Ashes of the First Flame

A novel by [Francis 9439]

For centuries, the world of Elaris has burned under the divine light of the First Flame, a sacred fire worshiped by the tyrannical Solar Dominion — a theocratic empire that claims godhood and unity through conquest. The Empress rules with holy fire and iron will, casting down cities that refuse her light, branding all who resist as heretics and rebels.

But across the shattered lands of the Free Marches, a spark of defiance refuses to die.

Kaelen Virelth, the exiled son of a disgraced noble house, is thrust into leadership after his brother is assassinated. Once a scholar and a pacifist, Kaelen becomes the reluctant face of a rebellion. As war spreads like wildfire, Kaelen must decide whether to become a killer to save the world — or lose everything he loves.

On the other side of the war, Serenya Valir, a devoted priestess of the Flame, begins to question the cost of blind faith. Sent to root out traitors within the Dominion, she uncovers dark secrets buried beneath sacred temples — and a prophecy foretelling a choice that will either redeem the world or end it in ash.

Amid the chaos rise other forces: the exiled Scorched Order, mage-knights blamed for a forgotten catastrophe; the elemental Aetherborn Tribes, whose magic the Dominion fears and hates; and the seductive spies of the Sable Garden, who pull strings behind every throne.

As old gods stir and ancient powers awaken, love blooms between enemies, loyalty crumbles into betrayal, and the line between salvation and damnation blurs. To stop the cycle of fire and ruin, someone must destroy the First Flame — or become its final bearer.

But power never dies quietly.

Or what looked like dusk — the sky above shimmered with unfamiliar stars, and the sun pulsed low on the horizon like a memory fading in reverse.


The walls of the city were blackened, cratered, half-burned — but still standing.


And on the arch above the gate, carved in the ancient tongue:


"We remember what the world tried to forget."


"This is impossible," Trellen whispered.


"This place burned centuries ago. It was gone before I was born."


"It never left," Lira said. Her voice was flat, strange. "It just stopped being believed in."


Davin approached the gate. He placed a hand to the charred stone.


Figures moved in the streets — tall, silent, partly translucent, flickering between forms like candlelight through smoke.


Some wore robes. Some armor. Some held nothing but hands stretched in welcome… or warning.


In the center of the city was a courtyard, and in the courtyard stood a statue of flame.


Lira stepped into the square and the statue's eyes opened.


He looked different — older, but not aged. His body shimmered with the same half-light as the city, but his voice was whole.


"I was. Then I was something else. Now I'm somewhere in between."


"The Remembered gave it back," Kaelen said.


"Because they want you to see what was lost — not just burned. Erased."


"Because you are about to rewrite the world.


And they want you to know exactly what that means."


Above, in the sky, cracks spread across the stars — not real cracks, but flaws in memory.


"The ones who chose to forget. The ones who hid after the first fire. The Silent Triune."


She didn't feel heat. She felt recognition.


As he faded back into light, the city behind him whispered:


Chapter 31 - The City That Refused