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Chapter 23 – The Buried Accord
The stairway ended in silence.
Kael stepped off the final stone and found himself inside a wide, dome-like cavern. The walls shimmered with dormant sigils, etched in a language he couldn't read but somehow understood. Like echoes of another lifetime whispering through the marrow of his bones.
At the far end of the chamber stood a pedestal — and atop it, a single gauntlet made of obsidian scales and wrapped in glowing filaments of golden draconic script.
Lys didn't move. "You feel that too?"
Kael nodded slowly. "It's… calling."
> [Mission Update: The Buried Accord]
> [Objective: Retrieve the First Accord Relic – The Gauntlet of Binding Flame]
> [Warning: Spiritual attunement required.]
> [Failure will result in temporary system suspension.]
He approached, cautious. Every step sent a pulse through his chest. Not from fear, but from something older. A vow. A weight he didn't remember making, but that still clung to him like heat to a forge.
When his hand hovered above the gauntlet, the room reacted.
The sigils lit up.
The pedestal cracked.
A ring of fire spiraled outward — and from the flames, guardians emerged.
Not flesh. Not machine. Something between.
They were shaped like armored warriors, their eyes burning coals, their limbs forged from molten ore. Each bore weapons grafted to their arms — poleaxes, scimitars, war-fangs — and every one of them turned toward Kael.
Lys swore under her breath and readied her daggers. "Five on the left. Seven on the right. Two behind."
Kael didn't draw his sword.
Instead, he closed his fingers around the gauntlet.
> [Warning: Accord Integration Initiated.]
> [Flamebind Protocol – Syncing…]
Pain lanced up his arm — white-hot and endless — and then memory struck.
Not a vision.
A voice.
"Flame is not your weapon. It is your burden. Do not wield it for power—wield it to endure."
Kael's eyes snapped open, and fire erupted from the gauntlet — not ordinary fire, but a wreath of wyrm-blood flame, tinged with ancient vows.
The guardians charged.
Kael moved forward — fast — the gauntlet glowing across his right hand, Bonefire Fang still sheathed. His movements were deliberate, measured.
Like someone who had done this before.
He slammed the gauntlet into the first guardian's chest — and the fire didn't burn, it devoured the runes powering it. The construct collapsed mid-swing, crumbling into black slag.
Two more came at him. He pivoted low, grabbed one by the faceplate, and ignited the Flamebind Pulse — melting its mask and detonating the crystal core within.
The second guardian leapt—only to be intercepted by Lys, her shadowstep perfect, her blade burying itself between the plated neck joints.
They moved in tandem now — like old partners.
Kael's gauntlet pulsed with each strike. Not just empowering him, but rewriting how he fought.
> [Accord Flamebind – Phase One: Complete.]
> [New Ability Unlocked: Vowfire Grasp – Suppresses enemy spiritual cores on contact.]
As the final guardian fell, the flames dimmed. The room's light softened.
Kael dropped to one knee, breathing hard.
Lys caught up to him, eyes wide. "That gauntlet isn't just a weapon."
"No," Kael muttered. "It's a promise."
He stood, glancing down at the glowing script now etched along the gauntlet's outer rim. Only he could read the language.
And it terrified him how familiar it felt.
> "When the Fifth Fragment awakens, return to where flame first lied."
> "The truth waits where the first vow was broken."
Lys peered over but saw nothing. "You're seeing something again."
"Just a reminder."
She crossed her arms. "That doesn't help."
Kael gave her a small smile. "I'm not sure it's meant to."
---
Elsewhere.
In a black chamber beneath a sealed ziggurat, a blood-forged mirror shimmered with Kael's image. A cloaked figure knelt before it, veiled in whispering shadows.
"They've taken the first Accord."
A deeper voice answered. Calm. Absolute.
> "Let them. It brings him closer."
The kneeling figure hesitated. "Shall we send the Ash Blades?"
"No," came the reply.
> "We wait."
> "He must walk willingly into the past—until the fire chooses whether to consume him…"
> "…or remember why it burned."