The Thirteenth Ember - Chapter 50: Chapter 50
You are reading The Thirteenth Ember, Chapter 50: Chapter 50. Read more chapters of The Thirteenth Ember.
Nar’Vareth Temple – Heart Chamber
The chamber pulsed with heat.
Not just from the cocoon of frozen fire at its center, which now glowed like a second sun, but from Aeryn herself who stood at its edge, cloak discarded, hair unbound, her embermark alive with gold light.
The stone beneath her feet cracked as the flames whispered upward from her skin.
Behind her, Kael stood still, his body swathed in spiraling tendrils of living shadow. His chest rose and fell slowly, calmly a predator at rest before the kill.
They had no more illusions left.
No more time.
The Court was here.
And so was Varenth.
The outer corridor trembled as the last of the magical wards fell.
The Court’s soldiers re-formed in the hallway, this time led not by mere footmen but by seven of Varenth’s High Templars. Armored in ice-forged steel, faces masked, each one carried a relic blade. All were oath-bound, fire-eaters trained from infancy.
Behind them, High Seer Varenth stepped forward.
He did not look like a man anymore.
He looked like will carved into flesh.
His robes shimmered with sigils carved in human bone. His skin radiated pale blue fire. His voice was calm, cruel.
“She was never meant to live,” he murmured. “Only to carry the seed.”
He raised his hand.
“Take her.”
Inside the chamber…
Aeryn took a single step forward, her eyes burning.
Kael moved to stand in front of her.
But she stopped him with a whisper. “No.”
He turned.
She shook her head. “You stand beside me. Not in front.”
He hesitated.
Then nodded once and stepped back to her side.
When the Court charged, they charged together.
The first clash
The chamber exploded into light.
Court magic collided with Aeryn’s fire not the flickering flame of warning, but pure ignition. The air warped. Stone cracked. One Templar burst into flame before reaching her, screaming as his armor melted.
Kael moved with silent rage.
The moment the second Templar drew close, Kael’s shadow surged not as smoke, but as tendrils of living void. They pierced the man’s wards like paper and dragged him backward into the corridor. A second later, his scream echoed, then vanished.
Kael’s blade spun through the air, slicing one attacker’s knees clean through before returning to his hand like a falcon to a wrist.
He was no longer just a fighter.
He was vengeance incarnate.
Varenth entered the chamber
Power rippled off him in waves.
He looked at Aeryn, almost pityingly.
“You never understood,” he said softly. “You are a vessel, girl. Nothing more. The child inside you it is not a legacy. It is a weapon.”
Aeryn’s flame coiled around her now, rising in whorls of gold and red, burning brighter than any torch.
“It is mine,” she said.
Varenth’s gaze flicked toward her belly.
“It is ours.”
He raised his hand.
And spoke the Binding Word.
The child woke fully
Aeryn screamed not in pain, but in shock. Her knees hit the ground. Flame poured from her mouth, from her eyes, from her skin. The embermark on her chest split open like a second mouth, glowing white-hot.
Kael lunged forward but was blasted back by a wave of warded light.
The cocoon at the center of the chamber cracked and then shattered.
From within it, light spilled out in ribbons.
And for the first time, the child stirred within Aeryn’s womb and spoke without words.
It was not a name.
It was not a cry.
It was a pulse.
A single wave of pure creation that slammed into the chamber like a star being born.
Everything changed
Kael stood, his mouth bleeding, body trembling but his shadows were stronger now. The child’s flare had touched him too, feeding the powers he had fought to contain.
His veins glowed black-gold.
He could feel the thoughts of those around him.
He could feel Varenth’s fear.
He moved faster than ever before.
A blade to the throat of one mage.
A shadow-arm crushing the ribs of another.
A cloak of smoke rising to blind the attackers from Aeryn.
Aeryn’s Ascension
Aeryn no longer stood.
She hovered.
Wreathed in living flame.
Her skin no longer shimmered it glowed with truth. With prophecy. With choice.
