Location: Threshold of the Inner Womb – Below the Ashlands
POV: Caelis Thorne
The air sizzled with madness.
Every stone they stepped on bled molten heat. Every breath was like inhaling judgment. But Caelis and his army pressed deeper—into the scorched womb of a god gone rogue.
Behind him, thousands moved with grim resolve. Not soldiers—avengers.
The broken. The burned. The betrayed.
And in front of them stood a wall of fire unlike anything even Caelis—blood-sworn warrior of two wars—had ever seen.
---
The Flameborn
They rose from the lava like ghosts with bones of ember.
Guardians forged by Vauryx's own will—soulless husks of warriors long dead, animated by wrath and chained to the tyrant's power.
They had no eyes, only gaping mouths spitting sparks and swords that screamed in their wielder's absence.
The first clash was silence.
Then hell.
Caelis drove his blade into the first Flameborn, the steel ringing with agony as it sank through molten muscle.
"Push forward!" he shouted.
Seris summoned a ring of frost around them, struggling to contain the heat. Her magic hissed and cracked, barely holding.
"They're feeding off the sanctum!" she gasped.
"Then we cut the source," Caelis growled.
---
Ashren's Reach
Far below, Ashren felt them.
Their presence ignited something in him—a second wind not born of fire, but of hope.
He stretched out a hand mid-fight, Vauryx lunging toward him with burning talons.
Ashren whispered a single word:
"Caelis."
And a ripple of silver light exploded upward.
---
The Turning Point
The Flameborn stopped mid-strike.
Staggered.
Some shattered.
Some screamed.
Ashren's memory flame was interfering—breaking the link between tyrant and puppet.
Seris took the chance. She launched a wave of frostfire, freezing a dozen Flameborn in place.
Caelis didn't hesitate. "Move!"
The army surged forward, cutting through the flickering guardians like waves through dying flame.
They were inside.
Inside the heart of Vauryx's sanctuary.
And one level above the final confrontation.
---
Final Scene – Doors of Bone and Fire
The path narrowed to a gate of obsidian ribs, pulsing with heat. A heartbeat echoed behind them—a sound both living and ancient.
Caelis stepped forward, bloodied but blazing.
"Time to end this."
Seris placed a hand on the gate.
"He's waiting."
They pushed.
The doors opened.
And inside, the fire raged without shape.