Chapter 58
The silence that followed Kael's words was heavier than any scream.
"There's a second name in the void… and it's mine."
Eliendara felt the bloodfire between them tremble—not from danger, but from truth.
Kael sat hunched, his skin steaming, his breath ragged. His hands were shaking… but not from weakness.
From recognition.
Ravien entered cautiously, blade drawn, flames pulsing at his fingertips.
Eliendara held up a hand. "Don't."
"He's—he's not fully him," Ravien warned.
"I know," she whispered. "But neither is the thing inside him."
Kael lifted his gaze.
And in that moment, she saw it—beneath the pain, beneath the blackfire struggling to claw back in—
Something ancient.
Something regal.
"I've seen this before," Kael said slowly. "In dreams I thought weren't mine. Battles I never fought, but remember bleeding in. A crown I never wore… but missed when I woke."
His hand drifted to his chest, over the bloodfire mark.
"It's not Valtheron's corruption. It's a memory. A buried flame… with a name that the gods erased."
Matira stepped forward, face pale.
"There are stories," she said, voice tight. "Before Valtheron… before the Three. Of a First Flameborn. A being who refused to burn for anyone but himself."
Kael turned sharply.
"They said he died."
"They said a lot of things," Matira murmured. "But if you carry his fire, boy—then the war is more complicated than we feared."
The Mirror of Flame flared behind them.
A name flickered across its surface, not spoken, not written—remembered.
Letters formed slowly in burning ash:
CAEDROS.
Eliendara stepped back, breath caught.
"That name…" she whispered.
Kael touched the mirror, and the flames turned gold for a heartbeat.
"It's mine."
From deep within the void, Valtheron stirred—suddenly alert.
He felt it.
The awakening of a rival he thought long erased.
"Caedros lives," he muttered. "Then the fire I sought to extinguish… now burns against me."
And for the first time in a thousand years—
Valtheron hesitated.
🔮 Next Chapter Preview – Chapter 59: The One Who Refused to Burn
Kael's forgotten identity begins to take hold,revealing power far beyond mortal comprehension.
But as Caedros reawakens within him,Eliendara must face the question she never wanted to ask:
If Kael becomes someone else…can she still love him?