---
The wind shifted.
The smell of smoke lingered on Riven's clothes as he and Kael walked deeper into the Vale. Trees here grew tall and twisted, bark silver-gray, leaves like fractured glass. The moon hung high, even though it should've been midday. Aetherra's natural order didn't always hold in ancient places like this.
The ruins of Elowen's Vale stood ahead, buried beneath vines and roots.
Kael glanced nervously around. "This place… it doesn't feel dead."
"That's because it isn't," Riven murmured.
> "The First Seal was buried here after the Fall," Veyron said. "By your father's order. Only three people knew its location."
"And I was one of them?"
> "You were the last to touch it."
Riven said nothing. The memory still danced at the edge of his mind—flickering shadows of a young boy pressing his hand against an altar, whispering a vow.
He didn't remember the vow.
But the feeling of it ached in his bones.
---
As they approached the ruins, Kael stopped short.
"What… is that?"
In the center of the broken stonework, a wide spiral sigil was burned into the ground. It shimmered faintly, etched in silver and ash. At its heart stood a tall monument—half-obelisk, half-sarcophagus. The surface was covered in runes that pulsed slowly like a heartbeat.
> "That's it," Veyron whispered. "The First Seal. The binding stone."
Kael approached cautiously. "What's inside?"
Riven's eyes narrowed.
"Not what. Who."
The obelisk pulsed.
Then a voice echoed across the stone.
> "So the Ashborn has returned."
Riven froze.
He knew that voice.
Soft. Smooth. Calm like winter wind.
A woman stepped from behind the obelisk, wrapped in pale blue robes, face hidden behind a feathered mask. Her hair was braided with beads of frost-crystal. Her presence froze the air around her.
Riven's grip tightened.
"You…"
> "You remember her," Veyron whispered.
"I thought you were dead."
The woman tilted her head. "Many thought the same of you, my prince."
Kael looked between them. "Who is she?"
"Her name was Lyssae, once," Riven said slowly. "She served as the Keeper of the Vale. And…"
He hesitated.
"She was the only one I ever…"
His voice broke.
"I knew you'd remember," Lyssae said. "The Hollow Flame always brings clarity when it hurts most."
---
Silence hung between them.
Riven's eyes flickered with old emotions—anger, pain, sorrow. But he kept his voice level.
"Why are you here?"
Lyssae stepped closer. "To protect the Seal. As I always have."
"You protected it with my father," Riven said. "You fought beside us. Why are you aligned with the Order now?"
She didn't flinch.
"Because your father failed."
Riven stepped forward. "No. He died protecting this world."
Lyssae's voice sharpened. "He died protecting a lie. The Hollow Flame is not salvation, Riven. It's a curse. The Seals were never meant to be kept. They were warnings."
> "She's wrong," Veyron said. "Or she's seen something we haven't."
Riven looked at the obelisk.
"It's waking, isn't it?"
Lyssae nodded. "The First Seal stirs because its counterpart—the Voidbrand—has been broken."
Kael stiffened. "The Order breached it?"
"Yes," she said. "And they're hunting the other Seals."
Her gaze locked onto Riven's.
"And they need you to open them."
---
For a long moment, no one moved.
Then Riven said, "Then I'll open them before they can."
Lyssae frowned. "You'd unleash the Flame again?"
"No. I'll unlock it so I can destroy it. So it can't fall into their hands."
> "That's not how the Hollow Flame works," Veyron said gently. "It can't be destroyed. It must be reborn."
"Then I'll burn what's left of me to do it," Riven replied aloud.
Lyssae studied him for a moment.
Then she turned and touched the obelisk.
The stone shimmered—then slid open with a sound like cracking ice.
Inside was a hollow chamber with an altar at its center. Floating above the altar was a burning shard, glowing white-hot with golden edges.
"The Flame's First Key," Lyssae whispered. "Take it."
Riven stepped forward.
As he reached out, the shard pulsed, and a memory surged into him—
---
A flash of a battlefield.
Screaming. Smoke.
Children weeping as fire consumed the sky.
Vaelen stood atop a tower, eyes wild, arms raised.
Behind him, the Seal crumbled.
> "We were never meant to share it!" Vaelen screamed.
"You're destroying everything!" Riven shouted.
Vaelen turned, eyes glowing. "Then let it burn!"
---
Riven gasped as the memory faded.
His hand closed around the shard.
And the Seal blazed.
A beam of golden flame shot skyward from the ruins—seen for miles.
The First Seal was broken.
---
Kael shielded his eyes. "What did you see?"
"My brother," Riven said. "He didn't fall. He chose the Hollow Flame over the world."
Lyssae stepped back, her voice colder now. "Then he must be stopped. And if you can't do it—"
"I will," Riven interrupted. "Even if it kills me."
---
The flame around the altar dimmed, and a mark burned into Riven's palm—a sigil in the shape of a twin-headed phoenix, one head wreathed in flame, the other in ash.
> "The Seal Mark," Veyron whispered. "You've accepted the burden. There are eight more."
Riven turned to Lyssae.
"Will you stop me?"
She shook her head slowly. "No. I will follow… until you forget who you are again."
"Then let's hope I remember."
---
As they left the Vale, Riven looked back once.
The obelisk was gone.
In its place stood a new flame, one only he could see—burning in silence, waiting to be called.
The journey had changed.
He wasn't just searching for truth anymore.
He was carrying a fire that could end the world.
And he'd have to decide…
Would he burn everything to stop it?
Or let it consume him first?
---