Smoke rose from the ruins of Bloodfall Fortress, swirling like restless spirits caught in the updraft of death. The group stood in the aftermath—bloodied, bruised, victorious, and yet… uneasy.
Kael leaned on his sword, his breath ragged.
Merek stepped forward, voice trembling, "I felt it too. When she died, something opened."
Lyra narrowed her eyes toward the horizon. "A door… or a lock?"
Kael's fingers tightened on the hilt of his blade. "Velda wasn't the end. She was the final guardian to something worse. A name that wasn't written on my list, because no one dared to speak it."
Thorn spit on the ground. "Then let's make them speak."
The Name Beneath the World
They camped outside the ruins, too weak to travel. That night, Kael was haunted by dreams.
Not of his wife.
Not of the fire.
But of a throne made of bone, in a cavern deeper than death, and a name carved into stone:
T H E O R D E R O F S I L E N T A S H
Kael awoke gasping.
The fire had gone out. His skin was cold with sweat.
Lyra stirred. "Another dream?"
"Not a dream," Kael said. "A message. Velda served something older than Rath. Older than the kingdom. A cult that started the war. A name too dangerous to speak."
Merek looked up from his grimoire. "The Order of Silent Ash… I've read rumors. They existed before the First Empire. Believers in purification through extinction. They erase legacies. Burn bloodlines."
Kael's jaw clenched.
"Then it wasn't Rath who gave the order to burn my family."
"No," Merek said. "It was the Order."
The Last Thread
In the ashes of Bloodfall, they found a single parchment inside Velda's chamber. A ledger. Names scratched out. But one name was untouched.
Written in red ink.
Vaelrik.
Kael stared at it for a long moment. "That name… my father once whispered it when he thought I was asleep. He said if anything happened to him, it would be because of 'Vaelrik.'"
Merek nodded grimly. "Vaelrik is no warlord. He's a ghost in the records. He exists outside history."
"Then I'll drag him into it," Kael muttered. "One way or another."
Reforging Purpose
The group knew they were heading into the unknown.
No longer a war for revenge.
Now it was a war to destroy a legacy built on secrets.
To crush a cult that had rewritten kingdoms and left countless victims in the dark.
Kael stood, lifting his blade, staring into the northern wastes.
"Until the last name dies," he said.
Thorn placed a hand on his axe.
Lyra whispered a prayer.
Merek simply turned the page in his book.
And they walked on.
To be continue...