Chapter 59: The Council's Lie
Sky Haven Tower pierced the clouds like a dagger of glass and fire.
Echo stood at its entrance, flanked by Kael and Lumen. The Tri-Flame hovered above her like a second sun, veiled in a protective shimmer. Its presence silenced the city.
Inside, the air pulsed with tension.
Ten Council seats. Nine occupied.
The tenth — Seraphine's — remained empty, cloaked in light that had never dimmed since the day she fell.
Echo's boots clicked against marble as she approached the center circle.
"Echo Vale," boomed Chancellor Virel, now bruised and bound but permitted a seat out of tradition. "You stand before the Council accused of soul-tampering, forbidden fusion, and impersonating divinity."
Echo tilted her head. "Funny. I thought I was being thanked."
Murmurs rose across the chamber. One elder slammed his cane. "Show respect!"
"Respect is earned," Echo said, "not inherited through a title and a chair."
The eldest Councilwoman, Alira Venn, tapped her fingers slowly against her carved seat. Her voice cut cleanly through the tension.
"We've all seen the seed purification. The reawakening of the Tri-Flame. Something once impossible. So the question becomes…" Her eyes narrowed. "How?"
Echo looked up at the tenth seat.
"She told me how."
"You claim communion with Seraphine?"
"No. I claim memory. Echoes. Warnings."
Kael stepped forward. "We recovered something in the Dust District temple. A sealed file from the Pre-Sundering Archives. It proves Seraphine meant for the seeds to reunite — not to be locked away."
Lumen handed over the decrypted core. "Your own orders hid it."
Alira took the disk.
And froze.
As the holo projection bloomed, Seraphine's recorded image filled the chamber.
Her voice was soft, but carried the weight of stars.
"If you are watching this… then the world has grown brittle again. And you have tried to seal fire in a cage of law. I split my soul not to be worshipped, but to protect the future. One seed to remember. One to resist. One to awaken. Together, they form not a weapon — but a cure. Do not fear the flame. Fear those who pretend to control it."
Silence swallowed the chamber.
Then Virel stood, veins bulging. "This proves nothing! A manipulated recording—!"
"She signed it with her life seal," Lumen snapped. "It's real."
Alira stood slowly.
She looked older now. Sadder.
"You knew," she said to Virel. "You and the First Circle. You've known for years."
Kael's fists clenched. "You let the world suffer, hunting anyone with even a hint of divergence, just to keep this secret buried?"
Virel shouted, "If Seraphine's plan had succeeded, we'd have lost control of the flame! Civilization would've burned again!"
Echo stepped into the center of the chamber.
"The flame was never yours to control," she said. "It was given to protect, not to reign."
Alira's voice broke. "What… would you have us do?"
Echo looked up at Seraphine's empty seat.
Then back at them.
"Step down."
Gasps echoed.
"You don't need to kneel," she said. "You just need to let go."
Virel lunged from his seat, hand sparking with flame.
But the Flamekeeper appeared in an instant, gripping his wrist and shoving him to the ground.
"No more lies," he said. "I served Seraphine. I watched her cry for this world. She never wanted thrones. Only guardians."
Virel's voice cracked. "You'll doom us all!"
"No," Echo said quietly. "You already did. I'm just here to fix it."
Later, in the council archives, Echo stood alone before Seraphine's statue.
The Tri-Flame hovered beside her, quiet, pulsing.
Lumen approached. "What now?"
Kael joined them. "They're rewriting the Accord. The people are calling you the Flameborne Heir."
Echo sighed. "I didn't come here to be worshipped."
"You won't be," Lumen said gently. "But you will be followed."
Echo looked up at Seraphine's stone eyes.
"You gave me this burden," she whispered. "So I'll carry it."
Then turned.
"Let's go home."