The city of Merrowind had many faces. Beneath its glittering high towers and scholar-lit libraries flowed a darker pulse — where whispered alliances and blade-backed diplomacy held more weight than proclamations. Kael felt it all. Every footstep they took deeper into its winding stone arteries throbbed with tension his soul couldn't ignore.
They passed through an open plaza where incense curled in the air and a group of monks chanted beneath a statue of Solaryn, the flame goddess. Kael, no longer blind, found himself distracted by everything. Not just the colors — though they were maddeningly vivid — but the faces, expressions, even the awkward shape of pigeons pecking at crumbs.
He was looking at the world like a man reborn.
Arinya, noticing him linger, smiled faintly. "Still overwhelmed?"
He nodded, then gestured toward the massive black obelisk rising in the center of the city. It hummed faintly with dormant energy. "That thing… it's not just for show."
"It's called the Obsidian Spire. It's older than Merrowind itself. And yes — it's not just for show." Arinya's tone darkened. "It's a relic beacon. It resonates when ancient power stirs. If the city elders find out you're carrying one…"
Kael adjusted the wrappings that hid the faint glow from his collarbone. The relic bound to his soul still flickered softly beneath his skin — like a sleeping ember that could awaken at any moment.
From behind them, Doran scoffed. "Relax, princess. If the city elders make a move, I'll just smile and bribe someone. Happens every week."
"You can't bribe a flamewrought inquisitor," she shot back.
Doran grinned. "Sure you can. You just have to find the right bottle of wine."
Kael allowed himself a rare smirk. "Is this how your plans usually go?"
"No," Doran replied without missing a beat. "My plans usually involve fewer haunted soul-bonds and much more running away."
Still, his eyes remained sharp. Watchful. Calculating.
They made their way through the lesser wards, heading toward a place Arinya claimed could offer protection — the Hollow Thorn, an old inn said to sit above a defunct underground shrine.
"It used to be a sanctuary," she said as they ducked beneath a vine-covered archway. "Long before the relic wars. Now it's just a place for shadows to gather."
As they entered, Kael felt the shift instantly — the way the air grew still. The barkeep didn't greet them. A few patrons glanced up, then back to their drinks. Arinya led them to a corner booth, her demeanor changing from warm to guarded.
Doran leaned across the table. "Alright. Time for answers. The relic's glowing more. Kael's starting to remember things. And you haven't told us why your faction is really after him."
Kael frowned. "They're after me?"
Arinya didn't deny it.
"They don't know it's you — not yet. But there are whispers of a relic-bearer awakening. Of one who carries the mark of the Ashbound Flame."
Kael's blood chilled. That name again.
Doran leaned back, folding his arms. "So the rumors are true."
Arinya hesitated. Then she reached into her satchel and placed a parchment on the table. An ancient map, marked with ruins, sigils, and what appeared to be dormant relic zones.
"In the old texts, there's mention of an entity known as the Hollow Flame — a guardian, or a judge, depending on the telling. The last of the Ashbound. He disappeared during the fall of the First Flame."
Kael stared at the map. The markings made something in his chest stir — not memory, not quite — but resonance.
Arinya leaned forward. Her voice softened, but her eyes burned with purpose. "Kael… I think you're not just bound to a relic. I think you are one."
For a long moment, no one spoke.
Doran broke the silence with a slow whistle. "Well. That complicates things."
Outside, distant thunder rumbled — unnatural and too regular to be weather. Arinya cursed under her breath. "Ashseekers."
Kael tensed. "They've followed us?"
"They always do," she said, standing. "They want the relic. They can feel it when it flares. We need to move. Now."
But Doran didn't rise immediately. He was watching Arinya. Not the way Kael did — with distant awe and curiosity — but with something darker.
When she turned, Doran said quietly, "You never told me why you really wanted to find the relic-bearer."
She met his gaze. "I'm trying to protect him."
"But protect him… for you," he muttered. "Or for them?"
Kael caught the look, the subtle tilt of Doran's jaw. He was angry. Hurt. But deeper than that — threatened.
There was no time to address it.
The front door of the Hollow Thorn shattered inward. A figure in cracked armor and a flame-eaten cloak stepped through. His eyes glowed like coals.
"Found you," he rasped.
Combat exploded like thunder on dry leaves.
Kael instinctively ducked as a lance of fire seared overhead, cleaving through the wooden ceiling. Doran vaulted the table, blades drawn. Arinya spun her hands, forming a protective sigil that pulsed around them in a wide ring.
Kael reached for the nearest object — a broken polearm — but the moment his fingers closed around it, the relic within him flared. He felt something pour into him: not memory, but instinct.
He moved.
His body twisted around a blast of energy. He vaulted over debris, staff spinning — not as a weapon, but as an extension of the flame within him.
The Ashseeker charged — and Kael met him head-on.
Their weapons clashed, sparks flying. Kael drove forward, not from strength, but from clarity. Each movement wasn't his — and yet it was. Like someone else had trained his limbs in a life he no longer remembered.
He could feel the other relic embedded in the Ashseeker's chest — unstable, corrupted.
Kael struck low. The staff cracked against the man's ribs — and the relic there flared violently.
The Ashseeker screamed.
Arinya threw her hand out, casting a dispersal ward, just as the relic detonated — the explosion muffled by layered runes that shimmered like frost.
When the dust cleared, the Hollow Thorn was in shambles. The Ashseeker was gone. So were half the windows. And Kael's hands… were glowing faintly.
He turned to Arinya, breath heaving.
"Did you know that would happen?"
She shook her head. "No. But… it confirms something. You're not just carrying a relic, Kael. You might be the key to reawakening them all."
Doran scoffed. "Well. If that's the case, we're going to need a better plan. And a bigger sword."
Kael smirked. "You can keep the sword. I'll take the staff."