Solmere was unlike anything Ashen had seen before.
Massive walkways curved along the cliffside, connecting towers of black stone and shimmering glass. Pipes hissed with steam, bridges crackled with enchanted light, and strange machines churned inside open workshops. This was a city of invention and magic, built by those who feared neither fire nor failure.
As Ashen followed Ravel through the winding streets, he couldn't help but notice the stares. People paused mid-step, whispering to one another, eyes fixed on the golden gauntlet strapped to his arm.
"Why are they looking at me like that?" Ashen muttered.
"You're wearing history," Ravel said. "They haven't seen that gauntlet in over a century. And the last person who wore it... wasn't exactly a hero."
Ashen swallowed. "Great. No pressure."
---
They reached the towering entrance of the Emberlight Hall, a massive structure carved into the mountain itself. Twin doors of blackened steel opened inward, revealing a long corridor lit by floating embers. At the end stood a semicircle of figures cloaked in deep crimson—the Emberlight Council.
At the center sat a woman with braided silver hair and sharp golden eyes.
"Ravel," she said coolly. "You bring a boy bearing the Forgotten Flame. You better have a damn good reason."
"I do," Ravel replied. "He didn't steal it. The Flame chose him."
Murmurs rose among the council members.
Ashen stepped forward. "I don't know what's happening to me. But I'm not here to steal or destroy. I want to learn. To control it."
The silver-haired woman rose from her seat.
"You speak boldly," she said. "Do you even know what you carry? That gauntlet holds the remnants of a power that nearly destroyed this world. The last bearer burned five cities to ash."
Ashen met her gaze. "Then maybe it's time someone used it to protect something instead."
---
Silence fell over the hall.
Then, one of the older council members chuckled. "He's either brave… or foolish."
"Both," Ravel muttered under his breath.
The silver-haired woman finally sighed. "Very well. You may stay in Solmere. But your training begins at dawn. And one wrong move, one spark out of place… and we end it. Flame or no flame."
Ashen nodded. "Understood."
---
Later that evening, Ashen sat on a balcony overlooking the glowing city.
He didn't feel welcome. He felt watched. Judged. But somewhere deep inside him, the flame pulsed—not wildly, but calmly, like it was waiting.
Ravel joined him, leaning on the rail.
"She's not wrong, you know," he said. "The last bearer of that gauntlet… he wasn't a monster at first either. But the flame changes people."
Ashen looked at the burning lights below.
"Then I'll change it first."