"Power is not given.
It remembers who once dared to speak."
---
The world shifted the moment the Vowshard shattered.
Twelve fragments of voice-born power were loosed into the world—each carrying the echo of the first vow, each seeking a soul worthy… or desperate enough to wield it.
These were not mere artifacts.
They were promises unfulfilled.
Screams not yet spoken.
Songs that broke thrones.
And now—
They were choosing.
---
🜁 Fragment I – The Thorn of Memory
Location: Beneath the ruined cathedral in Luthien, now buried in silence.
Chosen: Mother Thorne
She had once served the throne.
Once led prayers for the gods who sealed Aralyndra's voice.
Now she stood alone in the graveyard of that same cathedral, whispering names the gods had tried to erase.
> "She sang again," Thorne murmured. "And I heard it… in my marrow."
From the earth rose a blade of ash-thorns and vow-gold.
It pulsed with grief.
It chose her.
---
🜃 Fragment II – The Blade That Bled Back
Location: Ironclad Arena, deep in the northern frostlands.
Chosen: The Crimson Warden
He had no name.
Only scars and silence.
But when the arena cracked under the second skyfire, the iron beneath gave way to something older.
He pulled the blade free.
And for the first time in a decade, he spoke:
> "One vow. One war."
The gods felt his voice.
And they trembled.
---
🜄 Fragment III – The Eye of Starsleep
Location: Temple of the Moon's Dagger
Chosen: Unknown
A child opened her eyes and saw everything—the past, the lost names, the end.
She cried until her voice formed a rune.
She is unclaimed.
But no longer hidden.
---
Back in the Ashmarch, the war camp buzzed like a beehive under stormlight.
Messengers from eight cities.
Outlaws, vowborn, half-gods, forgotten clans, even monsters once hunted by kingdoms—all flocked to the shadow of the mountain.
And in the center—
The First War Council began.
---
🛡️ The Council of Ashmarch
Aralyndra sat at the head, Karna behind her like a shadow of fire.
To her right: Kaelen Vox, warborn genius with ink-stained hands and blood-stained eyes.
To her left: Mother Thorne, once divine, now damned.
And before her stood maps of a world that had lied to itself for too long.
> "The thrones will not wait," Karna said. "They'll descend now. With armies."
> "Then we make them bleed before they arrive," Kaelen muttered.
> "We cannot win this with blades alone," Thorne added. "The people must remember their own vows. Or our voices will be whispers against a storm."
Aralyndra rose.
The entire chamber quieted.
> "Then let's give them something to remember."
She placed her palm on the center of the war map.
The flame of the Vowshard spread.
Twelve lights flared across the continents.
> "We gather the fragments," she said.
"We call back those who have forgotten how to speak.
And we remind the gods—
We were divine before they learned how to crawl."
---
🌩️ Elsewhere…
In the Palace of the Ninth Heaven, the gods convened.
Golden halls cracked from the pressure of the mortal world's song.
Zarikhael knelt before the Three Eternal Thrones.
> "The Voice has risen.
She remembers her name.
And the flame has begun to spread."
A fourth voice, ancient and rusted, echoed from the shadows.
> "Then we must wake The Bound King."
A chained god stirred in the black vault below the sky.
Eyes like collapsing stars opened.
> "She speaks again?"
"Then let her scream."
---
🜂 The Final Fragment – The Chain That Breaks
Location: Unknown
Status: Awakened
Motion Detected in: Deadmarch Ruins
---
As the war council adjourned, Karna and Aralyndra stood at the edge of the cliff, looking down on the growing camp of banners and bonfires.
> "You feel it?" she whispered.
> "Every time someone speaks a vow," Karna said. "I feel it burn."
A moment passed.
Then he asked, "Do you regret it?"
She didn't answer for a long time.
Then:
> "Not the fire. Not the name.
Only that I ever believed silence was safety."
---
In the distance, a banner was raised.
Not a crown.
Not a god.
But a flame wrapped in a song.
The Rebellion had a symbol now.
And the world had a clock ticking.