The sea gave way to mist again, thicker now, almost warm. Even the wind had ceased its breath, leaving Ashara and her companions adrift in silence as they approached the skeletal remains of an isle burned into memory.
This was the place.
She didn't remember it.
But her bones did.
Caelum stood at the stern, his eyes distant. Ezekiel remained silent, his arms crossed and shoulders locked like a wall ready to crumble. Since the Oracle's ultimatum, an invisible weight hung between them—Ashara's silence, the unspeakable choice they all knew had been made.
The Covenant Spire appeared through the veil of fog like a splintered torch jammed into the earth, blackened from flame and yet impossibly tall. Jagged obsidian walls spiraled upward like thorns, and the land surrounding it was charred, lifeless.
But above it all, something pulsed—a heartbeat not unlike the Heart of Echoes itself.
System Notice:
✦ Anchor Thread Detected: Third Node — Spire of Covenant Flame
✦ Threat Level: CRITICAL
✦ System Thread Interference: 12%
✦ Corruption Type: Oathbound Flame
"This place was built for vows," Caelum said as they stepped onto the scorched shore. "And it died for broken ones."
Ashara touched the blackened ground. The moment her skin made contact, a tremor echoed through her mind—a scream not of sound, but of memory.
She saw herself standing in a gold-trimmed robe, her fourth life again. Her hair was braided with sigils of unity. At her side: Malach.
But another man stood at the spire altar. Hooded. Smiling.
And behind him—fire.
Memory Thread Restored: Covenant Betrayal
✦ Identity Confirmed: Ardan Vos, Flamewright of the Sixth Temple
✦ Crime: High Treason, Pact Violation, Divine Seal Tampering
✦ Outcome: Cycle Termination
Ashara recoiled.
Ardan Vos.
The man she had loved before Malach. The one who had promised her peace.
The one who had sold her fate to the gods in exchange for power.
And this was where he did it.
The tower doors creaked open of their own accord.
Inside, runes pulsed beneath ash-draped walls. The air smelled of old incense and molten metal. Caelum lit a torch, though it barely fought the gloom.
Ezekiel walked beside Ashara, every muscle tight.
"This place reeks of ghosts," he said.
"Not ghosts," she replied. "Regret."
At the spire's heart stood a dais of cracked obsidian. A blade rested atop it—the Oathbrand, a relic from the Cycle of Thorns. Beside it, a shallow bowl still held blood long dried into black glass.
System Alert:
✦ Echo Anchor Locked
✦ Activation Requirement: Oathblood Reclamation
✦ Warning: Will trigger Divine Adjudicator presence
"It wants a vow," Caelum murmured.
Ashara stepped forward. She took the blade. The metal was warm, pulsing. Alive.
She made no speech. Only one truth.
"I vow never again to be ruled by love that demands silence. I vow to unmake the chains that bound me—and forge new ones of my own."
She cut her palm.
The blood hissed into the bowl.
The spire screamed.
Flame erupted from the walls, dancing in strange sigils. Shadows surged from the corners of the room and coalesced into a form: tall, cloaked, unmistakably him.
Ardan Vos.
But twisted.
His eyes burned with a divine fire that no longer belonged to him. His voice echoed with fractured hymns.
"You should have died with me," he whispered.
"I did," Ashara replied. "But I didn't stay dead."
System Notice:
✦ Hostile Echo: Ardan Vos — Pactbound Flame Revenant
✦ Threat Level: Extreme
✦ Weakness: Broken Vow Resonance
The battle erupted like a storm.
Ezekiel blocked Ardan's first strike, sparks flying.
Caelum moved like lightning, blades flickering.
Ashara called on the Heart of Echoes, the flame of her blood vow answering.
New Skill Unlocked: Covenant Flamecall
✦ Effect: Summon binding flames that shatter divine contracts
✦ Cooldown: 3 min
She burned through his magic with her vowfire.
She shouted his name.
And Ardan—once her lover, now her judge—burned.
He fell into ash.
And from his remains, the third anchor rose: a black flame orb, pulsing with the memory of every vow Ashara had ever spoken.
System Update:
✦ Third Anchor Secured
✦ Divine Threat: Imminent
✦ Warning: Celestial Inquisitor En Route
Ezekiel was bleeding.
Caelum had scorched burns along his ribs.
Ashara stood between them, hand still smoking from the vow.
And she whispered:
"Only one anchor left."
The tower began to collapse.