The morning came late. A pale light trickled into the ancient crypt library where I'd slept—if it could be called sleep.
Vel Eshra sat silently across from me, brushing dust off an old map of the estate. Her expression was unreadable, her gloved fingers moving slowly over ink faded by centuries.
"You weren't supposed to survive the resonance," she said.
"Thanks?" I replied.
She didn't laugh.
> [Kael Virdane – Status Stable]
Trait [Dream-Echo Instinct] Integration 24%
Potential Surge Detected
"What is it doing to me?" I asked.
"Waking you up. You were meant to be a passive thread in this world. But something rejected that fate."
Before I could reply, a distant chime rang through the stone walls. Vel's expression sharpened.
"The Archives," she said. "Your house has a vault of ancestral memories. And it's unlocking."
We moved quickly through hidden corridors beneath House Virdane. The air grew colder, older. We passed ancient murals—some showing heroes, others sealed over with blackened metal plates.
Vel traced a glyph into the air. The wall in front of us dissolved into stardust.
A massive chamber waited beyond. Spiral stairs descended into shadow, and countless memory crystals floated like stars in orbit.
One of them pulsed.
> [GENETIC MATCH: 98%]
Ancestral Memory Accessing: Arcel Virdane, The Ninth Flamebearer
I stepped forward.
And the world shattered.
---
A battlefield of green fire. Armies clashed beneath shattered moons. At the center stood a knight wreathed in blazing flame that wept black smoke.
He turned.
His face was mine.
> "Kaeltharin!" he shouted.
Glyphs ignited across my skin. My chest split with pain. My mind filled with voices in languages I didn't know.
> [SYSTEM UPDATE: Trait Acquired – Flame of the Ninth]
Class Path Fragment Found: Pyro-Echo Heir (Fragmented)
Warning: Class Evolution Conflict Detected
Vel pulled me back before the memory consumed me entirely.
"Too much at once will shatter you," she said. "Kaeltharin wasn't just a name. It was a mark. A role. A curse."
I dropped to the floor, panting, smoke rising from my hands.
"Who... was he?" I asked.
Vel hesitated. "He was your ancestor. Or perhaps something older. He was the first to defy the original gods. And he paid for it."
> [Hidden Record Unlocked]
Name: Kaeltharin the Ash-Soul
Race: Flamebound Echo
Class: Worldburner (Erased)
Last Known Status: Sealed in Temporal Tomb, Moon of Gaerid
I could feel Kaeltharin's rage in my bones. It wasn't just fire—it was grief, betrayal, and wrath chained in time.
"What does this mean for me?" I asked.
Vel's eyes narrowed. "It means you are no longer unseen."
Outside the chamber, an explosion shook the ground. Dust rained from above.
"Someone else is here," Vel whispered.
A screech echoed down the halls. Not human. Not beast. It felt like metal grinding on memory.
> [WARNING: Dungeon Guardian Activated]
Entity Class: Forgotten Mechanarch
Threat Level: High – Non-System Hostile Detected
We ran. The crystals dimmed behind us. The halls howled with static.
And deep inside me, something smiled.