The Fire Remembered
Silence settled thick over the council chamber, the kind of silence that came before the storm.
Twelve robed councilors stared down at Elira from their crescent ring of stone. Kael stood behind her like a shadow forged of armor and resolve. Rian, tense and watchful, hovered at her side.
"You want proof?" Elira said, voice echoing.
She reached into her cloak.
The room tensed—hands near hilts, warding sigils glowing faintly under sleeves.
What she withdrew, however, was not a weapon.
It was a stone—round, dark, smooth as glass. Warm to the touch.
It pulsed once as she held it up, and the lights in the chamber dimmed.
Callen scoffed. "A trick. An old relic, nothing more—"
But then the stone shattered in her hand.
And memory spilled out like flame.
⸻
The Vision
The council chamber disappeared, swept away in a roaring surge of color and sound. Gasps echoed, feet scraped back—but none could look away.
Around them, the Mage Wars unfolded—not as history told them, but as it had truly happened.
They saw Ember mages healing wounded soldiers, not destroying villages. They saw children burned in royal fire, innocents betrayed by the very nobles who sat on the throne now. They saw the final stand of the Ember Line—not rebels, but protectors, shielding an orphaned village from the Frostborne battalion.
And they saw one figure at the center.
A woman of flame, her hands wrapped in goldlight, her voice thunder across the battlefield:
"We are not your weapons.
We are not your fear.
We are the fire you tried to bury—and we remember."
Then it ended.
The vision shattered like glass.
The council sat stunned. Pale. Silent.
Maeryn stood slowly, her eyes shimmering. "That… was no illusion."
Callen looked shaken. "That history was sealed. Forbidden…"
Valen, however, remained still. And then—he clapped. Once. Twice. A slow, deliberate mockery.
"Well done," he said coldly. "A powerful performance. But history cannot be undone by firelight and emotion."
"No," Elira said. "But it can be rewritten—if enough people are brave enough to speak it."
She turned slowly, her cloak trailing light.
"I will no longer hide. And I will not stand by while you poison the world with silence and fear."
Kael stepped beside her.
Rian followed without hesitation.
Maeryn lowered her head. "You have my support, Elira Ashthorn. And the support of those who remember the cost of silence."
Callen rose, furious. "This is treason."
Elira met his eyes, calm and clear.
"No. This is truth."
And this time, no one could deny it.