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Chapter 38 – What Burns Beneath Stone
The Royal Archives, Ardaelle
The night whispered secrets to the cold walls of Ardaelle as Elira descended the winding marble staircase that led to the long-forgotten depths beneath the Royal Archives. Her lantern swayed in the darkness, casting fractured light on dust-coated stone carvings and age-brittled tapestries that bore forgotten sigils—sigils no longer spoken of above ground.
Celeste had given her the key. A sliver of obsidian wrapped in silver thread, stolen during the last Summit, meant to open "what should never have been closed."
And still, Elira came.
Every step she took echoed like a scream in the vast silence, but she didn't stop. Not even when the flickering flame revealed a wall of runes scorched into the stone—a map older than the Empire. A story told in blood and ash. And beneath it… her name.
"Elira of Wynne. Born of the Storm. Bound to the Ash."
She froze. Her breath caught as her fingers reached out, trembling, to touch the inscription. The stone hummed. Warm. Alive.
Then—
"You're not supposed to be here."
The voice was velvet and smoke, deep and unmistakable.
Elira turned.
Kairo.
But not the Kairo she knew.
This one wore black ceremonial robes, embroidered with the imperial sigil and the symbol of the Ashen Flame. A sword hung at his side, longer than usual. His expression was unreadable.
"How long have you known?" she asked.
Kairo didn't answer. Instead, he stepped forward, gaze pinned to the wall behind her. "This is where it began. Where they forged the first Seers and bled the heart of the flame into the veins of kings."
"And me?"
"You were never supposed to be part of it."
That stung more than she expected.
"I found a record," she whispered. "About the Project. About me. I was… bred to be a vessel. A key."
Kairo's jaw clenched. "It wasn't my choice."
"But you knew."
"I found out after the coup. After your father was executed and the true seal broke."
"You lied to me."
"I protected you."
"No." She stepped forward now, chest rising. "You chained me with half-truths and shadows. You told me I was chosen—you never said it was by the ones who stole my life before I even lived it."
A beat of silence.
Then Kairo exhaled. "I lied. Because I was afraid that if you knew who you really were, you'd never look at me the same."
The tremble in his voice cracked something inside her.
But Elira stood taller. "Then let me say this plainly, Kairo Valtteri Seo. I may have ash in my veins and a storm in my blood—but I am no one's key. I forge my own locks."
He looked at her then. As if seeing her for the first time.
But the stone behind them shifted. The runes lit up—gold and crimson. A deep, ancient hum filled the space as the wall peeled open, revealing a chamber beyond.
A circle of obsidian pillars. And at the center—a burning throne made of living flame.
Kairo stepped between her and it instinctively. "You were never meant to enter."
"I was born for it," she said.
Their eyes met—flame and storm colliding—and Elira walked past him.
Toward the fire.
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