Awakening of Frostgrave
Somewhere far from the rust and rot of the Iron Wastes, high above the mountains of the north, the world held its breath.
A great seal cracked.
A vault of ice split open.
And from within stepped a girl wrapped in silence.
Her white hair fell in perfect strands down to her knees. Her skin shimmered like crystal beneath moonlight. She wore no armor, no crown. Only the brand of a Sovereign glowing blue across her collarbone — frozen, but pulsing now.
"Flame has stirred," she whispered."The Heart beats again."
Behind her, ancient machines sputtered to life.A giant archive reactivated for the first time in a thousand cycles.Data began pouring through the walls in freezing script.
NAME:Sovereign of StillnessDesignation: Shard-Bearer 2 of 4Status:Awakening complete.
She stepped barefoot across the frost-covered floor of her sanctum.
Each footstep bloomed in perfect snowflakes.
"I remember the war," she said softly."I remember how he chose the fire over us all."Her eyes glowed pale with sorrow... and hatred.
Then she turned.
"Prepare the frostbound legions.""We march south."
Back in the Iron Wastes, Vaelith jolted awake.
His flame pulsed in panic.
"Host alert: Incoming Sovereign Signature detected.""Distance: 14,800 ticks. Direction: North.""Classification: Sovereign Class — Ice Tier."
Vaelith sat up, drenched in sweat despite the cold air.
"She's awake," he murmured.
He didn't know how he knew.
But he felt her.
Somewhere out there, something once bound to him — now moving toward him with the fury of frozen time.
He stood slowly.
No more hesitation.
No more hiding.
"Then let her come."
He summoned a flicker of red fire to his palm.
The flame responded instantly — warmer, sharper, and more focused.
"Let's see which burns brighter," he whispered, "ice or reborn flame."
___
The Map That Bleeds
Elyra tossed a faded map across the rusted table.
"Three days from here," she said flatly, pointing to a red-marked ruin near the map's northern edge. "Old temple. Sealed. Broken. But if your instincts are right, the next shard may react from there."
Vaelith studied the route.
Jagged terrain. Ruins overrun by scavenger guilds. Cold winds from the North Verge.
And now… her.
The Ice Sovereign.
"Do I know her?" he asked quietly.
Elyra hesitated. Her fingers drummed once on the table, before she spoke:
"You called her Kaelis.""She was the Sovereign of Stillness. The last to fall during the Great Collapse."
"And now she remembers," Vaelith murmured.
"Worse," Elyra corrected. "She hasn't forgotten."
Outside the shack, stormwinds howled.
But the boy wasn't afraid.
Not anymore.
The system pinged again.
[Flame Core Log]
Sovereign Signature: Kaelis of FrostgraveStatus: ActiveEmotional Affinity: HostileShard Synchronization: 21%Predicted Memory Overlap: 36%Past Bond: Sovereign Pact - Broken
Vaelith stared at the words Past Bond – Broken.
A whisper flickered in the back of his mind:
Her voice, laughing. Her fingers in the snow. The moment she turned away from the flame…
He touched his chest.
That memory hadn't come from the system.
It came from him.
"She's coming," he said aloud.
Elyra nodded. "Then we have two choices. Run. Or reach the next fragment first."
Vaelith stood, eyes burning.
"Then we run toward her."
In Frostgrave, Kaelis stood at the head of a frozen balcony.
Her soldiers—silent, faceless—stood in perfect rows of froststeel.
She raised her hand, and the winds obeyed.
"We find him," she said coldly."And when I look into his eyes… I will see whether anything of Vaelith remains—""—or only the monster who chose fire over us all."
Her breath crystallized in the air.
___
The Path Between Realms
The wind turned colder long before they reached the North Verge.
Vaelith pulled the cloak tighter around his shoulders, boots crunching over frost-laced gravel. Steam rose from his skin, not from warmth—but from the imbalance between fire and this cursed land.
