The Oracle of Aetheron – Forgotten Temple Beneath the Mountain
Seris stood alone before a set of stone doors older than kingdoms. Fire flickered across the runes, each symbol pulsing as if breathing. She had traveled for nine days, wounded and hunted, to reach the Oracle of Aetheron.
The last flame-seer.
A voice echoed from within:
"Only those willing to burn may pass."
Seris didn't flinch.
"I came to save someone," she said.
The door split open.
Inside waited a blinding presence—a being of light and smoke, shaped like a man, crowned in embers. Its voice cracked mountains.
"You seek to cleanse the boy."
"Yes."
"Then you must carry his fire… even if it kills you."
Seris nodded once.
"I'll burn, if it means he doesn't."
The flame leapt forward.
And Seris Lang screamed.
---
Emberhold – The Black Eclipse
Ashren stood atop the highest tower.
Below, the sky had turned black. Not from clouds.
From wings.
The Hollow Queen had arrived with her army—shadows, flame-beasts, and worse.
She stood across from him now, draped in a gown of smoke.
"Come home," she whispered. "End the world with me."
Ashrel stepped between them.
"I won't let you have him."
"You're already mine," Vaelira spat.
"Not anymore."
And then—fire.
Father and son fought the Queen together.
Ashren, blazing with rage and fear.
Ashrel, wielding sorrow and memory.
They pushed her back—but not enough.
Until the third fire arrived.
---
The Light Returns
Seris descended from the heavens like a comet—her body limned in golden flame, her eyes glowing.
Not madness.
Purity.
She landed between Ashren and Vaelira and sang—a song of Elyse, of love lost and found, of what it meant to burn for someone else.
The Hollow Queen screamed as Seris's light pierced her.
Ashrel moved.
He kissed Vaelira's brow.
"I loved you."
Then he drove his blade through her chest.
Ashren caught her as she fell—her last breath a whisper:
"…My fire…"
And then… silence.
The Hollow Queen was no more.
---
One Year Later
The Vale was reborn.
Ashren ruled not as a king—but as a guardian.
He still bore the fire. But now, it warmed instead of devoured.
Seris stood beside him, her voice once again her power.
And in the temple's highest tower… a flame still burned.
Ashrel's.
Gone, but not forgotten.
---
Final Line
Sometimes the only way to conquer darkness… is to carry the flame it feared most.