Every god fears the Sireborn.
Because it remembers what they were
before they lied their way into power.
The Third Throne still pulsed beneath Vaelryn's feet.
It no longer whispered.
Now, it spoke.
"Daughter of fire. Your blood is old. But not the oldest.
He remembers you. Do you remember him?"
Kael stood at her side, sword still glowing with embers. The broken sky above them had stopped flickering, but in the distance—the First Moon bled. Its cracks glowed with purple fire, as if an eye were trying to blink open.
"Sireborn," Kael said quietly.
"Not a name. A title," Vaelryn replied.
"An ancient one. I thought it was myth. A warning for gods who lied too often."
"And now?"
She turned slowly.
"Now, it's a war banner. And it's waving."
**_The Pact Sigil_**
As the Third Throne sank into the obsidian platform, a ring of runes ignited in a circle around them.
A black fire formed a sigil in the air: a phoenix strangled by a serpent, pierced by a dagger of starlight.
"Make the pact or perish beneath the rising of the Fourth Moon."
Kael tensed. "What pact? With who?"
The air behind them tore open.
From it stepped a creature wrapped in a cloak of shadows and embers, neither man nor god, but something older. His skin shimmered with molten script. His face was hidden beneath a mirrored helm.
_"Do not kneel," he said.
"I am not a god. I am their predecessor. I am the First Flame.
I am Vael-Sireborn."
Vaelryn's breath caught.
"You—"
"Yes. I burned the stars into existence. I carved the first oaths. I watched them rise... and I watched you fall."
"And now I need you to rise again. But not for revenge.
For extinction."
**_The Sireborn's Warning_**
Vael-Sireborn's voice was wind and weight, pressing against their bones.
"The gods do not rule because they earned it.
They rule because I let them.
Because I slept.
"But I am stirring now. And you, Flameborn, are the only one
who remembers the world before the lie."
"Bind with me. Reignite the pact.
And I will give you the fire that even gods cannot survive."
Vaelryn stared at him.
Her heart thundered.
"Why now? Why me?"
"Because your flame is broken. And only broken things
can hold the truth without shattering further."
Kael stepped between them.
"And what happens if she says no?"
"Then the Fourth Moon rises. And everything dies. Not just the gods.
Not just the mortals. The very laws that hold breath and bone together."
**_The Binding Flame_**
Vaelryn looked at Kael.
"I've burned for vengeance. I've fought for thrones.
But this… this is different."
She stepped forward and reached out to Vael-Sireborn.
Their hands touched.
FWOOSH.
A ring of violet fire erupted from beneath her feet, swirling upward. Her body lifted into the air, and ancient runes etched themselves into her skin.
Memories not her own flooded in:
A time before gods
A world shaped by flame and starfire
A betrayal that tore reality into pantheons
She screamed.
Then laughed.
Then screamed again.
When she landed, her eyes were no longer golden.
They were starlit void, speckled with flame.
"The pact is sealed," Vael said. "You are now the vessel of the First Flame.
Use it wisely, or let it devour you."
And then he vanished.
** _New Power, New Price_**
Kael rushed to her side. "Sera—are you—"
She held up a hand.
Her veins glowed blue-violet.
"I'm not sure who I am now. But I know what I have to do."
The Map of the Dead floated in front of them.
The Fourth Throne appeared.
Its symbol was not fire.
It was silence—a black circle.
"This throne… it's not just hidden. It's erased."
"Then how do we find it?"
"We go to the one place the gods fear more than me.
The Library of the End."
Kael grimaced.
"You mean the one that was burned from time?"
Vaelryn smiled faintly.
"Not burned. Buried. Beneath the bones of the last truth."
**_Far Away… the Fourth Moon Stirs_**
In a hollow sky far beyond mortal sight, a shape cracked open.
Not a moon.
A wound.
And from it crawled hands made of ink and teeth.
Eyes blinked without sockets.
A name etched itself into the void:
"Koryx the Unwritten."
He laughed.
"So the pact has begun again.
How deliciously late."
He looked toward the world Vaelryn still walked.
_"Let's see if the Flameborn can outrun the silence."
TO BE CONTINUED...
🔥 Chapter Hook — "The Sireborn Pact"
A forgotten god returns.
A pact sealed in flame.
A silence older than creation begins to rise.
✨ What did Vaelryn see when the First Flame awakened in her?
⚡ Who is Koryx the Unwritten?
🌌 And what truth sleeps beneath the Library of the End?
📖 Next: Chapter 9 — "Buried in the Bones of Truth"