Full Chapter – Into Thalum, Into the Flame
Location: Thalum – The Broken Expanse. Once a land of flameborn empires, now a scorched graveyard of secrets. Wind howls through the bones of ancient forges. The siblings step onto cracked earth that still whispers in fire.
Arrival
The air shifted the moment they crossed into Thalum's boundaries.
It wasn't just hotter — it was heavier. Time felt strange here. The sky pulsed like a slow heart, casting shadows that didn't move the way they should.
Max spoke first. "The flame here... it's not alive. It's watching."
Hadi spun a floating orb of pink energy in her hand and shuddered. "Feels like the ground is made of memory. Like something's buried under every stone."
Grim said nothing, his mark pulsing faintly beneath his sleeve. Sparks hovered close, flickering erratically.
"This place is older than history," she murmured. "It remembers too much."
"Then we'll help it remember something good," Grim said.
The Temple of the Emberborn
They reached it by dusk.
A jagged ruin of blackstone, its entrance sealed by scorched runes and a door carved from obsidian—shaped like an eye shedding flame.
"This is it," Ayesha whispered. "The Emberborn Temple."
Tristan placed a palm on the door. "Feels like it's judging me."
"It probably is," Sparks said. "Everything here does. Including your fashion choices."
"You're in a good mood."
"I'm dying slowly and insultingly. Sarcasm is my morphine."
Grim stepped forward, raised his marked hand — and the crown symbol ignited.
The door pulsed.
And opened.
Within
The inside was pitch black… until the flame within Grim's chest caught.
Rings of light flared down a long hall, revealing murals on the walls — images of flame spirits forming bodies, of vessels forged from root and crystal, gold and song.
The elven forms they built were beautiful. Each body crafted not for power, but for harmony — to cradle a living flame.
Sparks hovered in awe. "This is it. This is how we build mine."
At the far end of the hall was an altar — and on it, a crystal heart pulsing slowly.
"That's the anchor," Ayesha said. "The first part. The core frame."
"We'll need materials from three regions," Max added, already scanning the symbols. "Elven bloodwood, Starlight ore… and soulglass."
"All ridiculously rare," Hadi muttered.
"And all guarded," Grim said.
The flame above the altar sparked violently.
A voice echoed.
"You have come to wake what should remain buried."
Trial by Flame
The ground split open.
From beneath the altar rose a guardian wraith — its body forged from molten armor and whispering embers. Ancient. Judging. Burning.
"State your flame. Or be consumed."
Grim stepped forward. "I am the Ashen Crown. I seek to forge a vessel not for war… but for survival."
The wraith hesitated — and then attacked.
What followed was chaos.
Max vanished into shadow, striking from behind.
Hadi unleashed a surge of pink energy that danced like plasma.
Tristan froze half the chamber walls to slow the wraith's movements.
Ayesha aimed pinpoint blasts at its flame joints.
Grim caught its strike headon with his flaming blade — and held it. The Ashen mark burned brighter than ever.
"This flame will not destroy," he growled. "It will protect."
Sparks hovered behind him, her light faint but steady.
The wraith paused.
And then, slowly… it knelt.
"Then you may take the Heart."
The crystal rose, pulsing.
Sparks drifted toward it — her flame warming. Just a bit.
Watching from the Shadows
Far above, in the ruins, Lys watched.
She saw the battle.
Saw Grim hold the fire.
Saw Sparks glow brighter when she was near him.
And she clenched her hands, claws twitching.
She's not even real yet.
And you're still choosing her.
Her golden eyes narrowed.
She followed them deeper.