Frostbound Flame: Legacy of the Forbidden Clans

The Void Dragon stirred.

Its body unfolded from the cracked egg — enormous, majestic, terrifying. Not of bone or scale, but of memory and magic. Its wings shimmered like starlight, its chest burned with a pulsing core of shifting colors — seven flames dancing in eternal conflict.

Kaien stood before it, spear planted.

Yuki, Lira, Akari, Baran, and a bound Saejin stood behind, breaths held.

"You are the seventh Flame," the dragon spoke, voice like a choir and an abyss. "Born of war. Molded by echoes. Chosen by the fire that binds and breaks."

"What will you do, Flamebearer?"

The Choice of Fire

Seven floating rings appeared around Kaien — each representing one sealed portal. Together, they hovered above the Heptasoul Core, now glowing blindingly bright.

"You may use my power," the dragon offered, "to reshape the world. To erase pain. To revive the dead. To burn the weak. To protect your kind."

Kaien's mind blurred with visions:

His family alive again.

No Hollow Flame.

Peace enforced by divine fire.

But as he stepped forward, he looked behind…

And saw his friends — wounded, scared, but real.

"No," he whispered. "You don't get to tempt me. That's not choice. That's escape."

The Void Dragon's eye narrowed.

"Then seal me. End my song. But know this — without me, magic will die. The elemental balance relies on my breath."

The Party Fractures

Baran gritted his teeth. "We can't lose magic. It's all we have left."

Akari clenched her sword. "But we can't become monsters to preserve it."

Lira whispered, "There has to be a middle path."

Kaien turned to Saejin. "What would you do?"

Saejin looked up, bound still. "Let it live. But bind it to you. Make you its prison."

Everyone froze.

"You're the only one strong enough," Saejin continued. "If you merge with it — not to dominate, but to share — you become both its anchor… and its limit."

Yuki's eyes widened. "You could die."

Kaien nodded slowly.

"Or worse — become it."

Lira's Awakening: Divine Dissonance

As tension peaked, the dragon shrieked.

The cavern cracked, reality bent — and the Void began to bleed into the mortal world.

Lira stepped forward, chanting in a language not even the dragon recognized.

Her staff broke in two — light and sound swirling.

From her hands bloomed Divine Dissonance, her true power: the ability to unweave false songs, rewrite corrupted harmony.

"You were once a creature of balance," she told the dragon. "Let me remind you."

Her melody surrounded the dragon — calming its storm — but she staggered, bleeding from the effort.

"I can't hold this long."

Unity Ignition: The Final Flame

Kaien stepped forward.

The Flamebond Spear ignited — not in gold, but in all colors.

The Sixth Form: Unity Ignition surged — a burst of all six elemental seals spinning into one flame.

He looked back at his friends, his family now.

"To keep the world alive… I'll walk with the Void."

Yuki stepped forward, grasping his hand.

"Not alone."

Baran, Akari, Lira — even Saejin — nodded.

Then Kaien turned to the Void Dragon.

"I accept your flame. Not to rule. Not to erase. But to become your anchor."

The world exploded in light.

Kaien and the Void Dragon Merge

The seven rings dissolved into Kaien's chest.

The dragon roared — but not in anger.

Its form shattered into fire and memory — and entered him.

Kaien's body hovered — fire wings unfolding, eyes glowing not with power, but clarity.

He had become the Flamebearer Eternal.

And the Void Flame was sealed — not in stone, not in death, but in his soul.

Peace at a Cost

When the light faded, Kaien fell to one knee.

Alive.

But changed.

"I… I can hear everything," he murmured.

Yuki rushed forward, holding him.

"But you're still you."

Baran nodded. "The portals are gone."

Lira looked up. "But the magic… is different. It's free now—not chained to the dragon."

Saejin stared, silent.

He spoke finally.

"Then maybe… I can change too."