Roen stood in the remnants of his prison, breath fogging the chilled air, shackles broken and frost clinging to his hair like a crown. The tower had not expected him to wake so soon—or with such fury.
The moment his name had returned, so had his fire.
He stepped barefoot across the ice, unbothered by the cold. The void still pressed against the walls like a curious tide, but it recoiled from him now. Fire had memory. And Roen's fire burned with old vengeance.
A series of metal doors led upward—he could feel the weak points in them, like ribs waiting to crack.
He clenched his fists. The air shimmered.
With a cry, he struck the first door. Flame lanced through it like a thunderbolt.
The tower stirred.
---
Miles south, Aeren stirred in his sleep again. This time it was not a vision from the Heart—but from the Flame. He saw Roen walking across a glacier, fire curling around his hands. He saw the tower's spire crack, just slightly. He saw Aris smiling.
He awoke with a start.
"Elira!"
She was already awake, sword in hand. "You saw it too?"
He nodded. "He's loose. The one in the cage."
"Then we're out of time."
Veylan, already packing supplies in silence, looked up. "He's not our enemy. Not yet."
"Do you know him?" Elira asked.
"I knew his brother." Veylan's expression was unreadable. "They called him 'The Ember Son.' One of the only ones who resisted the Crown's blood-binding ritual."
Aeren's eyes narrowed. "You said he was dangerous."
Veylan nodded. "He is. But dangerous doesn't mean wrong."
---
Roen reached the surface of the tower.
The spire opened into a hall of broken mirrors, each reflecting fragments of past and future. One showed Aeren's face. Another, Aris as a child, hands trembling. A third showed Roen, kneeling in a field of ash, his hands covered in blood not his own.
He turned from them.
Aris waited by a window of cracked crystal.
"You always come back angry," she said.
He said nothing.
"You remember what they did to you. And yet you still burn."
"I burn," Roen said quietly, "because you let them."
Aris did not flinch.
"I didn't let them," she said. "I survived them."
Roen took a step forward. "You could have freed me sooner."
"I needed you to choose to wake up."
"And what do you need now?"
Aris smiled, gently. "I need you to remember the oath we took beneath the Wyrm Tree."
Roen froze.
A memory broke through: two children swearing a bond under a tree of fireflies, promising to destroy the chains of the Crown.
"You twisted it," he said.
"I refined it." Her eyes gleamed. "Together, we can end it. For real this time."
Roen hesitated. Fire licked at his heels.
He did not say yes.
He did not say no.
Aris turned away. "Then go. Find your answers. But you'll be back."
And she vanished into the shadows.
---
The trio from Mornhollow reached the glacier shelf by dusk. Below them, in the valley, the tower stood crooked and steaming.
"Elira," Aeren said, eyes narrowed, "do you feel that?"
She nodded. "The ley lines are pulling inward. Like something is drawing in magic from everywhere."
"The Hollow Crown is waking up."
Veylan stepped forward, his breath visible. "We need to get in before it completes whatever it started. The shard she has—it's not just a weapon. It's a seed."
Aeren looked at him. "A seed for what?"
Veylan didn't answer.
Because behind them, the wind changed.
And a figure of flame and shadow stepped from the snow.
Roen.
He looked at them with eyes like twin storms.
"I remember you," he said to Aeren. "You're the one the Heart chose."
"And you're the one who nearly burned down the Academy during the first siege," Aeren replied cautiously.
Roen smiled faintly. "Nice to be remembered."
Elira took a cautious step forward. "Are you with Aris?"
Roen was quiet for a long moment.
"I'm with no one. Not anymore."
He looked past them, toward the tower.
"But if we don't stop her… there won't be anything left to be with."
A cold wind howled between them.
And the unlikely alliance began to form.