Chapter 27: The City of Ash

The black tower remained visible long after the northern sky closed.

It stood at the center of the continent, far beyond the borders of any modern kingdom. Even from the Frost estate, it could be seen as a thin silhouette against the horizon.

Azeroth’s old capital.

The City of Ash.

The place where his empire had begun.

The place where his army had gathered before the Final War.

The place where his first throne had once stood.

And now, according to the message left by the fragments, the Seventh Fragment was waiting there.

Ethan Vale stared at the tower through the broken ceiling of the Frost chamber.

A figure stood on its highest balcony.

Seraphina Crow.

She was too far away to see clearly, yet the shared seal allowed her voice to reach them.

"Come back to where it began."

Then the connection faded.

The black tower disappeared from the sky.

The chamber became quiet.

Noah Blake was the first to speak.

"I have a question."

Ethan looked at him.

"Of course."

"Why did we all suddenly see a tower in the middle of nowhere?"

"It is not in the middle of nowhere."

"It looked like nowhere."

"It is the Ashen Capital."

Noah frowned.

"That name sounds welcoming."

"It was not designed to be."

Professor Aurelia Voss stood near the sealed crystal containing the original vessel. The creature’s golden eye remained open, watching the people in the chamber.

"The Seventh Fragment is not one of the six fragments connected to the lock," she said.

Ethan looked at her.

"No."

"Then what is it?"

"Something separate."

Veyron stood several steps away, his body still covered in faint cracks. The shared seal had forced a connection through him, but it had not healed the damage caused by his long existence inside the Sixth Fragment.

He looked older now.

More human.

His violet eyes held none of the confidence they had carried before.

"The Seventh Fragment is the first fragment," he said.

Ethan’s expression changed.

"The first?"

"Before you divided your authority into nine pieces, you created one fragment to preserve your identity."

"The Identity Fragment."

Veyron nodded.

"You feared losing yourself during the sealing ritual. So you placed your name, your origin, and your true memories inside a separate vessel."

Ethan touched the golden circle over his heart.

The shared lock pulsed faintly.

"Why was it separated from the others?"

"Because the Identity Fragment was too dangerous."

"For whom?"

"For everyone."

Noah crossed his arms.

"That answer is becoming a pattern."

Veyron ignored him.

"The other fragments contain functions. The Crown commands. The Witness remembers. Knowledge understands. The Sword sacrifices. The Fifth reveals. The Sixth connects."

"And the Seventh?"

"It decides who you are."

Ethan looked toward the empty place where the tower had appeared.

"What does that mean?"

Veyron’s expression became grim.

"The fragment does not contain your memories. It contains the answer to a different question."

"Which question?"

"Are you Ethan Vale..."

Veyron paused.

"...or Azeroth Veyr?"

The words settled over the chamber.

Noah looked at Ethan.

Elena Frost remained silent.

Adrian Cross’s hand tightened around his sword.

Professor Voss studied Ethan carefully.

Ethan felt the fragments inside his soul respond.

The Crown wanted a king.

The Witness wanted an answer.

Knowledge wanted understanding.

The Sword wanted a price.

The Fifth and Sixth guarded the shared seal.

But the Seventh Fragment did not call to him.

It waited.

"Why does Seraphina have it?" Ethan asked.

Veyron looked toward the distant tower.

"She does not."

"She was standing there."

"She is guarding it."

"From whom?"

"From you."

Ethan’s expression hardened.

"Then she expects me to take it."

"She expects you to choose."

Ethan walked toward the exit of the chamber.

Marianne Frost stepped in front of him.

"You cannot leave immediately."

"Why not?"

"Your body is damaged."

"I can walk."

"That is not the same as being fit to travel across the continent."

"The City of Ash is calling."

"The city is not calling you. Someone inside it is."

Ethan stopped.

Marianne continued:

"The Ashen Capital is surrounded by a dead zone. No ordinary mana functions within its borders. The airship cannot cross it, teleportation arrays fail near it, and anyone who enters without preparation may lose their magical abilities."

Ethan looked at the black sword mark on his wrist.

"Then we prepare."

Elena stepped beside her grandmother.

"My family has records of the dead zone."

Marianne gave her a sharp look.

"You were never supposed to see them."

"I have seen enough secrets for one lifetime."

"The records are incomplete."

"So are we."

Marianne remained silent.

Elena turned toward Ethan.

"There is an old road through the northern mountains. It leads to the Ashen Capital."

"How long?"

"Three days by carriage. One day by airship, if the dead zone does not interfere."

"The airship will not cross the boundary."

"Then we land before it."

Professor Voss shook her head.

"The academy will send a search party."

"Let them come," Ethan said.

"They may try to detain you."

"They can try."

"That attitude is going to get you killed."

"It has not succeeded yet."

Noah lifted his hand.

"Technically, you have died once."

Ethan looked at him.

"That was different."

"How?"

"I was stronger then."

Noah stared.

"That is the opposite of what you meant."

A loud noise echoed from above.

The Frost estate trembled.

Snow fell from the ceiling.

Marianne turned toward the exit.

"The shared seal is destabilizing."

Ethan felt it immediately.

The connection between the fragments had allowed the Door to close, but the pressure from beyond reality had not disappeared.

Something was pushing against the seal.

Not the Observer.

Something deeper.

