The Ashlands were quiet.
Too quiet.
Even the wind that usually whispered through the shattered pillars held its breath.
Because something had entered the forge camp.
Something older than the gods.
Something that walked wearing a girl's face… and a dying future.
---
Lyara stood at the center of the Ashborn council fire, swaying, pale, soaked in sweat.
The Eye of Fate on her palm no longer glowed.
It bled.
Aedric stood before her.
Flame rising gently around his feet, not in anger…
But fear.
Because she whispered:
> "I've seen it."
> "I've seen the final form of your flame."
---
🔮 The Vision
She reached out and touched his chest.
And the world vanished.
---
🌌 The Future
Aedric stood on a mountain of ash.
Not metaphor.
Not dream.
A mountain of corpses.
The sky was black, pierced by crimson constellations.
The stars formed a circle — an eye made of fire.
Below him, cities burned.
Forests crumbled.
Oceans boiled.
But it wasn't chaos.
It was order.
Too perfect.
Too controlled.
Like the world had been rewritten.
---
And at the center of it all…
Was him.
But not as he was.
He wore a crown of living flame.
A cloak made from the skins of gods.
Eyes like collapsing suns.
In one hand: Vyrmath, glowing white.
In the other: a heart, still beating.
His own.
---
> "This is what you become."
Lyara's voice echoed through the vision.
> "You burn everything… because you cannot stop."
> "Because if you stop — the flame dies."
---
💔 The Breaking
Aedric staggered back from her, gasping.
"No…"
She fell to her knees.
Tears poured down her cheeks.
"I didn't want to see it. I begged the Eye to show me anything else."
"But it's the only path the gods couldn't erase."
"The only future they tried to kill… before it began."
---
The Ashborn were silent.
Even the First Blade knelt.
Vorka, voice trembling, whispered:
> "You are not the Flameborn."
> "You are its final fury."
---
🔥 Aedric's Choice
He turned away.
Eyes dim.
Flame… flickering.
Vyrmath hummed at his side.
But this time… it felt cold.
Aedric whispered:
> "Then I am the fire that ends itself."
> "I will not become what they fear."
He reached for the blade.
But it wouldn't rise.
Vyrmath pulsed once.
Then cracked.
A thin fracture along its edge.
A rejection.
The flame hesitated.
---
🕊️ Lyara's Plea
She crawled forward, clutching her chest.
"If you try to erase the flame, the world dies."
"If you let it grow… you die."
"There has to be another path."
Aedric stared into the distance.
Into the void where the sky once was.
And whispered:
> "Then I'll make one."
---
🌩️ The Gods Strike
In the Celestial Bastion, alarms blared.
A Fatebreach had occurred.
The future — once sealed — had fractured.
The god of Order rose from his throne of iron stars.
> "The Eye has seen beyond our chains."
> "The boy has broken the pattern."
A spear of starlight formed in his hand.
And he cast it toward the world below.
---
A silver comet tore across the sky of the Ashlands.
Aedric turned — eyes narrowing.
He raised his hand.
And caught it.
Barehanded.
The flame screamed.
The ground split.
But he held the god's weapon…
And crushed it into dust.
---
🌒 Final Scene: The Fire Between Fates
That night, Aedric stood alone in the Temple of Ash.
Vyrmath rested at his feet — cracked, uncertain.
He stared into the brazier of the First Flame.
And whispered:
> "You will not choose my end."
> "I will burn a third path."
Behind him, Lyara stood silently.
Watching.
And for the first time since her visions began…
The Eye of Fate blinked.
---