CHAPTER 17: The Cracked Flame
Duskwatch Fortress – The Lower Sanctum
The sanctuary was silent.
Not solemn. Not sacred.
Silent, like a temple on the brink of forgetting its god.
Seyda stood before the flame. The brazier hissed low, its fire guttering, pulsing strangely—as if even it questioned the prayers offered to it.
Acolytes in red veils knelt around her. Their chants had changed in rhythm. In tone.
In target.
Some whispered not the old verses. Not the Flame's true name.
But Kael's.
The Heretic Scroll
Sister Veyla, youngest of the inner circle, brought forth a torn scrap of vellum found beneath the cot of a new initiate.
It was stained in ash and blood.
"The Sovereign is the Flame made flesh."
"He burns not with the fire, but as it."
"We do not pray to him. We offer ourselves."
Seyda read the words in silence.
Then, without hesitation, cast them into the fire.
The flame sputtered—and turned blue for the briefest moment.
The Whispering Hall
That night, Seyda summoned her inner six—her Veilguard. Each was loyal. Each had fought beside her.
But each looked shaken.
"There are more of them," whispered Mother Elsha. "They gather at night. Not for prayer, but to sing… to speak his name."
"They're not Red Veil," another hissed. "They're building something else. A new gospel."
Seyda's face did not change. But her hand, beneath the table, trembled.
"Then they have forgotten what flame truly is."
Confrontation – A Traitor Within
The trial was quiet, held in the crypt.
The accused: Acolyte Tharn, once a healer, now leader of the breakaway sect.
He stood in crimson cloth—no veil. No shame.
"He is the miracle," Tharn said, as if explaining a simple truth. "You speak of flame, but he commands it. He gives hope. The Church gave fear."
Seyda stepped forward.
"I followed Kael when he had nothing. When he bled beside orphans. Not above them."
"He is above now," Tharn said. "You just refuse to see it."
A pause.
Then Seyda unsheathed the ceremonial dagger.
"Flame cleanses."
After the Purge
They burned three scrolls. Bled one man. Banned five more.
But the fire didn't burn brighter that night.
It burned lower. Hungrier.
And Seyda, alone in her chamber, wrote a new prayer by candlelight:
"If he is Sovereign, let it be by flame's will.
If he is more, let me not see it.
For I was called not to follow a man—
But to carry fire."
Final Scene – Kael Unknowing
Above, in the cold tower, Kael walked alone with Myrren.
"Have you noticed them?" he asked. "The way some of them look at me?"
Myrren grunted. "Same way I used to look at warhorses. Respectful. Until they trample you."
Kael smiled faintly.
"Sometimes I wonder if they believe in me… or just need something to believe in."
And far below, the flame hissed again—quiet, blue at the edges.
As if listening.