The stairway of fire wound through a sky stained violet, each step resonating with the pulse of a distant power. Kael led the way, Vel'tarion strapped to his back, the obsidian dagger at his side. Sirena walked behind, sharp-eyed and silent. The elder races flanked them Durnathi melting into shadows, Ogron steady like walking stone, and the Vaelari glowing like starlight.
As they climbed, Kael glanced over the ledge. Below, the Wyrmcross was already fading into mist, and beyond that, the edge of the Dreadmarch Wastes.
Sirena exhaled. "No turning back now."
Above them, the Spire of Souls emerged fully from the clouds—colossal and impossible. It spiraled toward the heavens like a sword plunged into the sky, formed from obsidian flame, soulglass, and time-worn silver runes.
A great archway awaited at its base, guarded by four looming statues with blank, weeping faces.
"They're mourning," the Vaelari whispered. "They remember what was sealed here."
Kael stepped forward. As he neared the archway, his rune-marked arm flared.
The gate opened.
---
Inside, the Spire was not made of stone, but of memory. Echoes shimmered across the walls, moments from past battles, loves, and betrayals reflected like water.
Kael paused as he saw a vision of his younger self—kneeling at his mother's grave. He reached out, and the image shattered.
Sirena's voice was soft. "This place knows you."
"It remembers everyone," said the Durnathi. "But it judges the cursed more harshly."
They passed through the First Chamber: the Chamber of Names. Floating in the air were thousands of glowing runes each a name of someone bound to the Ember Path.
Kael's name burned brightest.
They moved on to the Hall of Silence, where wind whispered forgotten songs. The Vaelari stopped suddenly and dropped to one knee.
"An Ascendant is near," she said.
Before Kael could ask, a figure emerged.
She wore a robe of celestial thread, her hair pure white, her eyes blind yet glowing gold. She was Vaelari but older than any Kael had seen.
"I am Elysera," she said. "The Keeper of the Second Flame."
Kael's rune pulsed again.
"You carry pain not meant for one soul alone," Elysera said. "But to rise… you must understand it. Come. The Trial of Flame and Memory awaits."
---
Kael followed her into the Circle of Echoes, where his past, twisted and bleeding, was forced to life.
He saw himself abandoned, cursed, cast out by the high court of Velmora. He saw his father's face. stern, wrathful, ashamed. He saw Sirena standing over his unconscious body, years ago, when she first spared him.
"You survived," Elysera said. "But did you ever forgive?"
Kael knelt. "No. Not yet. But I will. For them. For myself."
The flames embraced him, and the runes on his body shifted. A second ring of power emerged around his original brand.
Elysera nodded. "You are no longer only Flameborn. You are Twice-Marked. One step from Embermarked."
Sirena reached for him. "What now?"
Kael rose, fire in his breath. "Now we find the truth… and burn the lies."
The Spire trembled.
Somewhere above, the Bound King stirred.