Ashes of the crown

POV: Ariya 🔥🌀🕯️

The Vault of Echoes was deeper than they expected.

Ariya led the descent, torchlight flickering against stone walls carved with forgotten runes. The stairway spiraled downward like the ribs of some long-dead beast, narrowing with every step. Silence pressed on them — heavy and expectant, as if the very walls were listening.

Jax muttered behind her, "I'm not saying I'm scared… but if a dead queen rises up and asks for a dance, I'm gonna scream."

"This isn't a tomb," Lyra murmured, eyes scanning the runes. "It's a memory chamber."

"Then why does it feel like it's breathing?" Kael asked, hand resting on his blade.

Ariya didn't answer.

Because he was right.

The air here pulsed with life — faint but real. Like something had been sealed and forgotten… and now it knew she was here.

They reached a grand circular chamber, the walls etched with fire and frost intertwining — two elements battling and embracing across centuries of stone. At its center stood a glowing pedestal, holding a silver flame suspended in mid-air.

Ariya stepped closer.

The mark on her collarbone throbbed.

She touched the flame.

And the world shattered.

She stood once again in Eira's body.

The chamber was alive.

Flames roared along the walls, and warriors screamed as the vault shook.

"They've breached the outer ward!" someone shouted. "The Frost Court betrayed us!"

Eira turned — Ruvan stood across from her, eyes filled with pain.

"You said they wouldn't turn!" she cried.

"I said they shouldn't!" he shouted back.

He reached for her — but it was too late.

A massive explosion ripped through the wall, sending debris flying.

Eira fell — and the flame in her chest began to flicker.

"No," she gasped. "Not now. Not like this…"

Everything dimmed.

Ariya staggered back into her own body with a cry, falling to her knees in the present-day vault.

Kael caught her instantly. "Ariya! Talk to me—"

"It was the day she fell," she gasped. "Eira. The vault was attacked. Betrayed. And Ruvan—he didn't betray her. Not at first."

The others stared.

"So what changed?" Lyra asked, breathless.

Ariya's voice was a whisper. "She died. And whatever was inside her… stayed."

The flame on the pedestal flickered.

And then…

A voice filled the vault.

"You are the Echo."

Everyone froze.

The flame dimmed, and from the darkness behind the pedestal, a shadow rose — not a person, but a shape. Tall, cloaked in shifting light and dark, its voice ancient and layered with hundreds of memories.

"You wear her mark. You carry her memory. But you are not her."

Ariya stepped forward, heart pounding.

"Then who am I?"

The figure tilted its head.

"You are what was left behind. The piece that was too strong to fade."

Kael moved beside her, protective. "What do you want from her?"

"Nothing," the voice said. "But he does."

"Ruvan?" Ariya asked.

"The one who once swore to guard the flame now seeks to extinguish it… or claim it as his own."

"He was her ally—"

"And her end," the voice finished.

The flame on the pedestal flared, blinding.

When it faded, the vault was still.

No shadow.

No voice.

Only a shard of Eira's gauntlet remained where the flame had floated — old, but thrumming with power.

Ariya picked it up.

It pulsed in her palm.

That night, as the others slept in the upper chamber, Ariya stood watch. She turned the shard over in her hand again and again.

"You're not her," she whispered. "But maybe I don't have to be."

Behind her, Kael stirred but didn't speak.

He didn't need to.

Just being there — steady, quiet, real — helped her breathe.

And somewhere far away, in the shadows of his citadel, Ruvan closed his eyes.

"She remembers now."

He turned to Corven.

"Send the next illusion."

A pause.

"This time… one she wants to believe."