Kael didn't remember running—only the aftermath.
Mud caked his legs. Cuts streaked his palms. At some point, he'd fallen. Maybe more than once. Now he was here—leaned against the roots of a petrified tree at the edge of a narrow, cracked bridge suspended over a gorge of churning smoke and bone.
Ashbone Crossing. The name drifted into his mind without permission.
He didn't know if it was his memory or the System's.
He closed his eyes, trying to steady his breathing.
But he could still feel it—that presence back in the Vale.
Not rage. Not even hatred.
Something worse.
Knowing.
He gripped his temples.
"Who the hell are you?" he muttered to himself. "Who was I?"
The System crackled faintly in response.
[System Recovery in Progress...]Cognitive sync: unstable. Emotional variance: excessive. Recalibrating...…Recalibration failed.
Kael scoffed bitterly. "Helpful."
A pause.
Then, for the first time since awakening, the System hesitated.
...We didn't expect you to wake up this early.
Kael froze. "We?"
No answer.
Just static.Then silence.
The wind shifted.
Somewhere behind him, the echo of a footstep—real or imagined—made the hairs on his neck rise.
Kael stood, eyes scanning the ruined bridge ahead. It was narrow, brittle. Beneath it, a canyon of skeletal remains churned in slow spirals, as if gravity itself had forgotten what to do with the dead.
He stepped onto the crossing.
The wood beneath his feet groaned.
Halfway across, he stopped.
There.On the far end.
A figure.
Draped in light leather and crimson-gray fabrics, cloak fluttering in the wind. A staff was slung across their back, and a metallic shard shimmered in their palm. Their face was hidden beneath a hood.
Alive.
Not an Echo. Not a ghost. Not a memory.
Kael's throat dried. "Hey!"
The figure turned slightly, as if surprised, but did not run. Did not approach.
Just watched.
Then—fire.
Not from Kael. From them.
The shard in their hand pulsed once, and a spear of raw kinetic energy shot toward the bridge's edge. Wood splintered. Chains groaned. The crossing buckled.
Kael leapt backward just as the far half collapsed into the abyss.
Ashbone Crossing fell.
The figure disappeared into the fog without a word.
Kael scrambled to his feet on the near side, breath ragged.
"Why?" he yelled. "I'm not your enemy—!"
But only smoke answered.
[Unknown Ember Signature Detected. Registry absent. Classification: Rogue Flame.]
Note: Not all survivors are allies. Some burn for themselves.
Kael clenched his jaw.
He looked down into the pit. Bones churned like water. Somewhere in the depths, something screamed.
He turned away.
New objective unlocked:"Pursue the Rogue Flame through the Scarred Hollow."Ember Sync: 19%. Flame Reave upgraded. Cooldown: 10s.
Kael didn't move yet.
He looked back once more—toward the Vale, toward Crownshatter. Then toward the vanishing figure.
This world wanted him to be something.
A weapon. A memory. A king. A sacrifice.
But Kael wasn't sure yet what he wanted to be.
And that terrified him more than the dead.