❖❖❖
The world cracked.
From horizon to horizon, the sky bled fire as Varak the Hollow Flame emerged in full.
Mira stood atop the Starforge with Kaen at her side. Her heart ached, not just from what was coming — but from what she remembered.
She once loved Varak.She once died by his hand.
Now he had returned, not just to destroy her — but to unmake flame itself.
❖❖❖
The Flame Citadel prepared for war.
The Nine Flamelords — what remained of them — took up their sacred relics.
Gorran reforged the Ash Hammer.
Vasha's scream was unleashed.
Thorn awakened the Blightfire Engine buried beneath the mountains.
Even Daizo, Mira's original mentor, revealed his true weapon: the Cinderborn Bow, capable of igniting the sky.
They stood together, not as followers of Ashara…
…but as warriors who chose Mira.
❖❖❖
Kaen knelt in front of a flame altar.
He heard voices — ancient, burning with purpose.
He saw visions of past protectors: warriors who gave everything to keep the soul of Ashara alive across lifetimes.
Then he saw himself — a boy holding a sword too heavy, a heart too wounded.
The flame whispered:
"Now you are ready."
His sword, Emberfang, turned white-hot.
And his eyes became flame-marked.
He was now the Soulbound Flameguard.
❖❖❖
On the other side of the battlefield, Varak's army stood still.
Tens of thousands of flame-twisted cultists.Seven resurrected Devourers.And Varak himself… floating above a throne of burning bones.
He raised one hand.
The cultists screamed.
The Devourers surged.
And the War of Final Ember began.
❖❖❖
The battle was chaos.
Sorek unleashed firestorms that turned the sky into a second sun.
Vasha shattered a Devourer's skull with her banshee flame.
Thorn sacrificed his body to detonate inside a horde of twisted beasts.
Kaen cut through enemies like a god of fire, never leaving Mira's side.
Mira fought like flame incarnate, her violet-gold Soulfire tearing through dimensions.
But for every Devourer they killed, more rose.
Varak watched, calm, patient.
He whispered ancient words…
And the mountain cracked.
From beneath the earth, Ashara's original heart — sealed centuries ago — was drawn up into Varak's hand.
"I loved you once.Now you will become my flame."
He crushed the heart.
The world stopped.
And then—
The Flame Core exploded.
The battlefield was swallowed in light.
The Flame Citadel shattered.
Sky cities fell.
Every ember in the world screamed.
Mira collapsed, her power flickering.
Kaen shielded her, but even he was scorched to the bone.
The Flamelords were thrown miles away.
Only Varak stood untouched.
"I have burned your world.Now, Mira… burn for me."
Mira stood, broken but alive.
And she remembered everything.
Every life.Every love.Every death.
Ashara's final words echoed in her soul:
"Do not burn to destroy. Burn to become."
Mira opened her arms.
Her pendant exploded into flame—
And her true form emerged.
She was not just Ashara reborn.
She was Mira Flameheart, the one who chose her own fire.
Wings of white-gold Soulfire erupted from her back.
She ascended, her eyes like suns.
Varak smiled. "Yes. Now fight me."
❖❖❖
The Final Duel.
Sky against sky.
Flame against flame.
Kaen watched from below, fighting off cultists with the last of his strength.
Mira and Varak clashed in the air, their blows ripping apart mountains.
She called on every life she had lived.
He called on every soul he had devoured.
But he was winning.
She was burning out.
Varak roared:
"You were always weaker than me!"
Mira whispered:
"No. I was always stronger, because I chose love… and you chose fear."
Then—
Kaen threw his blade.
Emberfang pierced Varak's heart.
He staggered.
Mira unleashed her last Soulfire…
And with it, she forgave him.
That was the only thing that could defeat him.
Not destruction.
Forgiveness.
His body shattered into harmless flame.
The Devourers vanished.
The cultists fell into silence.
And for the first time since the world began —
The flames bowed.
❖❖❖
One week later.
The Flame Citadel was being rebuilt.
Mira, Kaen, and the surviving Flamelords watched the sun rise over a world reborn.
Children played in fields where war once raged.
New fire bloomed from old ashes.
Mira looked to Kaen.
"Will they remember her? Ashara?"
Kaen nodded. "They'll remember you."
Mira turned to the horizon.
The fire was still in her.
But it no longer screamed.
It sang.
"Let it burn. Let it begin."
✴️ END OF CHAPTER 10
🔥 Arc One Complete — Soulburn: Ashes of the Cursed