"In the beginning, the gods burned."
"And from their ashes came light. And from their light, came ruin."
— The Flameborn Canticles, banned in all Dominion territories
Long before the Dominion.
Before the cities fell and the world broke into factions.
Before names like Virelth or Valir were etched into stone...
There was only fire.
Not the fire of wood and spark, but the First Flame — raw and living, birthed in the darkness between stars. It was not a gift. It was a weapon, stolen from the gods by the first humans who dared to challenge their place.
The story says that a mortal named Vaelin, a son of no one, scaled the impossible peak of Mount Erendis, a mountain that never stopped burning. He bore no sword, only a broken oath and a dying prayer. At the summit, he did not find gods. He found their corpse — and in its heart, the Flame.
He took it.
He did not share it.
What happened next became legend.
From the First Flame, Vaelin forged a crown of fire, a blade that never dulled, and a Vault beneath the mountain — a prison for gods, men, and truths too dangerous to live. They say he locked away names that could shatter mountains, buried entire bloodlines in stone, and chained the last true god to the vault door.
But even Vaelin could not carry the Flame forever.
Some say he died. Others say he became something else — not living, not dead. Just burning.
For centuries, the Vault of Erendis remained hidden — not lost, but waiting.
Waiting for a world desperate enough to seek it again.
Waiting for someone foolish enough to open it.
Now, the Solar Dominion believes it has found the Vault.
Their High Flamecaller speaks of rebirth.
Their armies march to claim godhood.
But they do not understand.
The First Flame does not obey. It consumes.
In a forgotten forest beyond the war-torn fields, an old woman rocks beside a fire. A child listens at her feet, wide-eyed.
"Is it true, Gran?" the child asks. "Can someone really hold the First Flame?"
The old woman looks into the fire, and for a heartbeat, her eyes burn silver.
"No, child," she whispers. "But someone always tries."