The wind howled through the ruins like a mourning spirit.
Kaelis pulled her cloak tighter around her shoulders as she stepped over cracked stone and shattered memory. The skeletal remains of Eldenhold rose around her—crumbling towers, broken streets, and whispers caught in the air like ghosts refusing to leave.
Beside her, Riven moved with quiet confidence, his ember-lit eyes scanning the shadows.
They weren't alone.
They hadn't been since they crossed into the old city.
---
"This place should be dead," Kaelis muttered, stepping over a rusted sword half-buried in ash.
Riven crouched beside it, fingers brushing the hilt.
"It is," he said. "But something's waking it up."
They had been sent by the **Ember Circle** to investigate reports of strange activity—Marked gone missing, strange lights seen beneath the ruins, and a pulse of energy that even the Matriarch couldn't explain.
Veyra had warned them before they left:
"This isn't just about the past anymore. Something is trying to return—and not all of it wants peace."
Kaelis glanced at him.
"You think it's one of them?" she asked quietly.
He didn't need to ask who she meant.
Talen.
Vintrinx.
Or whoever—or whatever—had taken their place.
"I don't know," he admitted. "But I intend to find out."
---
They reached the edge of the old palace grounds by nightfall.
The structure was barely standing—its walls collapsed inward, its throne room swallowed by time and fire.
But there were signs of life.
Footprints in the dust.
Torches lit without flame.
And figures watching from the dark.
Not people.
Not quite.
They moved like statues come to life—stone bodies wrapped in tattered robes, hollow eyes glowing faintly with unnatural light.
---
Legends said they were created during the last war—those who had died serving the gods but never truly passed on. Bound by forgotten oaths, they served no master now.
Only purpose.
And tonight, that purpose was clear.
To keep intruders away.
From what, Kaelis could only guess.
One of them turned toward her.
Its mouth opened.
No sound came out.
But she heard it anyway.
"You do not belong here."
Riven stepped forward.
"We're looking for the truth."
The watcher tilted its head.
"Truth burns."
Then it attacked.
---
Kaelis barely dodged the first strike, rolling aside as a stone fist crashed into the ground where she'd stood.
Riven moved faster—flame erupting from his palm as he slashed through the air, forcing the creature back.
The others joined the fight.
Stone clashed against fire.
Memory against will.
Kaelis fought with everything she had, calling upon the ember within her soul. Her flames danced like living things, responding to her instinct, burning hotter with every heartbeat.
But the Watchers did not fall easily.
They did not bleed.
They did not scream.
They simply kept coming.
Until Riven did something unexpected.
He stopped fighting.
Instead, he raised both hands—and let the fire go wild.
A surge of flame erupted from his body, washing over the battlefield in a wave of heat and light.
The Watchers froze.
Then fell to their knees.
One whispered:
"You carry the blood."
Riven lowered his arms, breathing hard.
"What does that mean?" Kaelis asked, wary.
The Watcher looked at him.
"You are the echo of the one who burned the world to save it."
Kaelis stared at Riven.
His face was unreadable.
But his eyes glowed brighter than ever.
---
After the battle, the Watchers parted.
They led Kaelis and Riven to a hidden passage beneath the palace ruins—a stairway carved into the bones of the earth itself.
At the bottom, a door waited.
Massive.
Black.
Sealed with chains of light.
Above it, words carved in a language older than dragons.
Kaelis traced the symbols with her fingers.
She didn't understand the words.
But she understood the feeling.
Fear.
Power.
Choice.
Riven stepped beside her.
"This is it," he said. "The source."
She looked at him.
"Of what?"
He placed his hand on the door.
And it pulsed.
Responded.
As if recognizing him.
"The beginning of the end," he whispered.
Behind them, the Watchers bowed.
And the voice echoed again from the depths.
"So… the cycle begins again."