Not every chain is forged from iron. Some are forged from oaths, from secrets, from the hunger of gods.
Kael receives a gilded envelope, sealed with the Trifold Sigil of the Aurorium Crown. It is an invitation—but in truth, a summons—to attend the Feast of Chains, an ancient ritualistic banquet once used by god-kings to display control over divine-blooded vassals.
Held once every century, the Feast marks the unspoken understanding: that no one rises above the Crown without its blessing.
Kael knows it's a trap.
But refusing would trigger immediate excommunication from the Academy and license the noble houses to declare him a renegade.
So he goes.
The Feast takes place in the Hall of Eternities, an ethereal chamber carved from star-marble and floating roots of the Everpine Tree, which touches the heavens and feeds off the souls of forgotten kings.
Present are the seven great houses, veiled diplomats from the Duskwreathed Courts, godbound scholars of the Obsidian Convocation, and emissaries from the lost desert empire of Akkar En-Kharr, who wear masks of sunstone and speak only in riddles.
Even Chancellor Ygreth is here—an enforcer of balance between divine power and mortal law.
Kael walks in with Lia at his side and the Mindthorn shard hidden beneath his skin. His pulse burns with restraint.
"They don't want to kill you tonight," Lia whispers. "They want to own you."
The centerpiece of the feast is a ritual called The Unbreaking Chain.
Each guest, upon drinking from the Vow Chalice, must speak a truth—any truth—binding their words to the Chains of Aetherium, invisible links that wrap around the soul, marking its obedience to the realm's collective memory.
It is said that those who lie during the ritual lose their ability to speak—forever.
Kael watches as dukes, sorcerer-princes, and godlings drink and confess:
Duke Rhallor: "I killed my brother to keep my lands."
Lady Serathe: "I've consorted with void entities to bear power."
Chancellor Ygreth: "We have always known Kael's bloodline."
The room turns cold.
Kael drinks.
And says:
"I am the heir of the first betrayal. And I remember what they tried to erase."
The chains bind—but do not shackle.
Instead, they recoil.
The truth burns through them.
Suddenly, a hidden circle beneath the banquet table activates—etched in soulstone and fueled by the guests' vows.
Kael is trapped in a Crownbinding Matrix, a spell-weave meant to pierce divine inheritance and transfer it to a new vessel.
Their plan: steal Kael's godflame and infuse it into Prince Caevan, the Aurorium heir.
But they've underestimated him.
The Mindthorn awakens.
Kael inverts the binding: instead of his power leaking away, the matrix pulls from the truth around him.
The banquet guests' secrets flood into Kael—memories, betrayals, bloodlines hidden for centuries.
In a moment of terrifying clarity, Kael sees it all:
The Nameless One was once Vaelorian.
House Aurorium was forged through a pact with a dying god who demanded the memory of his name be erased.
The Obsidian Convocation has been harvesting divine souls to forge anti-shards—twisted reflections of the Bone Crown.
Kael breaks the matrix with a single word he was never meant to remember.
"Daevaur."
The banquet hall explodes into silence.
Prince Caevan is left trembling, the spell having scorched his own soul.
Kael stands surrounded by the broken links of the Unbreaking Chain. The hall stares in horror—and awe.
He has not only survived.
He has turned a ritual of obedience into one of declaration.
"I am not your pawn. I am not your heir. I am your reckoning."
The Feast of Chains becomes the Night of Fire-Speared Truths in future ballads.
Some call him a rebel.
Others a god returned.
But none forget the look in Kael's eyes as he walked out, leaving behind flames that refused to die.
In the days that follow:
House Aurorium declares a state of holy emergency.
House Vaeldra offers Kael an alliance—and a sword forged from frozen fate.
The Mind-Eaters send their first emissary to the realm… in the shape of a boy who speaks backwards and bleeds thoughts.
And deep within Kael's soul, the third shard of the Bone Crown whispers:
"Four more. And you shall remember the world as it was—before kings, before crowns, before chains."