When power awakens, the world must choose: fear it, seal it… or kneel before it.
At dawn, black-robed Custodians arrive in Kael's dorm, their faces masked with emotionless porcelain. One holds a scroll wrapped in bone silk:
"By decree of the Council of Nine Pillars, Kael Vaelorian is to appear at Firstlight before the Great Tribunal, charged with:
Tampering with sealed ancestral rites
Binding soul-fragments of godkind
Entering cursed grounds without sanction
Disturbing the Balance of Flame and Dust
Reviving the Line of Velcarion without authorization"
Kael is led through secret tunnels under Aurorium to the Vault of Judgment, a subterranean amphitheater sealed from divine observation. Only truth, memory, and flame may speak there.
Lia and Riven are barred from entering.
Riven shouts, "They think they can silence the storm. But the storm has a name."
The Tribunal chamber is vast and circular, each of the Nine Pillars seated upon thrones carved from the bones of extinct divine beasts. Each member represents an Order:
Flamesaint Pyrael of the Fire Doctrine
High Oracle Senethi of the Moonblood Line
Ephraex the Pale, Keeper of Death's Silence
Master Chronier of the Timebound Scroll
Lady Umbrey, Voice of the Forgotten Night
Archblade Vos Talren of the Wyrmsworn Legion
Seer-Angel Maltheriel, Eyes of the Higher Flame
Magister Klyven of the Iron Oath
And Vorian Caelstrom, acting arbitrator.
The atmosphere crackles. Time slows. The Tribunal begins.
Vorian reads aloud:
"This trial is not to determine Kael's guilt — he is guilty. It is to determine whether he remains among us… or is returned to dust."
Each Pillar speaks in turn, citing evidence of Kael's "crimes":
Pyrael: "He wears the Bone Crown's mark. The dead bow to him."
Senethi: "Seralyth's flame flickers in his chest. That goddess was struck from history for a reason."
Chronier: "He moves outside time's will. This cannot be allowed."
Maltheriel: "He is not a man. He is a convergence."
Kael stands silent, gaze unwavering.
Vorian turns to him. "You may speak. But know: a lie will scorch your tongue. A truth will bind your soul."
Kael steps into the center. Flames rise around him — not to harm, but to record. Every word he says will become permanent record in the Vault of World-Fire.
"You fear me because I remember what you buried.
You call me a threat because I carry a name you erased. Seralyth.
You burned her temples. You slaughtered her worshipers. You fragmented her soul. And you crowned men like Velcarion to do it."
A stunned silence.
Kael raises his hand, and the ring of Velcarion glows. The Bone Crown's voice echoes:
"He speaks truth. And if truth burns the world… so be it."
Kael continues.
"You speak of balance. But it was never balance you kept. It was silence. I won't be your secret."
Arguments erupt.
Pyrael demands Kael be sealed in the Iron Library — a prison beyond time.
Umbrey suggests Kael be studied, dissected, understood.
Vos Talren offers to train Kael as a Wyrmblade. "Let him burn enemies instead of truths."
Senethi wishes to erase him altogether.
Ephraex remains silent — but his skeletal owl stares at Kael, unblinking.
Vorian stands.
"There is another option. Let the old power rise. Let it challenge what we've become. If Kael is the flame we fear… then perhaps it is because we are too dry with rot."
Votes are cast.
It ends in a tie.
Vorian, as arbitrator, casts the deciding vote.
He turns to Kael.
"You are released. But not free."
"You are now bound by the Rite of Witnessing. Every act, every power you call, every truth you touch — we will see it all."
As the Tribunal adjourns, a seventh echo rings in Kael's mind.
The god-fragment of Seralyth pulses.
Suddenly — the chamber quakes. A scream of raw agony erupts from the depths below.
Something has broken free.
"THEY HAVE SPOKEN HER NAME," the voice bellows. "THE FORGOTTEN SHALL RISE."
Pillars scream spells. Shields of light, time, blood, and sound rise.
Kael alone remains unmoved.
From the broken stone beneath the chamber… a shadow-cloaked figure with thirteen burning eyes crawls into the light.
A Fragment of the Nameless One — the true enemy — has awakened.
It grins at Kael.
"We've waited so long for your flame."