Her hair curled upward like smoke, and her eyes were no longer human. They were flame-forged mirrors.
“I am not a vessel,” she said, voice layered with another—older—tone.
“I am the flame that chooses.”
She raised both hands.
Flames coiled from her arms and burst outward, not destroying, but reshaping forging a ring of fire around the chamber that held the Court’s remaining men at bay.
Kael stepped beside her.
He was breathing hard, skin darkened with the remnants of shadow-magic. But his eyes were steady.
“She’s no one’s weapon,” he said, voice low.
“She is ours.”
Varenth faltered
He stepped back once.
Just once.
And that was enough.
The flame that burst from Aeryn’s body was not fire.
It was memory.
It showed the room everything she had seen Miraen’s past, the rebellion, the pain, the child’s heartbeat.
And it showed Varenth what the child would become:
A force that would burn both the Court and the Order.
A child who would wield fire that obeyed only love.
A future where they no longer held the pen.
Varenth screamed.
“NO!”
He raised both hands and summoned a blade made of commanded flame.
He threw it toward Aeryn.
Kael caught it.
With his bare hands.
The shadows surged from his chest like armor, absorbing the magic and breaking the blade into smoke.
Kael’s eyes were pitch-black now, his voice steady.
“You forgot something.”
Varenth choked.
“What?”
Kael smiled grimly.
“I am no longer holding back.”
He stepped forward and drove his blade through Varenth’s chest.
Not with rage.
But with peace.
The High Seer fell to his knees.
And the world stilled.
The remaining Court soldiers broke.
The silence that followed was not empty.
It was sacred.
Aeryn sank to her knees.
Kael rushed to her, catching her before she fell.
She looked up at him, her lips trembling.
“She’s awake now,” she whispered.
Kael kissed her forehead.
“I know.”
She placed her hand over her belly.
“She’s not just power.”
“No,” Kael said. “She’s yours.”
“And yours.”
They knelt together in the ruin of a temple not as warriors.
But as parents.
And behind them, the stone walls of Nar’Vareth slowly began to grow warm again.
As if the temple itself had finally… accepted her.
The chamber pulsed with heat.
Not just from the cocoon of frozen fire at its center, which now glowed like a second sun, but from Aeryn herself who stood at its edge, cloak discarded, hair unbound, her embermark alive with gold light.
The stone beneath her feet cracked as the flames whispered upward from her skin.
Behind her, Kael stood still, his body swathed in spiraling tendrils of living shadow. His chest rose and fell slowly, calmly a predator at rest before the kill.
They had no more illusions left.
No more time.
The Court was here.
And so was Varenth.
The outer corridor trembled as the last of the magical wards fell.
The Court’s soldiers re-formed in the hallway, this time led not by mere footmen but by seven of Varenth’s High Templars. Armored in ice-forged steel, faces masked, each one carried a relic blade. All were oath-bound, fire-eaters trained from infancy.
Behind them, High Seer Varenth stepped forward.
He did not look like a man anymore.
He looked like will carved into flesh.
His robes shimmered with sigils carved in human bone. His skin radiated pale blue fire. His voice was calm, cruel.
“She was never meant to live,” he murmured. “Only to carry the seed.”
He raised his hand.
“Take her.”
Inside the chamber…
Aeryn took a single step forward, her eyes burning.
Kael moved to stand in front of her.
But she stopped him with a whisper. “No.”
He turned.
She shook her head. “You stand beside me. Not in front.”
He hesitated.
Then nodded once and stepped back to her side.
When the Court charged, they charged together.
The first clash
The chamber exploded into light.
Court magic collided with Aeryn’s fire not the flickering flame of warning, but pure ignition. The air warped. Stone cracked. One Templar burst into flame before reaching her, screaming as his armor melted.
Kael moved with silent rage.
The moment the second Templar drew close, Kael’s shadow surged not as smoke, but as tendrils of living void. They pierced the man’s wards like paper and dragged him backward into the corridor. A second later, his scream echoed, then vanished.
