Flamehold Fortress, Rebuilt Phoenix Empire – Midnight
The Phoenix banners fluttered in the windless air.
It had been weeks since Arjun defeated the Crimson Tsar. The fortress of Flamehold—once ruins of his homeland's heart—now stood tall with new life. The city walls shone with reinforced stone, and braziers burned with Eternal Flame, a gift from the ancient Fire Monks.
But in the silence of the night, not everything was at peace.
Inside the high chambers of the citadel, Arjun stood shirtless in front of a mirror. Scars lined his torso—one, still faintly glowing red, left by the Tsar's blood-spear. He clenched his jaw.
He wasn't healing as fast as before.
His powers, once pulsing with heat and clarity, now flickered—fickle, unstable. And worse, his dreams were growing darker.
"Still awake?" a soft voice came from the doorway.
Liu Meilin stood in the moonlight. Her long black hair fell loosely around her shoulders. She wore a robe embroidered with silver cranes and a thin blade at her hip, always alert.
Arjun turned, forcing a smile. "Couldn't sleep."
"Nightmares?" she asked bluntly.
He didn't answer, but his silence was confirmation enough. Meilin walked over, touching the edge of the scar.
"It's a mark," she whispered. "Not just a wound."
"A curse," Arjun muttered. "Or a message. I saw something… a place covered in ash. And a voice calling my name. Not the Tsar's voice—something… older."
Liu frowned. "You need to tell the others. Hiding this could risk everything."
Arjun hesitated. "Not yet. Let them believe the war is over—for now."
Elsewhere in the lower citadel…
Kavi moved like smoke between shadows. The spy had found a sealed door in the old prison halls—one that wasn't on any map, not even in the archives Miren had recovered.
She ran her fingers over the edges. Symbols—old ones—scratched into the stone: Phoenix glyphs fused with darker etchings.
She pressed her hand to the center.
The wall rumbled. Air hissed. A passage opened, revealing a staircase descending into pitch-black.
Kavi drew her twin daggers. Her voice was a whisper.
"Well, you don't just build dungeons under dungeons without hiding a few sins."
She descended.
Two hours later…
The war council met at dawn in the Sunfire Hall.
Present: Arjun, Liu Meilin, Tharaka, Miren, Ayaka, Kavi.
"Something's wrong," Kavi said, laying out blackened scrolls onto the table. "Below the citadel, I found a sealed chamber filled with bones—charred ones. These belonged to children, women... probably victims from the fall of Flamehold."
Miren examined the scrolls. Her eyes widened.
"These aren't just records. They're rituals—binding seals used to contain a soul fragment. Ancient Abyssal design."
Everyone turned to Arjun.
He was pale.
"That chamber… it was beneath the nursery. The place I slept as a child," he said. "My father told me it was safe from bombs. That no enemy could touch me there."
Liu stepped forward. "Your father… might've sealed something beneath you. For protection… or sacrifice."
Miren looked up. "The Flame-Born Sword's power—it's not entirely yours. You're sharing it with something. A forgotten remnant… bound to you since birth."
Flashback: Unknown Realm
In the deep darkness of time, a being of flame and void stirred.
It opened its eyes. Once again, the bloodline had awakened.
"The boy… is nearing convergence."
Back in the council
"We need to trace the origin of this soul-binding," Liu said. "And we start by finding the ones who helped your father build those seals."
Miren nodded. "There's one name in the scrolls—Rudraksha, a seer exiled decades ago. Last seen heading toward the Snow Wastes of Tianran."
Ayaka unsheathed her cursed blade and stood. "Then we ride at dawn."
Tharaka's voice was calm but powerful. "If this curse affects our king, then we fight not for land—but for his soul."
Arjun stood at the head of the table, firelight glinting in his eyes. "Then gather the vanguard. We leave by moonrise."
That night, a hidden agent within Flamehold reported via a shadow mirror.
"He suspects," the whisper said. "But not everything. The Abyss watches."
From the other end, a voice replied.
"Let him dig. When he finds the truth, it will already be too late."