CHAPTER 19: Thrones and Ashes
The Imperial Capital – Highcourt, Thronehall of Sanct Aurent
The throne room of Sanct Aurent had never felt cold—until now.
Marble columns soared into the candlelit dark, and stained-glass windows wept with color, casting saints and emperors across the floor like faded ghosts. But none of them watched as High Crown Orsain Vellgaard sat in silence, his gloved fingers steepled before his mouth.
Before him: maps, dispatches, broken seals, and a charred emblem—Kael's flame.
The silence was broken only when Chancellor Elharn, robed in ash-gray velvet, spoke.
"Crelle is dead. Duskwatch holds. The man you called a brigand now commands half the eastern border."
"No gods," the High Crown murmured. "No throne. And still they follow him."
The Circle of War
The High Circle gathered: generals, cardinals, nobles, spies.
The tension was iron-taut.
Archlector Malgrad of the Flame Church bowed with stiffness.
"His name has entered the litany, Your Grace. Among peasants and soldiers both. They call him Deliverer. Or…" (a sneer) "…Ashborn Sovereign."
Lady Edraya, Marshal of the Southern Host, slammed her gauntlet on the table.
"Then we burn the name from their mouths. Let him hold Duskwatch. Let him dig a throne into the mountain. We bury him with it."
The Doctrine Chamberlain whispered:
"Crelle challenged him openly… and died. Another assault must be precise. Surgical. Total. A show of overwhelming power."
The room fell quiet.
All eyes turned to the High Crown.
A War Without Mercy
Orsain Vellgaard finally spoke:
"The rebellion is no longer rebellion. It is heresy. A new god grows in the east, and it wears a man's face. If the Church is to endure—if the throne is to survive—then we do not simply crush this Kael. We erase him. Body. Banner. Belief."
He stood. Slowly. Regally.
"Raise the Imperial Legions."
Gasps and murmurs.
"Bring forth the Black Legates of Varnhold. Call the Silver Banner from the south. Let every House that owes coin or crown know this: Join the Sovereign, and your lands burn. Defy him, and your children will still pray beneath our spires. This is not war. This is doctrine."
The Flame Church's Secret Oath
Later that night, beneath the golden spires of the Basilica of the Flame, Archlector Malgrad met in the crypt with seven cloaked figures—the Censors of the Inner Flame.
Together, they passed a black scroll sealed in wax.
Inside: names.
Kael
Seyda of the Red Veil
Lady Virelle Velmire
Nalen Grey, traitor of the Crow-Talon
A vow was spoken.
"No more martyrs. No more symbols. They are not to be captured. They are to be extinguished."
On the steps of the Imperial Bastion, a bell rang thirty times.
The last time it had rung, a Kingdom died.
Now, it rang again.
And Kael's legend, once kindled by fire, would soon be met with the full wrath of Empire, church, and steel.