❖❖❖
The path to the Starforge was forbidden.
Carved into the roots of the ancient mountain Tenko-Kurai, it was said to be the resting place of Ashara's original body, sealed away when her spirit was shattered across lifetimes.
No map led there.
No flame guided it.
Only a soul connected to her essence could walk the path.
Mira.
Kaen, Mira, and Seer Nami ventured into the Ashlands of Silence, leaving the remaining Flamelords behind.
Even the wind dared not speak here.
Charred bones of forgotten beasts littered the desert, and shadows moved with no light to cast them.
Nami warned, "This place is older than history. Older than war. Flame itself learned fear here."
Three days in, the sky never turned blue again.
And on the fourth night, the truth began to break through.
❖❖❖
Mira stood before an ancient gate buried in the mountain's flesh — made of blackened soulstone, etched with burning runes in a language no longer spoken.
But Mira understood it.
"Here lies She-Who-Burned, She-Who-Bled, She-Who-Chose."
As she touched the gate, it opened — not by force, but recognition.
The Starforge opened its throat to her.
Inside the tomb, they descended through layers of time.
First was the Chamber of Echoes, where each step whispered Mira's past lives in fragmented syllables.
Then the Hall of Blinding Flame, where visions of Ashara's final moments scorched their eyes and minds.
Lastly, the Throne of Emberbone — where a statue of Ashara sat, head bowed, heart aflame.
Kaen fell silent.
He saw that Ashara looked almost exactly like Mira.
Nami stepped back.
"Mira, this is your truth to face."
She approached the statue and placed her pendant on its chest.
The flame at its heart burst open.
A voice — her voice — echoed from the depths of the tomb.
"You must remember… everything."
Suddenly, Mira's mind was flung into a soul-memory.
She stood as Ashara — tall, proud, draped in white flame — beside a man with crimson eyes and obsidian armor.
His name was Varak the Hollow.
Her closest friend.
Her greatest student.
The one who loved her.
The one who betrayed her.
In the vision, she saw it happen:
Varak, twisted by jealousy and fear of her power, forged the Devourers.
He created them using corrupted fragments of Soulfire — and sacrificed his own soul to control them.
Ashara tried to stop him.
They fought for three days.
And in the end, she burned her own heart out to seal him in the crimson sea, where time does not flow.
Mira collapsed.
Kaen caught her again.
Her eyes were full of tears and flame.
"He… he loved me."
Kaen clenched his jaw. "Then why did he destroy everything?"
"Because he couldn't stand a world that didn't bow to fire."
Nami asked, "Is he still sealed?"
Mira shook her head.
"I felt him stir the moment I awakened. He's rising."
❖❖❖
Outside, the sky fractured again.
Not with a Devourer this time.
But with Varak himself.
Freed from the crimson sea.
His eyes bled shadow. His hands wielded twin blades forged from Ashara's bones.
He smiled, gazing toward the mountain.
"I've waited lifetimes for this, my flame."
At the Flame Citadel, the alarm bells roared.
The Flamelords gathered.
Sorek spoke to Daizo: "The war you feared is here. The First Betrayer walks again."
Vhalion nodded. "Only she can face him."
Kaen and Mira emerged from the tomb, changed.
Kaen had touched the Throne of Emberbone — and it awakened his ancestral fire.
He wasn't just a warrior.
He was the last descendant of Ashara's first protector.
A Flamebound Guardian.
Bound by fate to defend her soul forever.
Mira looked up at the red sky.
"Then this is the end of the beginning."
Kaen stood beside her.
"No. This is the beginning of the last war."
Far above them, Varak raised his arms.
Behind him, thousands of hollow-eyed cultists screamed his name.
His Devourers returned.
His army marched.
And his voice reached across the world:
"Ashara… come die a second death."