Chapter 17: The War Herald
Ajay stood atop the windswept ridge overlooking the dark monolith. It pulsed in the far distance like a second moon that had fallen and planted itself into the earth. Thousands of eyes embedded across its jagged face blinked in unnatural rhythm—too fast, too slow, always watching.
The word still echoed in Ajay's mind: "Ajay."
He had heard it before. Not in dreams. Not in visions. But once, long ago, when he was only a child. A nightmare that had driven him to his sister's bed in the middle of the night. He had forgotten it until now.
Selene came to his side. Her eyes weren't afraid—only sharp, calculating.
"What is it?" she asked.
Ajay didn't answer immediately. He stared at the blinking monolith. "A message. A warning. A summoning. Maybe all three."
Ruvan flew back from his scouting trip, landing beside them with a flurry of dust and crimson wings. "The monolith appeared overnight, carved straight from the earth. No magic we know. No elemental fire or bloodcraft. And..." He paused, voice tightening. "It's calling others."
"Others?" Mira echoed from the rear, her voice winded from climbing.
Kael stepped forward, staff already crackling. "Not just creatures. People. Vampires, dragons, witches, things we thought lost to time. They're all being drawn toward it."
"Why now?" Mira asked. "What does it want?"
Ajay closed his eyes. "It wants war. And I think... I think I'm the reason."
That night, they were attacked.
Not by beasts, not by soldiers. By shadows that whispered.
The wind carried voices—pleas, threats, songs. One by one, the guards of the Ember Sanctum went silent. Their fire sigils dimmed. And when the Ember Circle emerged, half the camp was frozen in place, eyes open and mouths ajar.
Kael raised his staff. "Shadowborne."
Ajay nodded grimly. These were no longer men or beasts. They were puppets of something else.
A figure stepped from the trees.
His skin was grey, veined with fire. His eyes were black voids. And on his back were wings—tattered and unnatural.
"I am Veyrith, Herald of the Chained One," he said, his voice smooth and terrible. "I come not to kill, but to deliver a truth."
Ajay stepped forward. "Speak it. And prepare to die for it."
Veyrith smiled. "You carry the First Flame. That makes you the Beacon. Our master has waited eons for such a light to rise again. So it can be devoured."
"You serve Amarika?" Mira asked.
"No," Veyrith said calmly. "Amarika was a false god. A spark left to burn too long. The Chained One is beyond gods. Beyond flame. Beyond death."
"Then why are you here?" Selene asked.
"To offer you the first choice of war: Kneel, and you shall be spared. Stand, and be extinguished."
Ajay looked around at his Circle, his friends, the few warriors who still bore living flame in their hearts.
"We are the flame," he said. "And we do not kneel."
Veyrith raised a hand.
Darkness surged.
But Ajay moved first.
With a cry of fury, he unleashed the First Flame. Golden fire roared from his chest, cutting through the shadow like a sunrise. Selene charged behind him, blades blazing. Ruvan took to the skies, raining down arcane fury.
The Herald screamed, staggered by the brilliance.
And then he vanished.
Not slain. Banished. But not for long.
The battle had shaken the Sanctum.
Ajay stood at the central hall, gripping the railing, watching warriors tend to the wounded. The reality had set in: The war was no longer theoretical. It was here.
Kael approached with new information. "Reports from the west. A flameclan was swallowed whole. Not by soldiers—by silence. They were erased."
Ajay turned to Mira. "How do we fight something that erases?"
Mira frowned. "With truth. With memory. With unity. We can't outmatch them in terror. We can only outlast them in will."
Ruvan entered next. "The dragons are restless. Some want to flee. Others speak of returning to the mountain roots to wait it out."
Ajay shook his head. "There's nowhere left to run. No safe root. No untouched sky. We have to make our stand here. And we need help."
Selene raised an eyebrow. "From who?"
Ajay's voice was quiet, but resolute. "The Forgotten Clans."
Mira gasped. "They vanished ages ago. After the First Sundering."
"But not all of them died," Ajay said. "My mother once told me stories. There were survivors who fled beyond the Veil of Dust, waiting for someone who could bring the flame to them again."
"You think they'll follow you?" Ruvan asked.
Ajay met his eyes. "I think they've been waiting for someone who remembers who we used to be. I will give them that. And if they still refuse… then I'll make them remember."
The journey beyond the Veil of Dust began at dawn.
They rode with cloaks pulled tight, fire sigils hidden, guided only by starlight and old tales. The Veil was a wasteland—endless dunes where no map worked, no compass pointed true. Only the flame within guided them.
They passed bones of creatures never named. Cities half-buried in glass. Temples made of salt. And at the center, the Sky Mirror: a massive lake of silver water, still as glass.
Ajay stepped to the edge.
His reflection didn't match him.
In the mirror, he wore black armor, and his eyes glowed red. A crown of shadow rested on his brow. It was him… twisted. Broken. Consumed.
"I won't become you," Ajay whispered.
The reflection smiled. "You already are."
Then the lake rippled—and parted.
From below emerged the Forgotten Clans. Men and women draped in ash-gray armor, eyes glowing with faint light. Their leader was a woman with silver skin and fire-white hair.
"I am Avelyn, Keeper of the Forgotten Flame," she said. "Why have you come?"
Ajay stepped forward.
"To remind you of the world you left behind. To offer you a place in the war to come. To bring your fire home."
Avelyn studied him. "And if we say no?"
Ajay held her gaze. "Then we burn alone."
Silence fell.
Then Avelyn knelt.
One by one, the Forgotten followed.
And Ajay knew:
This was how wars were won.
Not with gods.
But with people who chose to stand.
Far away, deep within the black monolith, Veyrith stood before his master—a shape of smoke and chains, barely contained.
"The boy resists," Veyrith said. "He awakens others. The Forgotten rise."
The Chained One stirred. Eyes opened. Voices wailed.
"Then we begin the Breaking. One world at a time."