The news spread through the Sunspire Palace faster than flame through dry grass:
The Mountain-Fang Clan had paused their rebellion.
No attacks.
No border skirmishes.
No messengers turned away.
No threatening signals carved into cliffs.
They had… stopped.
But silence was not peace.
And every clan leader knew it.
The Sun-King's messengers rushed through the palace corridors at dawn, knocking on carved stone doors.
> "The High Council is summoned.
Urgent matter.
Report to the Solar Chamber immediately."
Raijin Sarurama tightened his armor straps as he walked.
Rana arrived limping as always, flanked by his border guards.
Kuro Saru strolled in last, hands clasped behind his back, studying everyone with his foxlike eyes.
The Elders of the lesser clans were already waiting, murmuring nervously.
The tension felt like the palace itself was holding its breath.
Bao Bao entered through the northern arch.
His presence silenced the room—flames around his hands dimmed to a faint glow, controlled but strained.
> "The Mountain-Fang rebellion has halted,"
he announced, voice steady but tight.
The leaders exchanged glances.
Barok Stonehide was not the kind of chief who paused anything.
So someone else had pushed him.
Kuro Saru raised an eyebrow.
> "Stopped? Just like that?"
"Rebels don't suddenly become polite."
Rana folded his arms.
> "They're planning something.
A pause is simply time for sharpening weapons."
Raijin stepped forward.
> "We must treat this as strategic deception."
Bao Bao nodded.
> "I agree. Their silence troubles me more than their shouting."
The room stirred with unease.
The Rana Reaction
Rana spoke first.
> "My scouts report the mountain borders are quiet.
Too quiet.
The Stoneback tunnels show fresh movement—someone's traveling underground."
The lesser clans whispered nervously.
The Saru Insight
Kuro leaned over the circular table.
> "Barok doesn't hide his plans.
If this were his idea, he'd have announced it with a roar.
This reeks of outside influence."
Suspicion stirred.
The Sarurama Observation
Raijin placed a set of scrolls onto the table—records of scent tracking, ash disturbances, and unidentified footprints.
> "We found more signs of the hooded intruder.
They've been near Mountain-Fang territory recently."
A long silence followed.
Someone muttered:
> "So the mystery figure is guiding both sides…"
Tension flared like a spark hitting oil.
Elder Maro
> "We must force Mountain-Fang to speak.
Send an ultimatum!"
Elder Rin
> "Ultimatums breed war.
The king must remain the calmer flame."
Elder Kana
> "Peace through patience.
This is what the Sun-King promised."
Elder Dross
> "Promises don't protect borders!"
Voices clashed.
Kuro slapped his hand against the table, instantly quieting half the room.
> "Everyone calm down.
The enemy doesn't need to attack us.
We're doing their work for them."
The council fell quiet as Bao Bao stepped forward, placing his hands on the glowing table.
The magma beneath the palace hummed.
> "Mountain-Fang's pause is not peace,"
he said.
"It's a warning."
He looked at each leader in turn.
> "We do not strike first.
But we will not sit blind."
Raijin nodded firmly.
> "What do you command?"
Bao Bao inhaled.
The fire around him brightened.
> "We prepare the realm. Not for war— but for whatever comes next."
A murmur rippled through the chamber.
Bao Bao continued:
> "Strengthen border patrols.
Triple scout rotations.
Send envoys to every lesser clan.
We must unify before someone else divides us."
Kuro tilted his head.
> "And Mountain-Fang?"
Bao Bao's eyes hardened.
> "I will go to them personally as I did before so as to ask them what their thoughts are"
"If they intend treachery, I will see it in their eyes."
The chamber fell into stunned silence.
Hours later, after the official session ended, several elders regrouped in a side chamber.
A whisper spread in the dim light:
> "A king who walks into danger alone…"
"Is he brave? Or foolish?"
"If he dies, who leads us?"
"The child is too young…"
They hesitated.
And then someone said the words no one wanted to speak:
> "If Bao Bao falls, the clans will fracture again."
The prophecy weighed heavily.
Outside the palace, hidden among the volcanic shadows, the hooded figure perched silently, watching the council dispersing.
Their voice was a whisper swallowed by the wind:
> "Good.
Doubt grows.
Suspicion spreads."
A faint smile.
> "Soon the clans will turn on each other again.
Soon the king will walk into the mountains…
and there, he will meet what destiny has prepared."
The magma cracked softly beneath them.
> "The Returning Flame is awakening…
and once awakened, he cannot be controlled."
Their cloak swirled in the heat as they vanished into the darknes
Back in the royal chambers, Bao Bao stood before a map of Firelonia.
Saku slept peacefully on his cushion.
The queen watched silently, hands clasped.
Bao Bao whispered to himself:
> "A realm must not fear its king.
But neither must a king fear his realm."
He strapped his Sun-Blade to his side.
Tomorrow, he would begin the journey to the mountain clan.
And Firelonia would enter the next stage of its uncertain future.