The silver branches swayed without wind.
The pool at the center of the ancient plain shimmered—not with water, but with memory made visible.
Each of the Flamebearers stood before it…And each one saw themselves.
But first, something stirred in the roots of the tree.
🪨 The Buried Relic
Alari approached, drawn to the base of the tree.A soft hum echoed from beneath the soil—like a name being spoken over and over in silence.
She knelt.Touched the ground.
And the roots pulled back.
There, buried in the earth, was a single object:
A fractured medallion, shaped like a wing wrapped around a sun.
The sigil was ancient… but unmistakable.
Kael's breath caught:
"That's not Elarion's mark."
Vaelrix whispered:
"It's his... brother's."
🧩 The Forgotten Sigil of Lioren
Burned into the reverse of the medallion was a single word—written in the original Celestine tongue:
"Still."
Kael translated aloud, reverent.
"It means: I remain… even if unspoken."
The moment the word left his lips, the pool rippled.
And their reflections shifted.
🔥 Their Reflections in the Pool of Memory
Each Flamebearer stepped to the edge.One by one, the pool whispered the grief they hadn't said aloud.
🏹 Seren's Grief: "Why Me?"
She saw herself holding her brother's hand…as the fire took him.
She begged the light to save him.It didn't.
"Why me?" her reflection sobbed."Why am I the one who survived?"
A voice from behind her—gentle, her own:
"You survived… because you were the one who would remember."
Seren wept, but didn't turn away.
🕯️ Kael's Grief: "What If I'm Wrong?"
His reflection stood alone in a collapsing library.Pages turned to ash. Words faded.
"What if all I've said… was never true?"
Then a single book opened.
Inside:The names of everyone he'd saved with a whisper, with a choice, with a word of love.
"You speak truth not because it is perfect…But because it tries."
🐉 Vaelrix's Grief: "I Was Never Enough"
He saw two worlds before him.
One of dragons. One of men.
And he stood between them, wings stretched, and neither world opened its arms.
"You're not one of us," both sides said.
Then Elarion's voice—soft, distant:
"You are not made to fit in either world.You are made to bridge them."
And his wings glowed faintly—not with fire, but with purpose.
👧 Alari: "I Am Not Me"
She stood in her own memory… but her shadow was too large.Lioren's voice echoed within.
"I did not mean to become what I became.""But I fear you will forget yourself… in trying to remember me."
Alari whispered back:
"Then let me carry you.Not as you are now.But as you were… when you still believed."
And the shadow grew smaller.
Her own reflection finally smiled.
🌠 They Rise
When each of them stepped away from the pool, they were quiet.
Not broken.
Not whole.
But known.
Kael tucked the broken sigil into his pouch.Seren said a quiet prayer.Vaelrix finally exhaled.
And Alari looked to the sky and whispered:
"I won't forget you, Lioren.But I will not lose myself."