Chapter 71: Embers of Old Treaties
They met in the upper solar chamber of Emberhold — a circular room lined with open archways and banners from every Flamebound province. The hearth burned steadily, but Echo felt its warmth shift as Cyran entered.
The fire didn't retreat.
It leaned forward.
Cyran removed his gloves, revealing fingers wrapped in woven silver thread.
"A sign of respect," he said, placing them carefully on the table. "Where I come from, we do not bare our flame-marks lightly."
Echo noticed then — the thread wasn't decorative. It contained something.
A quiet glow pulsed beneath his skin.
"You carry fire," she observed.
"I carry memory," Cyran corrected. "Our flames do not burn. They preserve."
They sat facing each other, Kael standing quietly behind Echo.
Lumen remained by the door, hand resting on her blade hilt.
Cyran's voice was steady. Calm. But never soft.
"You've torn the Rite. Not just yours — but all its echoes. Do you know how many continents once bowed to fire?"
"Three," Echo said. "Maybe four."
"Seven," Cyran corrected. "Before the Breaking, there were seven flame-pillars across the world, each governed by a different order. Yours — the Flamebound Line — was simply the most visible."
He pulled a scroll from his robes.
Unfurled it.
It showed a map Echo had never seen. Familiar coastlines — but strange markings.
Circles of fire. Lines of light. Crossed-out emblems.
"This is the Treaty of the Ember Accord," he said. "Signed over a thousand years ago after the last War of Embers. It divided the flame among the great houses of power — each entrusted to keep balance. Not dominance."
"And they failed," Echo said.
"They protected," Cyran replied. "They prevented collapse. Until now."
Lumen stepped forward.
"If balance required oppression, maybe it wasn't balance at all."
Cyran looked at her with quiet interest.
"And yet here you stand — flame reborn, enemies defeated, and already envoys come knocking. That's not peace. That's the beginning of a new firestorm."
Kael finally spoke.
"Why come now, if all you bring is warnings?"
Cyran turned to Echo.
"Because she is the center now. And every center draws gravity. If she doesn't shape what comes next, someone else will."
Echo leaned forward.
"Then tell me. What's coming?"
Cyran didn't blink.
"Awakenings. Across the Sunless Deep, the Ashborn Courts stir. In the western dunes, the Scorch Priests have broken their silence. And in the North, the Hollow Flame has begun to sing again."
He paused.
"And there is one more. A force we thought extinguished."
"The Cold Flame," Echo whispered.
Cyran nodded.
"Once banished. Now breathing."
That night, Echo returned to the Grand Hearth alone.
The flame there had changed since her return. It moved differently now — as if aware of more than just the room.
She knelt and fed it a single emberstone.
It flared — not violently, but with ancient resonance.
Memories flickered.
Children learning to shape heat into hope.
Old ones whispering through firelight.
A council of seven — each wearing robes of different flame hues — arguing over a forgotten name.
And then… a door.
Made of obsidian.
Sealed with seven hands.
One of them hers.
But… older.
She pulled back, breath catching in her throat.
Was she seeing the future?
Or someone else's past?
And why did it feel like both?
Lumen found her sitting there, eyes distant.
"They'll try to use you," she said.
"I know."
"They'll try to fear you."
"I know."
"They'll try to follow you."
Echo looked up.
"That's what scares me most."
The next morning, Cyran stood at the northern docks, ready to depart.
He turned to her once more.
"Your spark broke a thousand-year equilibrium. You have three choices now: lead the new order, fight the old one… or vanish, and let chaos decide."
Echo met his gaze.
"I'll forge a fourth."
Cyran's lips curled faintly.
"You sound like her."
"Who?"
"Seraphine?" Echo guessed.
But Cyran shook his head.
"No. The first one. The true Flamebearer. The one whose fire sang to all seven."
He stepped onto his ship.
The sails caught a wind that didn't exist moments before.
Echo stood on the docks long after he vanished from sight.
Behind her, Kael approached quietly.
"What now?"
She turned to him, face calm, eyes alight.
"Now, I gather the others."