THE FATHER’S GHOST
POV: Xavier
Night clung to the ruins of Hollowfen like a second skin.
Xavier stood alone beneath the scorched arch of the keep’s fallen tower, the distant embers of war still glowing beyond the trees. His blade leaned beside him, half-buried in ash. Around him, the battlefield had fallen silent—but not quiet. The kind of silence that held breath, waited for something unsaid.
He hadn’t slept since Ceres stepped through the Sealed Gate. Not properly. Even now, he hadn’t told her what he’d seen, what he kept seeing.
He closed his eyes, and there it was again
THE LAST CORONATIONPOV: Xavier, Ceres, CouncilThe Ember Spire—DawnThe bells did not ring.For the first time in Flamewatch’s long history, no royal horns sounded. No red banners unfurled from the upper citadel. And yet, the people gathered.Thousands lined the ridge outside the Ember Spire, drawn not by summons but by instinct—by the whisper of something ending and something else beginning.Ceres stood before the open balcony, high above them all, clad not in armor nor the embroidered flame-robes of the monarchs before her, bu
ARION'S FALLPOV: Ceres/ArionThe Tower Below Flamewatch—DuskThe lowest chamber of the Flamewatch keep was no longer a prison—it was a shrine to silence.Ceres descended the spiral stairway alone, each step echoing like a judgment in stone. No guards followed. No torches burned. The walls, once pulsing with wardlight, had dimmed after Nya's choice dissolved the Codex. Magic didn't linger here anymore.It refused to.She paused at the final arch, her hand brushing the cold iron gate. Inside, Arion knelt on the stone floor, wrists unbou
THE CHOICE OF THE CHILDPOV: Ceres / Xavier / Nya (Vision Realms)The Dreamflame Temple—DuskThe Codex pulsed on the altar like a living wound.Ceres stood in front of it, silent, her hands folded before her. Xavier stood behind her, arms crossed, jaw tense. Kaelenna, Maera, and the remaining Ember Council ringed the flame chamber in wary silence, as if waiting for thunder to follow lightning.The Codex had opened on its own. Again.Its pages no longer held written prophecy.They held reflections.Moving images of fire, past and present—battles, births, the old kings, the vanished queens, and the child walking barefoot through the ruins of a burning world.Ceres whispered, "It's calling her."Maera nodded. "Or she's calling it."Xavier took a step forward. "And what happens if she answers?"Before anyone could respond, the flame altar convulsed—once, then again, bursting into a flare of white-gold fire. The heat did not burn, but it was summoned.Then came the voice.Not loud. Not fri
THE FATHER’S GHOSTPOV: XavierNight clung to the ruins of Hollowfen like a second skin.Xavier stood alone beneath the scorched arch of the keep’s fallen tower, the distant embers of war still glowing beyond the trees. His blade leaned beside him, half-buried in ash. Around him, the battlefield had fallen silent—but not quiet. The kind of silence that held breath, waited for something unsaid.He hadn’t slept since Ceres stepped through the Sealed Gate. Not properly. Even now, he hadn’t told her what he’d seen, what he kept seeing.He closed his eyes, and there it was again
MIRROR OF FIREPOV: CeresThe fire was not outside her anymore.It was inside.Since returning from the Sealed Gate, Ceres hadn’t slept. Couldn’t sleep. The Codex no longer glowed. It breathed. The scrolls in the Ember Library flared and curled when she passed. Her skin, bare beneath her ceremonial silk, shimmered faintly in the dark.But it wasn’t power. Not anymore.It was unbinding.Ceres stood in the inner sanctum of the Dreamflame Sanctuary, the flame altar burning steadily be
THE SEALED GATEPOV: CeresThe Codex would not stop glowing.Even after Arion’s capture. Even after the pyres were lit in Hollowfen, Xavier’s soldiers sang war songs under flame-drenched skies. Even after she had scrubbed her hands raw, she tried to feel clean.It kept glowing.And humming.Like something beneath the ink was awake.Ceres sat cross-legged in the Dreamflame Chamber, the Codex spread open before her, its language shifting with each flicker of candlelight. The Flame didn’t