside to reveal a staircase of molten stone descending into the heart of Velrath.
> "The Cradle waits. For blood, for truth… and for love tested by fire