Frostbound Flame: Legacy of the Forbidden Clans

Location: Vaer'Morath – The Sunken RuinsTime: Nightfall, Fourth Day Since the Heptasoul Flare

The Desert Doesn't Forget

The twin Skyfangs soared through the blood-orange sky, cutting through winds that carried the scent of dry magic and sun-bleached bones. Below them, the jagged bones of the fallen empire stretched across the earth like claws from a forgotten god.

Aika leaned forward in her saddle, eyes narrowed. Her cloak fluttered behind her, frost charms on its hem glinting in the dying sunlight.

"Focus," she muttered. "He's here."

Ren, lounging on his mount beside her, blew a lazy strand of hair out of his face. "Says the girl who's refused to eat or sleep for two days."

"This isn't about comfort, Ren. Something woke up when he did. Can't you feel it?"

He sighed, cracking his knuckles. "Yeah. And I hate that I do."

A Footprint in the Storm

As the Skyfangs touched down on a wind-shattered ledge overlooking the ruins, Aika dismounted first. Her boot pressed into ash-soft sand, revealing something unmistakable beneath it.

A single fresh footprint, embedded in the center of a centuries-old rune circle.

She knelt, touching the edge.

Still warm.

Then—suddenly—the wind froze.

Ren dropped into a defensive stance beside her. "Aika, something's—"

The world around them blurred.

Colors twisted. The light bent.

And a girl stepped forward from the space between seconds.

The Girl Between Moments

She appeared like a glitch in reality—fragmented for an instant, then whole. No older than seventeen, she wore robes made of woven shadowglass and moonlace. Her hair shimmered between white and gold, like a memory refusing to settle.

She had no weapons.

Just presence.

Her voice echoed strangely — as if spoken from both past and future at once.

"You shouldn't be here. He is not ready."

Aika summoned a flame between her palms. Ren's fists lit with ember-runes.

"Who are you?" Aika demanded.

The girl tilted her head, expression unreadable.

"I am Seris. Last of the Time Anchors.Guardian of the boy who forgets.Witness to the fall of Kaien Flameborne."

The fire in Aika's hand flickered.

"…What did you say?"

Kaien's Fate

Seris stepped closer, hands still behind her back. She stared into Aika's eyes with an expression both kind and tragic.

"Your father… is not gone."

Aika's breath caught.

"He merged with the Void Flame twelve years ago. We saw it."

"You saw a sealing. Not a death."

Seris raised her hand—and the air rippled.

A memory sphere emerged, swirling with golden fog.

Inside, a vision:

Kaien, older, thinner, surrounded by rings of floating sigils, locked in a burning cage beyond space, whispering:

"If the boy wakes too soon…The dragon will rise before he's ready to ride it."

The vision ended.

Aika was silent.

Then: "What boy?"

Seris turned toward the shattered ruins.

"The one called Rael.He is the final echo of your father's flame."

Rael's Awakening

Meanwhile, deeper in the ruins, Rael jolted upright inside a collapsed dome of stone and roots. His body burned—not from heat, but overload. The pulse of magic within him had intensified.

He clutched his chest, where a ghostly flame had carved itself into his skin.

Not a tattoo.

A brand.

And this time, he heard the voice clearly.

"Rael… if you are hearing me, then I failed."

Kaien's voice.

Gentle. Familiar. Ancient.

"You are the last bearer of the divided flame. But you are not me.You are the one who can end the cycle. Or become its sword."

"They will come for you. Some to save. Some to use. Some to kill."

"But only one will remind you who you were before the fire."

Rael blinked.

"…Who?"

He stood—and turned straight into Aika's frost-dagger.

First Contact

"Don't move," Aika said coldly. "Or I'll freeze your lungs solid."

Rael stared at her, stunned.

Golden flames flickered in his eyes.

"You—your voice—you're…"

Aika hesitated. Her frost faltered slightly.

Rael slowly lifted his hands.

"I saw you in my dreams."

Ren appeared beside her, fire in hand.

"And you nearly killed us in reality. That little time skip blast nearly sent our Skyfang into a canyon."

Rael's expression twisted. "I didn't mean to. I don't even know what's happening."

Aika stared harder.

She didn't lower her blade.

But she didn't strike, either.

"Then prove it."

The Clock-Twin Arrives

Before Rael could speak, the wind snapped again.

Seris's eyes went wide.

"No… not yet."

The sky above shattered.

Not visually — audibly.

A piercing sound, like time being torn apart, echoed from the clouds.

From a rift stepped a figure in white robes stitched with broken clocks. Their face was mirrored glass. On their back: a spine of metal feathers.

They floated above the ruins, arms wide.

"The Core flares again. The successor awakens.All anomalies must be cleansed."

Seris hissed.

"…The Clock-Twin."

Ren's fire exploded upward. "We've got incoming!"

Aika dropped into stance. Her frost ignited blue fire from her boots.

"Rael, if you're really not the enemy… then help us fight."

Rael closed his fists.

And time reversed one heartbeat.