Elyra walked ahead, her steps silent, blade strapped across her back like a promise.
They said nothing for miles.
Until—
"You're burning more than you realize," she said finally.
Vaelith looked up. "What do you mean?"
She didn't stop walking. "You're leaking flame essence. It's waking things."
He frowned. "You mean Kaelis?"
"No," she said, sharper now. "I mean this realm. The old machines. The dormant sensors. The ones built to detect us."
As if summoned by her words, the system blinked.
"WARNING: Realm Patrol detected. Affiliation: Vireon Guild – Sub-Lord to Realm Aetheris.""Orders: Exterminate sovereign fragments on contact."
Vaelith stopped. "They found us."
"No," Elyra said, unsheathing her blade. "We found them."
Ahead, in the snowfield below a crumbling monorail bridge, six armored figures stood in formation.
Their armor was painted silver-black, marked with the sigil of a falcon pierced by three swords — the crest of Vireon, one of the many minor factions clawing for favor with the Realm Lords.
At their center, a man stood taller than the rest — bare-faced, clean-shaved, with a scar running from his forehead to his lip.
He grinned.
"What fortune. I was told to expect scavengers. But here we have a myth."
His eyes locked on Vaelith.
"Tell me, boy. Is it true what the Reapers say? That your soul once broke the sky?"
Vaelith didn't answer.
Elyra raised her weapon. "We don't want blood."
The man laughed.
"Then you came to the wrong realm."
The clash began with fire and frost colliding on stone.
Vaelith's core surged as three Vireon soldiers charged. He pivoted back, letting Elyra move first — her blade flashing silver, cutting with elegance, not fury.
But they were outnumbered. And one of the soldiers activated a rune grenade—blasting Vaelith off balance and into the snow.
"System compromised: Flame Sync dropping."
He gasped, choking on frost.
A shadow loomed over him — one of the armored men raising a hammer.
Vaelith's eyes glowed again.
"Ignite."
The snow exploded.
Flames roared upward, vaporizing the soldier's hammer, armor, and half his body in a single vertical column of heat.
Elyra flinched back. The remaining soldiers froze.
Even the squad leader stopped smiling.
Vaelith rose slowly, flame licking across his shoulders, his breath glowing like coal.
"I didn't come to fight," he said quietly.
"But I'm tired of being hunted."
__
The Ember and the Falcon
The battlefield was quiet now.
Four of the Vireon Guild soldiers lay motionless — their armor twisted, scorched beyond recognition. The snow around them hissed and steamed, refusing to melt, yet never freezing again.
Elyra stood beside Vaelith, blade dripping mana.
The squad leader—the one with the scar—remained.
He knelt slowly, blood at his lips. A smirk still clung to his face.
"So... it's true then," he rasped. "The Heart of Flame… survived the Collapse."
Vaelith didn't answer. He only watched.
"You should've stayed forgotten, Sovereign," the man coughed, "because they'll come now. Not scouts. Not Reapers. But the ones who remember your throne."
He reached for a detonator rune at his belt.
Elyra moved—but too late.
Click.
A pulse of dark light exploded around him—black mana designed to erase memory signatures.
When the smoke cleared, only dust remained.
Silence.
Then the system pinged.
"External interference detected.""Vault fragment identified: 11.3 km north-east. Sealed by Sovereign-class sigil.""Warning: Guardian presence confirmed."
Vaelith exhaled. "Guardian?"
Elyra narrowed her eyes. "Some of the shards… were protected. Bound to sentient relics that refused to die, even after the Sovereigns fell."
"And this one?"
She looked at him, voice grave.
"This one guards the Vault of the Forgotten Choir.""A place where even Kaelis... never dared to enter."
High above, frost howled from a distant peak.
Kaelis stood at a cliff's edge, her cloak dancing in the wind. Her scouts returned from the south — one injured, the other too shaken to speak.
She didn't need words.
The flames she once knew had returned.
But so had the war.
___