Location: The Obsidian Wastes – Throne of Echoes
POV: Ashren Vale
The first moon split open like an overripe fruit.
Blood-red light spilled across the Obsidian Wastes, staining the cracked plains and igniting the runes etched into ancient stone. Ashren Vale stood alone at the edge of the world, the black crown in one hand, a dagger in the other. The wind howled like a choir of the damned, and the throne behind him pulsed with power that predated memory.
> "This is it," he whispered. "No turning back."
He didn't speak to anyone.
Only to the silence inside himself.
---
Ghosts of the Past
As the sky bled, so did memory.
Visions poured from the earth—his mother screaming as soldiers dragged her away, his brother's death echoing in his bones, the girl with silver eyes who once kissed him under moonlight before betraying him for a handful of coins. All of them rose like phantoms in the smoke.
He dropped to his knees.
> "This crown… it doesn't erase the pain," he said aloud. "It magnifies it."
From the shadows, the Bone Oracle emerged. Her voice was cracked thunder.
> "Pain is not weakness. It is proof you survived what others could not."
Ashren looked up, eyes hollow but burning.
> "Then let survival mean something."
---
The Throne Accepts
He approached the throne of black stone—its roots twisting into the bones of dead kings. The dagger fell from his hand. He lifted the crown, and for one moment, the world held its breath.
Then he placed it on his head.
The change was instant.
The winds stopped.
The earth bowed.
The whispers of old gods coiled around his spine.
And when he opened his eyes again, they burned with the starlight of the forgotten divine.
---
Declaration of Judgment
> "I am not Thamaris reborn," Ashren said, voice echoing across time.
"I am not savior. Not tyrant. Not pawn."
"I am judgment, and I will not be denied."
The sky responded.
The blood-moon cracked further, a signal that the veil between realms was nearly gone. The final convergence approached—and only one crowned soul now stood ready to face it.
---
Final Scene — The Awakening of the End
Far in the north, Seris felt the fire within her recoil.
To the south, Caelis's breath caught, as the beast beneath the ice stirred.
And at the heart of the world, the gods opened their dead eyes.
Ashren Vale had taken the throne.
And nothing would ever be the same again.