Chapter Summary:
Echo and Kael come face-to-face with the High Warden in the sacred Archive. What begins as a confrontation quickly unravels into a shocking revelation: the origin of the Frostbound isn't rooted in conquest—but in betrayal. And Echo's destiny may not be to destroy the Frost… but to become something far more terrifying.
Chapter 99: The High Warden's Truth
The air froze mid-breath.
The silver flames flickering along the glyphs snuffed out, leaving only the cold glow of the High Warden's presence.
His cloak swept behind him like a living shadow, rimmed with frost that didn't melt. His face was obscured by a half-mask carved from black ice, only his eyes visible—eyes that gleamed like stars reflected on still water. Ancient. Detached.
Kael stepped in front of Echo immediately, sword drawn, his stance defensive and deadly.
The Warden stopped several paces away and lifted a hand, calm.
"I didn't come to kill you," he said. His voice was low, layered—one tone beneath another, as if two beings spoke at once.
Alara flanked Echo, hands burning with white-hot flame. "Then you'll forgive us for not bowing."
"No need for bows," he murmured. "What I seek… is understanding."
Echo stepped forward, defying Kael's protective stance. "You've been hunting me for years. Why stop now?"
The Warden tilted his head. "Because the key has turned. And with it, the truth must rise."
He reached up slowly and removed the mask.
Echo's breath stopped.
Beneath it was a man. Not a monster.
His face was scarred, yes—crosshatched with old burns and faint lines of frostbite—but unmistakably human. His skin had once been golden-brown, now pallid with age. But his features…
Echo stumbled back, eyes wide.
Kael saw it too.
"You…" Kael's voice cracked. "You were one of the Emberguard."
"I was its first," the Warden said quietly. "Before the title even existed."
Alara's mouth fell open. "Impossible. The Emberguard was formed after the Sundering."
"The official records began after the Sundering," he corrected. "But the flames we were entrusted with… began long before."
He turned to Echo. "Your ancestor, Queen Seris Vayne, was the last bearer of the Heartflame. I was her blade. Her right hand. And her betrayer."
The truth unraveled like threads soaked in oil.
He had been Eron Calas—Flamewarden, chosen to guard the secret of the Primal Flames. But when Seris refused to unleash the Heartflame during the First Collapse, Eron had disagreed.
"Her mercy doomed us all," he said. "So I acted."
"You tried to steal the Heartflame," Alara said, fury in her eyes.
"I tried to save it. She sealed it in the Archive and cast me out. Burned my name. But the sealing wasn't perfect. A sliver remained—still alive in my blood."
Echo shook her head. "And that's what corrupted you? Turned you into this?"
Eron—The Warden—laughed bitterly. "No. What corrupted me was hope. Hope that the frost would preserve what fire could not. I sought preservation. Not domination."
Kael's voice was sharp. "So you became the enemy."
"I became the balance," Eron said, stepping closer. "The frost doesn't kill—it remembers. It holds. You think fire is the only way to live, but flame forgets. It consumes. You burn your past to forge the future."
He looked at Echo directly. "But your blood… carries both."
The Archive trembled. The pedestal behind them pulsed.
Alara turned to Echo. "Don't listen. He's trying to manipulate you."
Eron ignored her. "You were born from fire and legacy. You carry the flame of Seris… and the frost of the first lockbreaker—Myron Haleth."
"My father?" Echo asked.
"Not a traitor," Eron said. "A frozen guardian. He joined us to delay the inevitable."
Alara's voice rose. "Lies. He abandoned us."
"He protected her!" Eron thundered. "He kept the frost in check until the seal weakened. His death gave her time!"
Echo shook her head. "What do you want from me?"
"To finish what Seris started," he said. "Not with war. With choice. You can unite what we tore apart."
Kael stepped between them again. "You mean to turn her into a weapon."
"No," Eron said. "I mean to free her from one."
He extended a hand. "Let me show you. Let me guide you to the true forge—where all flame is born."
Alara was already forming a strike. "If you touch her—"
But Echo held up a hand.
"No," she said. "Let him speak."
Silence reigned for a moment.
Kael's jaw was tight. "Echo…"
But she wasn't looking at him. She was looking at the pedestal—where the Heartflame's essence danced, flickering between red and silver. Hot and cold. Fire and frost.
A balance.
Her voice was quiet but sure.
"If what you say is true… then I need to see it for myself."
Alara snapped. "He's manipulating you."
"Maybe," Echo said. "But I'm done being used as a symbol. I need to know who I am."
Eron lowered his hand, satisfied.
"You will. But it will cost you everything."
"I've already lost everything," she whispered. "What else can you take?"
Behind them, the ice cracked again.
Dozens of Frostbound Sentinels began to emerge from the walls—silent, hollow-eyed.
But they didn't attack.
They knelt.
To her.
Kael stared. "What is happening?"
Eron stepped back.
"They recognize their sovereign."
Alara stared at Echo like she didn't know her anymore.
"You… you're the Frostbound Queen?"
"No," Echo whispered.
"I'm both."