Two days after the envoys vanished, the mountain paths surrounding Kyomisu began to change.
At night, the peaks glowed faintly red, and when the wind blew, it carried the smell of burnt cedar and hot metal.
Even before Kelivin spoke, the brothers felt it—an invitation, a tug that came from deep within the marks on their chests. Each beat synchronized with the rhythm hidden inside the half‑sigil that now rested on the shrine altar.
It pulsed again that morning, lines of faint light forming a map of light across its surface.
Kevin studied the marks closely, tracing the route shaped by fiery lines that darted toward the western cliffs. "The Ember Gate," he murmured.
Kelivin nodded once. "The realm aligns every century when the Flame Core pulses—we're weeks early. The Heart's awakening has accelerated the clock."
Dylan grinned tiredly. "Guess patience was never our family's strength."
Kris tightened his gloves. "Then we leave before it closes."
Kelivin looked over them, gaze stern but proud. "This path will not simply lead you through fire—it will show you what flame means. Each realm carries memory; it burns lessons no human can translate. Listen to them, and they'll shape your Ryuma. Defy them, and they'll turn it to ash."
Through the Ember Vale
By evening, the brothers and their companions reached the base of the volcano field west of Kyomisu. Smoke columns drifted along the ridges, glowing veins running beneath the ground like arteries under translucent skin.
Saya wrapped a cloth around her mouth. "Can we breathe here?"
Kelivin spoke quietly. "The air burns those who think like mortals. Control your element's rhythm—the flame respects those who forge rather than flee it."
Renji smirked, sweat already glistening on his skin. "Finally, a place that agrees with me."
Their father led them across black stone bridges spanning flows of slow‑moving magma. The deeper they walked, the dimmer the sky became, until everything was tinted crimson. Time itself seemed to slow—the rhythm of their hearts and the mountain's pulse merging.
At the cavern's mouth waited a structure that looked neither temple nor fortress. Five pillars surrounded a gateway carved of melted obsidian, each inscribed with ancient text glowing faint gold.
Kelivin stopped. "This is as far as I can go. Beyond that threshold, the realm chooses who passes."
"Wait—you're not coming?" Kevin asked.
"The bridge doesn't cross between worlds twice without cracking," Kelivin explained. "You three must walk through alone. The sigil's call belongs to you, not me."
He placed his hand on Kevin's shoulder. "Trust what you learned. The Heart opened doors—but your choices will decide what comes through."
With that, he turned back toward the cliffs, his silhouette fading in the swirling heat haze.
The Gate Opens
The half‑sigil lifted from Kevin's belt pouch on its own, floating into the air. Heat rippled outward as the gate's surface liquefied into molten light.
Kris shielded his eyes. "Is it supposed to look like it's melting?"
Dylan chuckled nervously. "Only one way to find out."
They stepped forward. The instant their marks touched the light, the world inverted.
For a moment, they were neither standing nor moving—just drifting through heat that hummed like music. Flames curled around them but never burned. Voices whispered in languages made of crackling sound: oaths of fire, stories of rebirth, promises of destruction.
Then the ground formed beneath their feet again.
The Realm of Flame
They stood upon a plain of glass and burning ash stretching to the horizon. Giant embers floated lazily through the empty sky. Mountains of translucent rock pulsed with molten veins, their peaks dripping rivers of flame into flowing lakes.
The air shimmered with power. The light here wasn't sunlight, but the glow of the realm itself.
Kevin's shadow glowed faint red. "It feels alive."
"Because it is," said a voice from the dunes.
They turned as a figure emerged—a woman entirely formed of amber fire, robe‑like layers rippling like molten fabric. Her face was neither human nor spirit, but the balance of both.
"I am Pyra of the Ember Convocation," she said. "Warden to the Flame Core, servant once to the Lord of Stillness."
She looked them over in silence, her expression unreadable.
"You three carry the Heart's breath," she said finally. "The worlds whispered of your arrival—but unity is dangerous in a place born of division. To enter the Core, you must face the Trial of Burning Memory. Only those who remember who they were before power can endure their own fire."
Dylan opened his mouth to speak, but the ground ignited beneath them, spreading in a circle.
Pyra's voice reverberated through heat and light. "Step into the flame, heirs. Let your memories burn clean—or become your chains."
The Trial Begins
Fire encircled the brothers, rising higher until it walled them apart. Kevin reached for his shadow, but it flickered, swallowed by glare. Kris's aura hardened reflexively, his stone cracking from inner pressure. Dylan's lightning arced, unable to discharge—every strike only fed the inferno's rhythm.
Then the flames changed color.
Each saw themselves within the blaze—alternate versions of who they might have become if fear had taken them earlier: Kevin, abandoning stealth for pride; Kris, turning brute force into tyranny; Dylan, consumed by speed until nothing of humanity remained.
The fire whispered in each of their voices:
You cannot forge harmony without destroying what you were.
Kevin clenched his fists. "Then we let it burn—but on our terms."
Light erupted between them, brighter than any dawn. When it faded, the plain was silent again. The three brothers stood together, marked but unbroken, their Ryuma steadier—refined through recognition, not denial.
High above, Pyra watched, her form flickering between admiration and caution. "So the flame accepts you… for now."
Beyond the Trial
As the embers cooled to crimson glow, three paths materialized behind her, each leading deeper into the fiery realm.
Pyra gestured toward the nearest. "The Flame Core awaits. You carry questions of the Seal and of Ryuzen's design. The answers you seek burn where all beginnings end."
Kevin glanced at his brothers. The marks on their chests pulsed once in sync—shadow, stone, and lightning united again.
He faced the path ahead. "Then we keep walking."
The flames parted in approval. Somewhere far beyond, unseen by any of them, Ryuzen's distant eyes flickered with faint curiosity.
The first realm had opened, and the true test of the heirs had only just begun.