The plan was mad.
But so was the enemy.
Ashbourne entered with a smirk and a bottle of swampfire brew. "They're here," he said. "Our little rebellion just grew teeth."
The war table shifted, glowing as three new figures stepped into the torchlit hall.
---
The first was a towering woman in red battle-armor laced with old-world etchings. Her right eye was silver, her left burned with natural flame. This was Vexa of the Crimson Chain, a mercenary captain turned Echo liberator.
"I've seen what the Cradle does to Echoes," she said, slamming down a spear forged from broken soulsteel. "I'll see it undone."
The second was a pale-skinned scholar with tattoos that changed shapes when you blinked. He wore no shoes, and his voice sounded like an echo from the bottom of a well.
Ailen, a memory-weaver once imprisoned in a Cradle think-vault. "I know their wards. Their rhythms. Their blind spots."
And the last…
Was a girl in a hood.
No one saw her enter.
No one heard her speak.
But when Serida looked at her, she felt ice and fire, history and pain — something deeper than magic.
The girl handed Ashbourne a sealed letter, bearing the symbol of a black flame in a silver ring.
Ashbourne stiffened.
"She's authorized it," he whispered. "Full breach. No survivors."
Serida frowned. "She? Who is—"
"She goes by many names," Ashbourne said carefully. "But you don't want to know just yet. Not until you need to."
The girl said nothing.
Just vanished into shadow again.
---
Later, as the war camp prepared for movement, Serida sat alone on a high cliff edge.
Wind howled. Ashbourne joined her.
"You're scared," he said.
"I'm ready."
"Same thing."
She stared at the horizon. "If we're too late—"
"We won't be," Ashbourne cut in.
"But if we are…" she tightened her grip on her sword, "I'm burning that place down — even if it takes me with it."
Ashbourne didn't argue.
Because he believed her.
---
As the raiding party moved under the cover of night, their path lit only by blue flame wards and silent signal glyphs, the final map burned into ash behind them.
The war for Kael's soul was no longer quiet.
It had begun.