The Council Chamber of House Eldemar was nothing like Aaron had imagined.
It was neither golden nor towering. Instead, it was cold—a dome of pale stone, where shadows pooled in the corners like spilled ink. Twelve chairs circled the center, each occupied by a cloaked figure. Their faces were hidden behind masks of glass and silver.
Each mask reflected the fire in the middle of the room—a blue flame that hovered above a stone pedestal.
Frankfurt stood beside Aaron but said nothing.
> "You may speak," came a voice from one of the masks. Genderless. Toneless.
Aaron stepped forward. The floor beneath his boots echoed like a funeral bell.
> "You invited me," Aaron said evenly. "So here I am. Say what you need to."
There was a pause. Then another voice, this one sharp like broken glass:
> "You carry the Skyborn flame."
> "You've awakened something we buried a generation ago."
> "That makes you a threat."
---
🧠 A Game of Words
Aaron didn't flinch.
> "Maybe I am. But you summoned me, not the other way around."
One of the masks leaned forward.
> "We wanted to see if you're still... moldable."
Another added:
> "Or if the fire has claimed your mind."
> "Have you seen the Prophet of Ash?"
Aaron's hands clenched.
> "Yes," he said. "He offered me lies. I answered with flame."
Silence. A ripple of whispers behind masks.
Then the eldest among them—a mask cracked down the middle—spoke:
> "Your existence is no longer an accident. It is a consequence."
> "Will you kneel to the throne, Aaron Hotveil?"
---
🔥 A Choice Not Made
Aaron looked at each mask, one by one. He saw no faces. Only fear pretending to be power.
> "I don't kneel to fire," he said. "I am fire. You buried my name once. That won't happen again."
A gust of blue flame erupted from his palm—not as a threat, but as a promise.
The masks did not move. But the fire in the center of the room pulsed brighter, as if it recognized its kin.
---
🕯️ After the Trial
Back in the corridors, Frankfurt exhaled slowly.
> "That could've gone worse."
Aaron's voice was distant. "It will."
> "Why?"
> "Because they're not done testing me."
He looked at his own reflection in the glass of the hall.
> "And next time… they won't use words."