The silence of Emberlight Hollow didn't last.
Kael, Seris, and Deyric sat in a small chamber just above the sealed mine, the air humming faintly with dormant energy. The runes carved into the stone pulsed every few seconds, like a heartbeat underground.
"Did anyone else hear it?" Kael asked, still catching his breath from their last battle.
"Hear what?" Seris replied.
He looked at her, unsure. "A voice. A whisper. Not loud… just enough to make me feel like I wasn't alone in my own mind."
Deyric didn't answer. He simply stared at the runes. "The seal's weakening."
---
They made camp in a cavern alcove that once served as a storage room. Inside, the faint shimmer of abandoned soulstones lined cracked crates. Kael, unable to sleep, walked alone beneath the glowing crystal veins embedded in the cavern walls.
That's when he heard it again.
A voice. Faint. Male. Ancient.
"Kael. You wear the fire of the forgotten. You hear me, even in silence. That means… you are one of us."
Kael froze. "Who are you?"
No answer.
He gritted his teeth. "If you're going to haunt my head, at least give me a name."
This time, the voice answered with a single word:
"Solari."
---
The next morning, Seris explained what little she knew.
"Solari was said to be one of the original soulbearers—before the gods sealed their own knowledge away from mortals. If he's talking to you… then the mark is more than just power."
Kael rubbed his arm, the tattooed flames still faintly glowing under his skin. "Feels like a curse."
"Or a beacon," Deyric added.
---
They stood before the sealed mine.
Seris pressed her hand to the rune and whispered a word Kael had never heard before. The runes dimmed.
Kael took a step forward, light gathering on his fingertips. "If something's alive down there, let's not keep it waiting."
With a tremble, the stone seal slid open.
What lay beyond was not a mine—but a temple, buried beneath the earth, untouched by time.
Massive statues of chained figures lined the walls—each representing a forgotten god. In the center: a dark crystal altar, cracked and humming.
Kael approached it—and suddenly a rush of memories hit him.
Not his own.
Pain. Screaming. A god falling through fire. Chains wrapping around suns. Planets burned to silence.
He fell to his knees, screaming.
Seris ran to him, grabbing his shoulders.
The moment she touched him, she saw it too—and recoiled in horror.
"What was that?" she gasped.
Deyric pulled them both back. "Visions from the Bound Age. You were seeing what happened when the gods lost control."
Kael looked at his hands, still trembling. "Why am I seeing this?"
A deep rumble echoed from the altar. The crystal cracked open.
Inside it was a mask.
Black. Wooden. Lined with glowing red script.
Kael picked it up without thinking—and the cavern began to shake.
Above them, the entire mountain trembled.
And in Kael's mind, the voice whispered again.
"Now it begins."
---
Back in the distance, in a silent place where only forgotten eyes watched, a figure smiled beneath a hood.
"He's touched the Embermask. Phase one begins."