The Crucible's roar had long since faded, but its echoes lingered like embers clinging to Maximilian's soul.
The upper terraces of the Universität der Ewigen Flamme had quieted. Students whispered in hushed tones when he passed—some out of awe, others out of fear. The Crucible of Souls had broken many before him. But Maximilian had not only survived—it had responded to him.
And the Flame Parliament had noticed.
The Parliament's Reshuffling
In the high hall of obsidian mirrors, Chancellor Ignatia Vulkrand stood cloaked in ceremonial flame silk. The Eternal Brands of Judgment, nine rings of ember-forged sigils, pulsed faintly behind her.
"He cannot remain an unaffiliated," hissed Arch-Executor Malthus of Haus Vulkanos.
"He mustn't be controlled, either," countered Warden Ysolde of Wyrmbinder. "Let him rise—or fall—on his own."
But the Chancellor's silence silenced even them. Her eyes flickered like hearthfire behind midnight glass lenses.
"We watch," she said. "And we wait."
A Blade Between Paths
In the private training sanctum granted only to Throne Key Bearers, Maximilian stood beneath cascading braziers. Sweat clung to his skin as he activated Form Wechsel: Sternennarbe – Star Scar.
The blade, now in twin scythe-form, hummed with temporal vibrations.
Across from him stood Maelis—barefoot, robed in violet soul-thread. Her spear crackled with silver-ember chains.
"Again," she whispered.
They clashed. Seventy-three times. Not for dominance. For synchronization. Each motion burned cleaner, each aura pulse sharper.
"You hold back," she said eventually.
"I must," he replied. "Too much truth leaks through my strikes."
She didn't smile. She didn't need to. The pause between breaths said enough: she understood.
Interlude: Maelis – A Warden's Memory
Maelis Iverholt had never believed in prophecy.
But when she was eleven, she dreamed of a falling star that struck the cathedral of her homeland and shattered every flame within—only for a single blue ember to reignite them all.
The first time she met Maximilian, she recognized the flame from that dream.
Now, as they trained, she wondered what it meant to stand beside someone who was not destined—but beyond destiny.
He is either our salvation, she thought, or our undoing.
Lore Drop: The Fourfold Flame Pantheon
In ancient scriptures retrieved from the Ashen Vaults beneath Totenstadt, a now-sealed deity was referenced: Qir-Azhur, the Emberless Flame, once a god of silence and time before being betrayed by the other Three Flame Lords.
The Flame Pantheon is structured:
Ignarion, Lord of Blazing Truth – god of judgment and law
Saelthyr, Ember-Hearted Wanderer – god of passion and discovery
Velkha, the Pyrewidow – goddess of sacrifice and rebirth
Qir-Azhur, the Emberless – erased from most records, believed extinct
But Maximilian's aura in the Crucible... had harmonized with a signature not recognized by the Flame System.
And some scholars whispered Qir-Azhur's name again—though not above a whisper.
Item Profile: [Chronofold Ingot – Starforged Variant]
Grade: SS+
Rarity: Singular (1/1)
Properties:
Temporal Memory Retention – allows weapons forged from this to retain combat patterns.
System-Desync Potential – suppresses aura detection momentarily.
Resonance Match Found: Maximilian Kriegswald only.
Lore: Forged from the heart of a fallen celestial, the ingot was retrieved by Chancellor Vulkrand during the Lunar Crusade. Until now, it had remained inert.
Now, it pulsed in response to Maximilian's blood.
A New Trial: Pfad des Schattenherzens – Path of the Shadowheart
A letter, bound in ebon wax, arrived that dusk. No sender. No seal. Only three words written in soulfire ink:
"You are summoned."
It was the Shadowheart's invitation—an unlisted trial, whispered in guild halls and forbidden corridors. Some said it predated the University itself. That it was where chosen wielders walked the border between flame... and void.
Maximilian did not hesitate.
End of Chapter 25: Die Stille nach der Glut – The Stillness After the Flame