(Kael's POV)
The Tyrant was dead.
The rebellion collapsed with him like a house of ash, but peace?
Peace was still a ghost wandering through broken halls.
The loyalists fled to the hills—whispering curses, spinning false prophecies to hold on to what scraps of power they could. Pathetic cowards running away, not standing for what they believe in, whether it's right or wrong.
Old lords clung to fractured kingdoms, drunk on fear and greed.
They tore at each other's throats like wolves scrambling for the last bone.
From the ruined throne room of Eldenmere, I watched it all—the chaos, the betrayal, the hunger clawing at the throat of the realm.
The shattered crown lay beside me—a cold, cruel reminder that killing a tyrant was not enough.
You had to kill what made him and what he made.
So I did what no legend dared—
I ruled. I guided.
Not with a gilded crown, but with fire and steel.
I melted the shattered crown down with my own flame, reforging it into something new.
Not a ring of conquest.
But a crown of unity.
Etched with runes of remembrance—
Forged from the steel and obsidian of fallen blades, not gold.
A symbol to remind us all: power is borrowed, never owned.
I declared the bloodlines broken.
The ancient titles of Highborn and Lowborn, shattered.
Every clan, every tribe—Riverfolk, Stoneclan, Sandstriders, Skyrider—earned a voice in the new circle.
Some called it madness.
Others blasphemy.
But the people—
The people called it hope.
And hope, I learned, was far heavier than any sword I'd ever wielded.
The elders whispered a new name in the courts:
The Crimson Flame.
I declared the war over.
But peace?
Peace would take more than fire.
It would take her.
I didn't know where she was.
Not then.
But the whisper of her song haunted every quiet night and every scarred wound.
A voice like smoke and silver—
The same voice that saved me from the edge of death—calling me back, pulling me forward.
I spent years searching.
Watching.
Waiting.
Kingdoms rose and fell beneath my gaze, but none carried that spark.
Until now.
The assassin, the queen in my court, carries that shadow—
That impossible storm I'll never forget.
And this time—
I won't let her go.