Title: Crimson Thrones: Volume 136 – The Weight of Remembering
By Sabbir Ahmed
The world did not end when Kaelen disappeared.
That was the cruelest part.
The quiet fire folded inward, leaving only ash-light drifting through the throne chamber. Where the king had stood, there remained no body, no echo of magic—only absence, heavy and deliberate. As if reality itself had set him aside.
Seraphine did not move.
Courtiers spoke later of how the queen stood frozen for an entire hour, hand still outstretched, eyes fixed on nothing. When she finally turned away, something in Veyrath shifted. The throne darkened. The walls fell silent.
The child approached her without fear.
"He is not gone," they said. "He has become what the fire requires."
"What does that mean?" Seraphine asked, her voice steady only by force.
"He remembers for all of us now."
Across the kingdom, truth settled like dust after a storm. Lies unraveled quietly. People woke knowing things they had buried—names of the betrayed, promises broken, choices avoided. There was no judgment, only awareness. Many wept. Some fled. A few understood.
The Veiled Crown collapsed within a day. Without secrecy to hide behind, their cause withered. Yet their fear lingered, passed from parent to child like a warning: Do not look too closely.
Seraphine ruled alone once more, but not as before. She did not issue decrees. She listened. She allowed memory to guide justice rather than vengeance. Love had not left her—it had expanded, painful and vast.
At night, she dreamed of Kaelen standing at the edge of a boundless flame, watching Veyrath with gentle sorrow and endless patience. He never spoke. He did not need to.
The child remained, quieter now, the fire dimmed to embers.
"Continuity has a guardian," they said. "But even guardians must rest."
Seraphine looked toward the horizon. "Then I will rule until he can return."
The child smiled—not as a prophet, but as a promise.
Veyrath endured—wiser, heavier, and forever changed.
And somewhere beyond time and throne,
the king who remembered waited.