Ashes of the crown

POV: Ariya 🔥🗝️🌀

The vault door wasn't hidden.It wanted to be found.

Carved into the base of a blackened cliff, the stone entrance loomed tall and curved, marked by twin sigils — one flame, one frost — tangled together like vines in battle.

Ariya's mark glowed the moment she stepped closer.

The others followed in silence. Even Jax didn't crack a joke.

"This place feels wrong," Lyra murmured, brushing dust from the inscription. "Like the air itself remembers screaming."

Kael's eyes never left Ariya. "Are you sure you want to open it?"

She nodded slowly, her fingers tightening around the hilt of her blade — not because she expected to fight, but because holding something real steadied her.

"I think… it's already calling me."

Ariya stepped forward and placed her hand flat against the door.

The moment her skin touched the stone, the sigils flared — gold and icy blue — and the ground beneath them rumbled like a living creature waking from a centuries-long sleep.

"Ariya, back up!" Kael warned.

But it was too late.

The stone shimmered. The world twisted.

And Ariya was gone.

She blinked.

She was standing inside the vault — only it wasn't ruined.

It was alive.

Torches burned with golden light. Banners fluttered from the ceiling. Warriors in armor bowed their heads in a circle, chanting.

And in the center stood… her.

Or someone with her face.

Eira.

Only this time, Ariya wasn't watching.

She was her.

Her hands bore flame-touched gauntlets. Her braid was silver and red. And standing at her side was—

"Prince Ruvan."

Her heart stopped.

He looked… younger. Softer. But still him — the same storm-gray eyes, the same sharp posture. He held a blade of frost at her shoulder, not as a threat — but in some sort of ritual.

"With this vow," he said, "I guard you until flame becomes ash."

Eira's voice echoed through Ariya's throat.

"And I accept your vow — not as queen, nor weapon, but as ally."

Their hands touched.

The room flared white.

Ariya stumbled backward — yanked from the vision as if thrown through water.

She hit the real stone floor of the vault hard, coughing, her head spinning.

Kael was beside her instantly, helping her sit up. "You vanished for almost a minute! What happened?!"

She clutched her head. "I saw the vault… when it was whole. I saw her again. But this time… Ruvan was there. Not as an enemy. As her sworn protector."

The others stared at her.

"Wait," Jax said, stunned. "Ruvan? As in frost prince, trauma maker, crown-and-glare Ruvan?"

"Yes," Ariya whispered. "He wasn't lying to her. He was loyal."

"That makes no sense," Lyra said, frowning. "You're saying he's hundreds of years old?"

"Or he's connected to someone who was," Ariya murmured. "Or he's been playing a longer game than we ever imagined."

Kael's jaw clenched. "So what now?"

She looked toward the vault, which had now slowly opened.

Inside was darkness.

But it wasn't empty.

"Now," Ariya said, rising to her feet, "we find out why he turned on her. And what that means for me."

Far away, Ruvan sat in a frostlit chamber, turning a shard of memory glass in his fingers.

He watched the image of young Eira — her eyes blazing, her hand in his.

Corven entered silently.

"She saw it, didn't she?" Corven asked.

Ruvan nodded. "She saw who I was."

"That wasn't the plan."

"No," Ruvan said. "But maybe… she needs to see what I lost."

He closed his hand around the glass.

"Before I take it from her again."