The mountains loomed like the broken teeth of giants.
For two days, Mara, Talon, and Serai climbed through crumbling paths and narrow ledges, their way lit by the faint red glow of the ember sky above. The air grew colder, but the fire within Mara kept her warm. It didn't flicker anymore—it waited, silent and ready, like a breath drawn before battle.
They reached the entrance just before dusk.
Half-buried in the cliff face was a massive stone door, scorched and sealed by ancient flame. Runes shimmered faintly in the dark, barely visible under layers of soot and time.
Serai placed her palm against it and closed her eyes.
"This is it," she whispered. "The Vault of Cinders."
Talon stepped back, hand on his blade. "That thing gives me a bad feeling."
Mara stepped forward. The ember in her chest pulsed once—hard—and the runes ignited, glowing gold.
The door responded.
With a low, grinding groan, the stone split open.
Beyond lay a vast cavern, carved entirely from black obsidian, veined with flickering red light. Flames floated weightless in the air like stars. The heat wasn't painful—it was alive.
And at the center of the chamber, resting on a pedestal of ash and bone, was a book.
Bound in scorched leather, clasped with metal burned by something hotter than fire.
Mara approached slowly. The book seemed to hum, as if it recognized her.
Serai stayed at the edge. "That's no ordinary text. That's a flamewrit grimoire. A living record. It won't open for anyone but the blood it remembers."
Mara touched the cover.
Flames surged up her arm—but they didn't hurt. Instead, the heat filled her head with sound—voices, overlapping, layered like echoes through time.
And then, it opened.
Its pages turned on their own, stopping at one lined in glowing script.
A name: Kael Vaelryn.
Underneath: Bearer of the Ember Heart. Father of Flame.
Mara froze.
"Vaelryn…" she whispered. "That was my father's name."
Talon blinked. "Wait—your father was the Kael Vaelryn? The same Kael who—"
"—Who became the Hollow King," Serai finished grimly. "That's why the Heart chose you. You're his blood."
The air grew heavy with the weight of revelation.
Mara stared down at the book, heart racing, fire flickering at her fingertips. Her father—the villain in every tale Serai had told—had once stood where she did now.
But was he always a villain?
She flipped the next page.
And what she saw changed everything.
A letter. Written in flame.
"To my daughter, should the fire ever find you…"
---