---
The Sea Cliffs of Emberdeep rose like broken spears from the ocean.
Wind howled endlessly along the ridges, and waves slammed into the rock face below, each crash echoing like the heartbeat of a slumbering god. The path leading there was narrow, overgrown, and treacherous—only wide enough for one to walk at a time.
Riven and Kael approached just before dusk, their cloaks soaked with salt and spray.
"Are you sure this is the place?" Kael asked, voice raised above the wind.
Riven didn't answer right away. His eyes traced the outline of a crumbled archway jutting from the cliff wall, halfway buried in stone. Faint glyphs glimmered along its edges.
> "This is it," Veyron confirmed. "The Second Seal lies beneath the cliffs, in the Vault of Emberdeep. Once, this place housed fire-priests of Velmora."
"And now?"
> "Now only ghosts remain."
---
They passed under the arch, entering a long tunnel carved from obsidian rock. The walls were slick with moisture, veins of glowing quartz running through them like ancient arteries. Riven touched the stone gently.
> "These tunnels were shaped by your father's fire mages," Veyron said. "To preserve the Vault long after the surface fell."
Kael glanced around. "So what's guarding it now?"
"Not what," Riven replied. "Who."
---
At the tunnel's end lay a vast circular chamber.
Its walls were lined with black flame sconces, each still burning faintly despite the years. In the center, a spiral staircase descended into darkness, flanked by two statues: one of a phoenix with broken wings, the other of a chained serpent with empty eyes.
Between them stood a man.
Or what was left of one.
He was hunched, gaunt, with skin like scorched parchment. His robes were scorched crimson, marked with ancient Velmoran glyphs. His eyes burned faintly blue, not with life—but with binding.
He turned as they entered.
"Riven Caelthorn," he said, voice raspy but clear.
Kael stepped back instinctively. "Who—"
Riven's eyes widened.
He took a step forward.
"…I know you."
The man smiled softly. "That makes one of us."
---
They stood in silence for a moment before the figure bowed.
"I am Karyon, Warden of Flame and last Keeper of the Emberdeep Vault. My soul was bound to this place the day your father died."
Riven's jaw tightened. "Why?"
"To guard what was left," Karyon replied. "And wait… in case the Ashborn ever returned."
Kael looked between them. "You were here during the Fall?"
"I was," Karyon said. "I watched Velmora burn from this very cliff. And when the Seals shattered, I swore an oath before the Flame to never leave until its heir returned."
His voice dropped.
"You were only a child then. Covered in blood, wrapped in fire. Your brother had vanished. The king… already dead."
Riven closed his eyes.
"I remember none of it."
"Then the Vault may restore what was lost."
---
Karyon turned toward the stairwell.
"Follow me. But understand: the Seal reacts not only to blood, but to memory. It will test you."
"And if I fail?" Riven asked.
Karyon didn't answer.
He descended into the dark.
---
The lower chambers of Emberdeep were more intact—sacred halls carved in symmetrical spirals, their walls embedded with prayer-embers and forgotten glyphs. At the center lay the Vault Heart—a circular platform above a chasm, supported by pillars shaped like phoenix wings.
Above it hovered a shard of glowing flame, smaller than the First Key, but far denser. It pulsed in slow rhythm, almost like breathing.
Riven stepped toward it.
Karyon raised a hand. "Before you can claim it, the Seal will test you."
"What kind of test?"
Karyon met his gaze. "A truth you've hidden even from yourself."
The shard flared.
---
Suddenly—
Riven was no longer in the Vault.
He stood in a field of ash and white snow.
A tower crumbled in the distance. Screams echoed from unseen mouths. And beside him stood a boy—twelve, maybe thirteen—with dark hair and burning gold eyes.
Vaelen.
Riven stepped toward him. "Brother—"
The boy turned, gaze distant.
"You left me."
Riven flinched. "No. I tried to—"
"You were afraid," Vaelen said quietly. "Afraid of what the Flame would make you."
"I was a child—!"
"And so was I."
Vaelen lifted a hand.
The sky turned black.
Flames fell like rain.
"You said we'd burn together," Vaelen whispered. "But you let me burn alone."
---
The memory collapsed.
Riven staggered, coughing smoke.
Back in the Vault, Kael caught him before he fell.
"You alright?!"
Riven nodded slowly, the burning still in his throat.
"The Seal… it showed me what I ran from."
> "You abandoned him," Veyron murmured, "and now the Flame binds that guilt to your strength. You must learn to master both… or die in denial."
Riven stepped toward the shard again.
This time, he didn't hesitate.
He placed his hand on it.
The Seal pulsed—flashed—
And the mark on his palm flared with light.
The Second Seal was unlocked.
---
The chamber rumbled.
Old magic stirred.
Karyon stepped back. "The Vault is collapsing. The Seal's purpose is complete."
Riven turned. "You're free now."
Karyon smiled sadly. "No. My soul was not bound to the Seal. It was bound to you."
Riven stiffened.
"Then… you'll follow me?"
"I will walk with you a little longer," Karyon said, "as a fragment of what was once your family's hope."
He placed a glowing ember in Riven's hand—a Memory Flame.
"This is your father's last command, spoken on the day of the Fall. Guard it well."
Then Karyon stepped into the fading light.
And vanished.
---
As the Vault crumbled around them, Riven and Kael raced back to the tunnel. The path shook beneath them—walls splintering, flames rising from the cracks.
They burst through the archway just as the entire Vault collapsed into the sea.
Waves surged high.
The sky split with thunder.
And Riven stood beneath it all, panting, soaked, eyes burning with grief and revelation.
Kael dropped beside him. "That was insane…"
"Two Seals down," Riven murmured. "Seven to go."
> "And each will dig deeper," Veyron said, "into the memories you buried to survive."
Riven stared at the flame shard in his hand.
And at the second mark now burned into his skin—shaped like a falling feather wrapped in chain.
The weight of the Flame was growing.
But so was his resolve.
He would find Vaelen.
He would stop the Eclipse Order.
And if the Hollow Flame demanded his soul to do it…
Then he'd burn brighter than any king before him.