Chapter 39: Serana’s Memory
Location: Ravengarde, beneath the palaceTime: NightfallTool: Ashendawn's new ability — Flame Memory
Kael stood alone in the dungeon.
Serana sat in chains.
Still unbroken. Still unbent.
But no longer sure.
"You want answers," she said, voice hoarse."Then take them. Burn through me. See what I saw."
Kael said nothing.
He drew Ashendawn.
And pointed it at her chest.
A golden flame leapt from the blade — and the world turned to memory.
Memory 1: The Mirror Fractures
Serana stood in a cavern, long before Kael ever awoke.
Before she met him.
Before he was Kael.
A man in a white mask handed her a shard of the Soul Mirror.
"You want to save him? Then know what he truly is."
The mirror shard burned her skin — and then it showed her.
A thousand images:
Kael, standing atop a mountain of corpses.
Flames swallowing entire cities.
Gods kneeling in fear.
Vaenira, dead by his hand.
Nilo, burned alive.
A world reduced to nothing but fire.
And over it all — Kael's face.
Smiling.
Memory 2: The Choice
Serana woke from the vision screaming.
The masked man knelt beside her.
"You can't kill him. But you can shape him.Betrayal is a blade. If used well… it saves more than it wounds."
And so she made her vow.
"If he must hate me to save the world,then let him hate me."
Memory 3: The Final Day
The night before she opened Ravengarde's gates,she wrote a letter she never sent.
Kael,If you're reading this, it means you spared me. It means you didn't become him.I saw a future where you burned the sky. But I'm praying that future was only a shadow.Please forgive me. Or don't. I just wanted to save your soul before it was too late.—S
Back to Present
Kael pulled the blade back.
The flame died.
He stood in silence, staring at the woman who once swore loyalty.
She stared back, eyes hollow.
"So now you know," she whispered.
Kael replied:
"You saw a future of fire.But you forgot…fire can be remade."
He turned and walked away.
He did not kill her.
But something inside both of them had changed.
[Ashendawn Ability Upgraded]
Flame Memory: True Vision – Can now view not only the past… but the possible futures others have seen.
[Serana's Fate Updated]
Status: Imprisoned, conflicted
Relationship: Unsteady trust
Possible arc: Redemption or martyrdom
Chapter 39 End
The mirror doesn't always lie.
But it doesn't always show the truth, either.
Sometimes, it reflects only fear.
And Kael has chosento burn fear… without becoming it.