Location: Skyrealm Convergence – Sanctuary of Vaelrin
Time: One hour later
Kairo floated between twin moons. Not by will—but by decree.
The air shimmered around him, no wind, no breath—just pure light and an eerie calm that crawled under his skin. He'd followed Vaelrin across dimensions, through a silver breach that opened with no gate, no runes, only a whisper of his mother's name:
> "Amara."
A name he hadn't heard in years. A name that made the blood in his body freeze and boil all at once.
Vaelrin glided ahead, silent. His robes weren't cloth—they were memory. Kairo could see images dancing in them: a child being born, a woman crying in the rain, flames swallowing a library.
This wasn't just a god.
This was a god of memory.
> "You wanted answers, Kairo," Vaelrin said. "But answers are never free."
> "Good thing I'm broke," Kairo muttered.
Vaelrin paused in the air, turning. "Then I suppose we'll settle for pain."
Before Kairo could speak, the world broke.
---
FLASH.
Kairo stood in a home he didn't recognize.
Wooden floors. Rain tapping a window.
A woman—tall, with hair like ash and eyes like dusk—stood in the kitchen, her hands shaking as she stirred tea.
> "Amara," Kairo whispered.
She turned.
> "You shouldn't be here," she said softly.
Kairo stepped forward. "You're... you're my mother."
She didn't answer. Just looked at him like someone watching a dream fade.
> "You're not ready."
> "Ready for what?!" His voice cracked.
> "To know the truth."
The scene shattered again—
---
Kairo fell through visions:
A battlefield of divine and mortal blood.
A council chamber where gods screamed at each other over a child.
A hidden flame, buried beneath a cradle.
Zerith's voice echoed in his skull:
> "Your mother was the one who freed me." "She broke the chains the gods placed on me—not for power. But for you."
> "She loved you, Kairo. Enough to betray heaven."
---
Back in the sanctuary, Kairo dropped to his knees.
"Why... why show me this now?"
Vaelrin hovered over him, expression unreadable. "Because her time is ending. And so is yours, unless you make a choice."
> "The gods are preparing the Convocation. The final vote. To decide whether you live... or die."
> "She stalled them for years. Hid you among mortals. Severed your link to Zerith until the bond awoke on its own."
> "But the flames have spoken. You're no longer a secret."
Kairo stood slowly.
He wasn't trembling.
Not anymore.
> "Then let them vote. Let them scream. Let them try."
> "But if they come for me again..."
His eyes burned. His aura shimmered.
> "I won't just make them bleed. I'll make them remember what fear feels like."
---
The aura ignited.
For the first time, Vaelrin stepped back.
Zerith's power unfurled behind Kairo like wings of molten vengeance—but it wasn't Zerith's alone anymore. It was Kairo's—flavored by defiance, sharpened by loss.
A flame not of war...
But of inheritance.
> [Zerith Bond: 12% Synced]
[New Trait Acquired: Flame of Amara – Your soul resists divine control. Your memory cannot be rewritten.]
---
Vaelrin's voice softened.
"Then come with me. There is one last thing you must see."
Kairo followed.
They entered a chamber shaped like a broken hourglass—inside, held in crystal stasis, was a woman.
Amara.
Her body frozen in mid-reach. Her eyes shut tight. Her flame dim, but not gone.
"She sealed herself," Vaelrin explained. "To keep the Council from finding her. The spell is ancient. It cannot be undone by any god."
> "Only her child."
Kairo approached the stasis.
Placed a hand against the crystal.
"Mom... I'm sorry."
He didn't cry.
But a single spark left his fingers.
And the ice began to crack.
---