The purple dawn deepened, and the distant shouts grew louder. Lira stood frozen in the marble courtyard, ash still clinging to her skin, staring at the glowing Rune-Stone. The voices echoing beyond the pillars were real human, terrified, angry. Thousands of them. Millions, perhaps All pulled into this place by the same comet that had taken her world
A group of players burst into the courtyard from a side archway five ragged figures in half-burned clothes, eyes wide with panic. A man in farmer's garb led them, carrying a wounded woman in his arms. Behind them, three more stumbled two men and a teenage boy clutching a bloodied arm,They stopped when they saw Lira.
"You… you're new," the leader panted. "The comet?" Lira nodded, throat tight
The man's face crumpled. "My village too. Everyone…" He looked at the Rune-Stone and paled. "Gods, it's starting."
On every player's inner wrist, a glowing rune-mark appeared the Brand of the Gods crimson, pulsing like a heartbeat, Lira looked down the same mark burned into her own skin, hot and insistent.
The Rune-Stone flared brighter.
THE BLAZING HEART DEMANDS SACRIFICE OF SELF
TEN SOULS MUST ENTER THE PYRE
SPEAK TRUTH OR BURN
ONLY THOSE WHO EMERGE WHOLE SHALL CLAIM THE SHARD
A doorway of living gold flame opened beneath the stone, wide enough for several to pass at once The wounded woman in the leader's arms whimpered. "I can't… it hurts…"
The leader looked at his group, then at Lira. "We have eight. We need two more, or the Brand takes us."
Lira's wrist burned hotter. The mark was counting down minutes, perhaps less
Another figure stepped from the shadows opposite Lira: tall, silver-haired, cloaked in dark green,The elf from her vision ,real now. Kazeal. His own wrist bore the same Brand, older, faded from many extensions
"Nine," he said calmly. "I will enter."
The leader sagged in relief. "Thank the gods." Kazeal's green eyes found Lira's. "And you make ten."Lira swallowed. "What happens if we refuse?"
The teenage boy with the bloodied arm laughed bitterly. "The Brand ignites. You burn from the inside Saw it happen to my dad when he tried to run." His voice broke on the last word,No choice.
The ten of them stepped toward the fiery doorway As they crossed the threshold, the heat wrapped around them like warm breath. The courtyard vanished,They stood in a vast circular chamber of living fire: walls of gold flame, floor of cooled ash, ceiling lost in white-hot light. In the centre burned a massive pyre of white wood, tall as three men.
A voice like crackling logs filled the air:
SPEAK YOUR DEEPEST TRUTH OR BURN. ONE TRUTH PER SOUL
LIES FEED THE FLAME
The fire roared higher,The wounded woman went first, carried by the leader She could barely speak;
"I… I left my children in the house," she whispered. "Hid in the cellar while they screamed."The flames licked at her feet, testing,She screamed as skin blistered.
"Truth," the voice intoned
The fire withdrew ,She collapsed sobbing.
The teenage boy next.
"I stole bread the day before," he said defiantly. "Was hungry,Didn't share."
The flames rose, hungry.
"Lies feed the flame," the voice repeated.
The boy's eyes widened. "Wait -I-"
Fire engulfed him
He burned in seconds, screaming until there was only ash drifting across the floor
Nine left.
One of the men panicked and bolted for the doorway.
His Brand flared crimson,He made it three steps before divine fire erupted from his mouth, eyes, skin. He fell writhing, burning from the inside out until nothing remained but blackened bone
Eight
The leader laid the wounded woman down and spoke his truth: "I was glad my wife died first,Didn't have to watch her suffer longer."
The flames accepted it,He survived.
One by one, they spoke
A farmer admitted abandoning his brother in the comet fire
A merchant confessed hoarding gold while neighbors starved
Each truth accepted meant survival.
Each lie or refusal meant death.
When it was Lira's turn, her voice shook.
"I watched my family burn and couldn't save them," she said. "Garrick raised me, loved me like his own, and I let him die alone."
The flames rose, gentle this time, wrapping around her like an embrace
"Truth," the voice said.
The fire inside her answered, gold and warm.
Kazeal was last,He spoke without hesitation, voice steady but raw.
"I failed the woman I loved,My choices cost her life and my entire people I have walked three centuries carrying that failure, waiting for punishment" The flames bowed before him.
"Truth accepted."
The pyre in the centre ignited fully,From its heart rose the First Rune-Shard glowing gold-white, humming with power.
It floated to Lira and settled against her chest,Power flooded her controlled, shared, alive.
The chamber dissolved
They stood back in the courtyard only five survivors now
The Rune-Stone had vanished.
Their Brands faded, the gods' mercy extended for now
The leader looked at the piles of ash where his companions had stood, face grey,Kazeal placed a hand on Lira's shoulder.
"One Rune down," he said quietly.
In the distance, another Rune-Stone began to glow crimson on the horizon,More voices rose shouts of new players discovering the rules, screams of the first refusals as their Brands ignited.
The Eternal Ordeal continued,and Lira for the first time, understood the price of survival.