Serethal had no walls left to burn.
What once had been a proud citadel of spires and white stone was now a sunken corpse of a city, bones twisted by time and war. The streets were broken, the towers collapsed in jagged spirals, and ash clung to the ruins like dried blood. The wind howled through hollow arches, and nothing alive made a sound.
Eren and Elira stood at the edge of the ruins, cloaks pulled tight against the cold. The sun hung low behind a veil of iron clouds, casting long, slanted shadows across what remained of civilization.
"It used to be beautiful," Elira said quietly. "Before the flame touched it."
Eren adjusted the strap across his shoulder, feeling Akreth's steady weight at his back. "How many died here?"
"Too many to count. When the first bearer fell, the gate beneath the city cracked. Reality… bent. No one's lived here since. Not for long, anyway."
Eren gazed at the shattered skyline. "Then let's find out what it tried to hide."
They entered the city cautiously. What had once been roads were now fractured paths of stone and root. Strange markings appeared on walls symbols half-erased, spirals broken, glyphs melted by heat no normal fire could produce. Time was strange here. The sun did not rise nor set it simply hovered, as if unwilling to witness what lay below.
Eventually, they came to the heart of the city.
A great amphitheater, sunken into the earth.
At its center stood a stone dais, shattered and scorched. And behind it carved into the cliffside was the Gate.
The Gate of Sundered Flame.
It was not ornate. Not beautiful. Just a jagged crack in reality itself, ringed with metal and stone, sealed by glowing chains of script. The air around it pulsed, like a breath held for too long. The color of the world dulled near it blues faded, reds darkened, whites turned to gray.
And the sound... was silence.
Eren stepped closer. The sword at his side grew warm.
Elira held back. "This is it," she said. "The place where the bearer's name ended. Where the flame bled into the world."
Eren approached the gate slowly.
One of the chains shifted.
A voice spoke not from the rift, but from within his mind.
"You bear a name. I remember it."
Eren froze.
"But do you remember what it costs?"
The chains flared with heat, each rune blazing crimson before settling again.
Elira moved beside him. "The gate's testing you."
Eren nodded. "It's alive."
"No," she said. "It's aware."
He reached out.
Akreth glowed in response, silver light dancing along its runes.
When his hand touched the outer edge of the gate, he didn't feel stone.
He felt truth.
Visions struck him like lightning.
He saw the first bearer screaming, not in agony, but defiance as he held the gate open with bare hands. Fire poured through him. His skin turned to ash. His name was burned from existence. He became memory, not man.
Then Eren saw himself, standing in the same spot his eyes wild, the sword raised, but this time, the gate welcomed him.
He pulled back, breath ragged.
"What did it show you?" Elira asked.
He looked at her.
"My end. And my beginning."
The gate pulsed again.
One chain snapped.
The sound was like thunder without sky.
The rift shuddered.
And something looked through.
Not a person. Not a god.
Just... awareness.
Eren stepped back, but didn't run.
"I need to go through," he said.
Elira grabbed his arm. "Not yet. If you cross before you're ready "
"I am ready."
Akreth gleamed, calm and steady.
Elira's grip loosened. "Then let me walk with you to the edge."
They approached together.
The gate whispered.
Not words.
Just fire.
And beyond it everything waited.