They returned to Hollowspire by nightfall.
The ruins were still. Watching.
Like they'd felt the tooth return.
Jackie stood before the vault door again.
Mira lit the ember-lights without needing to be told. Kael nodded once. Luci simply stood still—eyes wide, flame already dancing at her fingertips.
Jackie pulled the obsidian tooth from its wrap and placed it into the second socket.
For a breath, nothing.
Then—
> CLACK.
The door shivered, steam hissed through seams, and firelight bloomed across the ancient runes.
Then it spoke.
> "Flamebound confirmed."
"Jazira's blood... honored."
"Valecrown… opening."
The chamber trembled.
And the vault opened.
---
🜂 Inside Valecrown
The inside wasn't gold.
Wasn't treasure.
It was memory.
Dozens of crystal spheres lined the walls—burning with slow, spiraling flame. Echoes of voices filled the air like whispers:
> "This is my final testament—"
"If you're hearing this, I am gone—"
"The world doesn't need another Warden King—"
Jackie turned in place, overwhelmed.
And then she saw it.
At the center of the chamber: a circular platform with a single figure—sitting, draped in a long cloak of scales and light.
Not a statue.
A preserved body.
> Jazira.
Or rather, a version of her—calcified by fire, her last breath captured in flameglass.
And in her lap, a sealed scroll.
---
Jackie stepped forward, her heart pounding louder than the fire.
She knelt. Reached. Touched the scroll.
It lit with warmth—but didn't burn.
> "Flamebound heir," the room whispered.
"Read. Choose. Rise."
She unrolled it.
And saw a map. A list of names. Instructions.
> It was a plan.
Jazira had written it all down—the entire structure of a new world, not ruled by the Wardens… but led by the Flameborne.
Education. Sanctuaries. Dragonkind restoration. Even peace talks—with old enemies. Her dream hadn't been war. It had been rebirth.
At the bottom:
> "To whoever survives me—don't burn the world. Change it."
Jackie's vision blurred with heat.
> She wasn't just carrying on Jazira's legacy.
She was meant to finish it.