The silence after Seer Lumeah's revelation was deafening.
The first Flamebearer.
The idea felt like betrayal. Like waking from a dream to realize the fire you held wasn't yours alone.
Amina stood still, the wind brushing her face like whispers from a thousand ghosts.
"Where is this... other?" she asked, barely able to form the words.
Lumeah's answer came slow, measured. "He sleeps beneath the desert of Shal'Zahra. Bound. Forgotten. But he stirs now... because the Flame in you echoes his pain."
Ashar's Fury
Ashar slammed his fist into the nearest wall.
"So we're chasing fragments of power we barely understand while the world tears at its seams—and now there's another?"
His voice trembled with frustration. "Why didn't anyone tell us?"
Lumeah watched him calmly. "Because the world feared him. Because they buried the truth with his name."
Kai stepped forward, his voice low and dangerous. "What's his name?"
A pause. Then one word.
"Valec."
Visions of the Past
Lumeah led them into the Pool of Unseen Flame, a chamber filled with mist and time-laced magic.
As Amina stepped in, the water shimmered—and vision consumed her.
She saw a city burning.
Not in war—but sacrifice.
People kneeling. Praying.
A man standing above them, his body covered in flame-touched sigils. His eyes glowing like two dying suns.
Valec.
But something was wrong.
The flame wasn't golden—it was black.
And behind him stood... shadows in chains. Laughing.
"He gave too much," a voice whispered. "And when the world couldn't carry his burden... it buried him."
The Choice of Flame
Amina stumbled back from the vision, gasping.
Lumeah's mask tilted slightly. "He was meant to end the war of gods... but the gods turned on him instead. You were never the first, Amina. But you may be the last."
Amina's hands trembled. "If he was so powerful... why did he fall?"
Lumeah gave no answer. Only a solemn warning:
"Power without anchors becomes hunger."
Departure from Auron Vale
The group left the city behind, each with heavy steps and heavier thoughts.
Night fell fast. The desert wind met them like a warning.
Kai walked beside Amina. "Do you believe it?" he asked.
"I don't want to," she admitted. "But the Flame inside me... it responded to him. Like it knew."
Kai paused. "If he rises again... what will you do?"
Amina didn't hesitate. "I'll face him. If he's broken... I'll end him."
Kai looked at her with something close to fear—and respect.
"You're not the girl I first met."
She smiled faintly. "She died in Rithen. The Flame killed her."
Buried Secrets
As they camped that night, Ashar couldn't sleep.
He sat alone, sharpening his blade, when something caught his attention.
A scroll. Stuffed inside his pack.
He didn't remember packing it.
He opened it slowly.
Inside were black-inked runes—and one symbol that pulsed with residual heat: the sigil of Valec.
At the bottom, scribbled in blood-red:
"We are not so different, you and I. You have a choice: protect her... or join me."
Ashar froze.
His name was scrawled at the corner.
But it wasn't written by a stranger.
It was his own handwriting.
The Awakening
Far away, beneath the cracked sands of Shal'Zahra, a tomb trembled.
Chains groaned. The stone melted with every breath the figure inside took.
Eyes opened—pure obsidian, with cracks of molten gold.
Valec whispered, "She is close."
The flames on his skin roared to life.