Kael’s blade spun through the air, slicing one attacker’s knees clean through before returning to his hand like a falcon to a wrist.
He was no longer just a fighter.
He was vengeance incarnate.
Varenth entered the chamber
Power rippled off him in waves.
He looked at Aeryn, almost pityingly.
“You never understood,” he said softly. “You are a vessel, girl. Nothing more. The child inside you it is not a legacy. It is a weapon.”
Aeryn’s flame coiled around her now, rising in whorls of gold and red, burning brighter than any torch.
“It is mine,” she said.
Varenth’s gaze flicked toward her belly.
“It is ours.”
He raised his hand.
And spoke the Binding Word.
The child woke fully
Aeryn screamed not in pain, but in shock. Her knees hit the ground. Flame poured from her mouth, from her eyes, from her skin. The embermark on her chest split open like a second mouth, glowing white-hot.
Kael lunged forward but was blasted back by a wave of warded light.
The cocoon at the center of the chamber cracked and then shattered.
From within it, light spilled out in ribbons.
And for the first time, the child stirred within Aeryn’s womb and spoke without words.
It was not a name.
It was not a cry.
It was a pulse.
A single wave of pure creation that slammed into the chamber like a star being born.
Everything changed
Kael stood, his mouth bleeding, body trembling but his shadows were stronger now. The child’s flare had touched him too, feeding the powers he had fought to contain.
His veins glowed black-gold.
He could feel the thoughts of those around him.
He could feel Varenth’s fear.
He moved faster than ever before.
A blade to the throat of one mage.
A shadow-arm crushing the ribs of another.
A cloak of smoke rising to blind the attackers from Aeryn.
Aeryn’s Ascension
Aeryn no longer stood.
She hovered.
Wreathed in living flame.
Her skin no longer shimmered it glowed with truth. With prophecy. With choice.
Her hair curled upward like smoke, and her eyes were no longer human. They were flame-forged mirrors.
“I am not a vessel,” she said, voice layered with another—older—tone.
“I am the flame that chooses.”
She raised both hands.
Flames coiled from her arms and burst outward, not destroying, but reshaping forging a ring of fire around the chamber that held the Court’s remaining men at bay.
Kael stepped beside her.
He was breathing hard, skin darkened with the remnants of shadow-magic. But his eyes were steady.
“She’s no one’s weapon,” he said, voice low.
“She is ours.”
Varenth faltered
He stepped back once.
Just once.
And that was enough.
The flame that burst from Aeryn’s body was not fire.
It was memory.
It showed the room everything she had seen Miraen’s past, the rebellion, the pain, the child’s heartbeat.
And it showed Varenth what the child would become:
A force that would burn both the Court and the Order.
A child who would wield fire that obeyed only love.
A future where they no longer held the pen.
Varenth screamed.
“NO!”
He raised both hands and summoned a blade made of commanded flame.
He threw it toward Aeryn.
Kael caught it.
With his bare hands.
The shadows surged from his chest like armor, absorbing the magic and breaking the blade into smoke.
Kael’s eyes were pitch-black now, his voice steady.
“You forgot something.”
Varenth choked.
“What?”
Kael smiled grimly.
“I am no longer holding back.”
He stepped forward and drove his blade through Varenth’s chest.
Not with rage.
But with peace.
The High Seer fell to his knees.
And the world stilled.
The remaining Court soldiers broke.
The silence that followed was not empty.
It was sacred.
Aeryn sank to her knees.
Kael rushed to her, catching her before she fell.
She looked up at him, her lips trembling.
“She’s awake now,” she whispered.
Kael kissed her forehead.
“I know.”
She placed her hand over her belly.
“She’s not just power.”
“No,” Kael said. “She’s yours.”
“And yours.”
They knelt together in the ruin of a temple not as warriors.
But as parents.
And behind them, the stone walls of Nar’Vareth slowly began to grow warm again.
As if the temple itself had finally… accepted her.
End of The Thirteenth Ember Chapter 50. Continue reading Chapter 51 or return to The Thirteenth Ember book page.