The world had grown colder.
Not from winter's breath, but from something far older—the kind of cold that whispers into bone and eats the names off tombstones.
Duskwatch Hollow was not a place on any map.
It was a memory of a war the Moonborn had tried to erase.
And now, Kael was walking into its heart.
---
The Journey into Ice
Three days across the Ashlands, six over the Bloodspine Mountains, and now a descent into the glacier tombs.
Kael, Lina, Sylah, and Drayk traveled by clawfoot beast, their steps crunching over brittle snow stained gray by ash winds.
No birds sang here.
No stars pierced the clouded skies.
Only silence and whispers.
Drayk adjusted his cloak. "Are we sure the Shadowflame still exists?"
"It's not a flame," Lina replied, voice tight. "It's a wound in magic. An echo that refused to die."
Kael said nothing.
He had felt it for miles—the pull. Like his flame was being called… or challenged.
---
Duskwatch Hollow
They reached the mouth of the Hollow by dusk.
Jagged black ice formed the skeletal remains of a once-great temple, shattered spires curled inward like claws.
The wind here didn't howl—it hissed, as if warning them away.
Kael stepped forward and pressed his palm to the entrance rune.
It pulsed faintly.
Then the ice parted.
A low growl echoed from within.
Kael drew the Fang of Varok and stepped inside.
---
The Forgotten Flame
They descended into chambers lit only by pale-blue crystal veins. Runes long forgotten flickered along the walls, each one humming with dead magic.
At the lowest floor, a pool of solid ice held something inside—a black flickering shape suspended like an insect in amber.
"The Shadowflame," Lina whispered.
Kael stepped closer.
It pulsed at his presence.
Then… it moved.
Not the flame.
> The ice.
---
The Howl
It began like a tremor.
Then the ice cracked.
Not from heat—but from something inside.
A claw burst through the center.
Then another.
Kael leapt back as the pool exploded in shards, revealing a monstrous beast:
> A werewolf—twice Kael's size, made of ice, bone, and shadowfire—its eyes glowing a hateful red.
Sylah shouted, "What is that?!"
Drayk unsheathed his axe. "That's not a Revenant. That's older…"
The beast lunged.
Kael dodged and struck with the Fang of Varok—but it absorbed the blow, flames flickering harmlessly against its body.
> "It's absorbing the flame!" Lina screamed.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
"It's not here to kill me."
> "It's here to feed."
---
The Frozen Duel
The monster moved with unnatural speed, forcing Kael to unleash the Ascendant Flame fully.
His body flared with silver fire.
The Hollow shook.
He met the beast blow for blow—claws against claw, light against void.
But the more he fought, the more the creature adapted.
It began mirroring his moves.
Sylah joined the fray, slashing at its limbs, while Lina chanted a binding spell. Drayk struck with thunder-infused steel, cracking its hide.
Still, the creature did not fall.
Then Kael saw it.
The brand on its chest.
The same rune burned into his palm when he unsealed his father's scroll.
> "This thing was bound here by the Pact!" Kael realized.
> "It's a guardian!"
---
The Choice
Lina screamed, "It won't die unless the pact is broken!"
Kael stepped forward.
Chest heaving.
"Then let it break."
He threw down the Fang.
He let go of the flame.
And walked toward the creature barehanded.
It snarled—then froze.
The flames in its chest flickered and dimmed.
Kael pressed his burning palm to its heart.
> "I free you," he said.
The creature roared—then shattered into a thousand shards of burning ice.
The room fell silent.
In the center of the crater hovered a fragment of pure black fire.
Kael reached out.
And touched it.
---
The Black Ember
The flame didn't burn.
It… spoke.
A single word.
> "Revenant."
Kael gasped.
And opened his eyes to darkness.
He stood alone in an astral void.
Before him stood his sister—the Eclipse Queen—eyes hollow, her mouth
sewn shut by shadow threads.
Behind her…
A throne made of the bones of Kael's bloodline.
And seated on it…
The Revenant King.
He smiled.
> "You've taken my fire, little wolf."
> "Now I will take your soul."