Flamebound Truths
The stars above the mirrored realm dimmed as the last echoes of the dreamfire faded. Kael stood at the edge of the glass platform, watching the Vessel girl's unconscious form levitate in the suspended cradle of fading flame. Her eyes had shut again, but the ripple she left in the realm still hummed.
Elira stepped forward, her voice hushed. "She stopped when she saw you."
Kael's jaw tightened. "She saw what I am. Maybe what I was."
The Warden's voice no longer echoed, but its presence hadn't faded. Glass veins pulsed along the palace walls, forming slow symbols Kael didn't recognize but somehow understood. A language not of words but intentions. This palace, the City of Glass itself, was not simply a structure. It was a memory engine, feeding on relics of flame, oath, and death.
Kael approached the girl. The cradle lowered on its own, acknowledging his presence. The flames recoiled from his gauntlet, then kissed it.
"What's her name?" Elira asked.
Kael shook his head. "The memory didn't say. But the fire knows her."
He reached out, brushing the air just above her forehead. Instantly, warmth surged up his arm, and he was no longer standing in the City of Glass.
---
He was in a battlefield, ancient and blinding with heat. Not his battle—hers. The girl, older in this vision, stood with flames rising from her shoulders like wings. She screamed a wordless command and a wall of corrupted void shattered before her.
Around her were others. Flame. Stone. Wind. Void. Light.
The Vessels.
But she burned brighter than the rest. Not in power—in pain.
A god, faceless and immense, towered above the fight. Kael saw it only in pieces—a mouth in the sky, a hand the size of a mountain, eyes that bled time. The god spoke in a voice that fractured stars:
> "Child of ash. You were not meant to endure."
She roared back.
And then the memory ended.
---
Kael staggered back into his body. The girl lay still, but her eyes fluttered.
Elira caught his arm. "What did you see?"
He swallowed. "Her truth. She fought the gods. And they feared her."
The Warden's throne cracked again. A path formed beneath the cradle, creating a bridge toward the courtyard.
"We have to move her," Kael said. "They'll come now. The ones who silence vessels."
Elira looked up, scanning the glass sky. Hairline fractures were appearing above, like pressure building between realms.
Together, they lifted the girl. Her warmth had dulled, but it pulsed in rhythm with Kael's gauntlet.
The moment they stepped outside, the city changed.
---
The mirrored towers tilted, shifting like glass blades. Reflections no longer showed reality. Kael glanced into one and saw his old self—younger, golden-crowned, armored in arrogance. The reflection sneered.
Elira kicked a shard near her feet. "It's trying to trap us."
"No," Kael said. "It's warning us."
The sky tore open.
A host descended.
They weren't mortal. Their forms flickered between spirit and matter—cloaks of black light, faces hidden by gold-veined masks, each bearing a weapon forged of silence. The Ashbound.
Kael shifted the girl into Elira's arms and stepped forward, gauntlet flaring.
One of the masked warriors pointed at him.
> "You carry the oldest fire. It is not yours to wield."
Kael smiled grimly. "Then come take it."
The battle ignited.
---
Elira retreated with the girl, navigating the fractured city streets while Kael held the line. Flame met voidsteel. The gauntlet sung with each strike, ringing out like a war drum. Every flame he cast danced with intent, shielding his retreat.
But they were endless.
Kael pressed deeper into the gauntlet's memory, whispering words from his past life. Ancient glyphs spun around his arm, and with a roar, he unleashed a wave that melted the ground beneath the Ashbound. The nearest five turned to glass statues, then shattered.
Still, more came.
Kael fell back, sweat pouring, lungs burning.
Elira was cornered. Two Ashbound blocked her retreat path. Kael moved without thinking.
He teleported.
One blink, one breath, and he was between them, fire arcing like a blade. The gauntlet cracked one mask clean off. Beneath was not a face—but a starless void.
Kael recoiled.
Elira pulled the girl closer. "We can't hold them off forever!"
Kael looked at the sky. The rift that had brought them here was still torn, but fading fast.
"There!" he shouted. "We go now!"
Together, they sprinted, dodging strikes, vaulting fallen glass. The girl stirred in Elira's arms, heat blooming.
"She's waking up," Elira said.
"Hold her steady!"
The edge of the rift shimmered. Kael raised the gauntlet, funneled everything into it. Flame surged like a rising sun.
The portal screamed.
The three of them dove through.
And the City of Glass collapsed behind them.
---
They landed hard. Stone, dirt, and rain.
Kael rolled onto his back, coughing up smoke. Elira groaned beside him, the girl curled between them, shivering.
Night had fallen in this realm. Thunder cracked above, and for the first time in days, the world smelled of earth, not ash.
"Where are we?" Elira asked.
Kael sat up. Trees surrounded them. Old ones. Familiar.
"Home," he whispered. "Or what's left of it."
The girl stirred, blinking slowly. Her voice was soft, barely audible over the wind.
"Who..." she rasped, eyes on Kael. "You...'re flame-born."
Kael nodded. "So are you."
She frowned. "No. Not anymore."
Then her eyes closed.
Kael turned to Elira. "We need shelter. And answers."
"Where do we go?"
Kael looked east, toward the old mountains.
"To the monastery of ash. The monks kept records. And if she was once flame-born, they may know why she isn't anymore."
Thunder boomed again. But Kael welcomed the sound.
The fire within him had grown.
And the truth was catching flame.