The original vessel’s golden eye brightened.

A warning entered their minds.

**The boundary is moving.**

Voss looked toward the black crystal.

"What does that mean?"

**The Door is no longer in one place.**

The golden eye turned toward Ethan.

**It is following the Identity Fragment.**

Ethan understood.

The Seventh Fragment was not merely waiting in the Ashen Capital.

It was carrying part of the boundary with it.

Where the Identity Fragment went, the First Door would become thinner.

The city was not just a destination.

It was the center of the next breach.

Veyron looked at Ethan.

"If you recover it, the Door will recognize you completely."

"And if I do not?"

"The Observer will find another identity to use."

"Whose?"

Veyron looked toward Elena.

Then Lyra.

Then the original vessel.

"Anyone connected to the lock."

Noah stepped between Veyron and the others.

"Stop looking at people like they are options."

Veyron studied him.

"You are not afraid of me."

"I am extremely afraid of you."

"Then why stand there?"

"Because Ethan is standing here."

Veyron’s expression shifted.

Something almost like respect appeared in his eyes.

"You are the first person to follow him without worshiping him."

Noah frowned.

"I do not worship anyone. I am barely impressed by him."

Ethan glanced at him.

"You tried to save my knife."

"It was a good knife."

"It was dull."

"It had sentimental value."

Ethan almost smiled.

The chamber shook again.

Marianne moved toward the entrance.

"We must leave now."

The group gathered their equipment.

The airship had been damaged but not destroyed. The royal guards repaired the main crystals while Professor Voss stabilized the hull with temporary magic.

Princess Lyra remained near the center of the deck.

The White Flame had changed.

It no longer floated above her palm.

Instead, it remained just beneath her skin, visible as a white glow in her veins.

The Fifth Fragment was merging with her slowly.

Ethan noticed.

"Does it hurt?"

Lyra looked at him.

"Not anymore."

"That means it is adapting."

"Is that dangerous?"

"It depends on what it adapts to."

She looked toward the black sword mark on his wrist.

"You made all of this happen."

"No."

"You returned, and the fragments awakened."

"That is not the same as causing it."

"Isn’t it?"

Ethan looked toward the northern horizon.

The world had been moving toward this long before he woke inside Ethan Vale.

His return had only made the hidden pieces visible.

Lyra stepped closer.

"If you find the Seventh Fragment, what will you do?"

"Learn the truth."

"And then?"

"I do not know."

"That answer worries me."

"It should."

The airship began to rise.

Below, the Frost estate grew smaller.

Marianne remained in the courtyard, watching them leave. House Frost soldiers stood around her, no longer bound by Veyron’s contract.

The original vessel remained inside the sealed chamber.

The Sixth Fragment floated above the palace, connected to the shared lock.

As the ship moved south, the white flame above Lyra’s hand flickered.

A vision appeared in the air.

A long road covered in ash.

A ruined city.

A black tower.

And a young man standing at the gate.

His face was Ethan’s.

But his eyes were colder.

The vision vanished.

Noah pointed at the empty air.

"That was not reassuring."

"It was a memory."

"Whose?"

Ethan did not answer.

Veyron stood near the rear of the deck, guarded by two royal soldiers.

He had been allowed to travel with them because he was the only person who knew how to locate the Seventh Fragment.

Adrian approached him.

"You said your father created the Identity Fragment."

"Veyron was not my father."

"You called him that."

"A title."

"Then what was your relationship?"

Veyron looked at Adrian.

"You are the descendant of Alistair Cross."

Adrian’s face hardened.

"You know my family."

"I know the man who carried the white spear."

"Was he a traitor?"

Veyron glanced toward Ethan.

"He was a coward."

Adrian took a step forward.

"Answer me."

"He believed Veyron’s story. He helped destroy the seal. Then, when he realized the truth, he tried to stop the ritual."

"Did he fight against Azeroth?"

"Yes."

"Did he betray him?"

"Yes."

Adrian’s hand moved toward his sword.

"And you?"

"I betrayed everyone."

Adrian stared at him.

Veyron continued:

"Your ancestor died believing he had saved the world. He never knew that his spear had struck the wrong enemy."

Adrian’s face was pale.

He turned away without another word.

Ethan watched him.

"You should not have told him."

Veyron looked at him.

"Truth is not always kind."

"You enjoy hurting people."

"I enjoy watching illusions disappear."

"That is not the same thing."

"It is when the illusion is the only thing holding a person together."

Ethan’s gaze became cold.

"Then be careful. One day, someone may remove yours."

Veyron smiled faintly.

"I have very few illusions left."

The airship continued south.

By nightfall, they reached the edge of the dead zone.

The sky ahead was gray and empty.

No clouds.

No stars.

No moon.

The magical crystals beneath the airship began to dim.

Professor Voss entered the deck.

"We cannot go farther."

Ethan looked ahead.

Beyond the dead zone, a black road stretched across the land.

It was surrounded by ash.

The Ashen Capital lay beyond it.

"The airship will land here," Voss said. "We travel the rest of the way on foot."

Noah looked at the road.

"How far?"

"Approximately seventy miles."

Noah stared at Ethan.

"Can we turn around?"

"No."

"I was afraid you would say that."

The ship landed beside an abandoned watchtower.

The group gathered their supplies.

Ethan looked toward the dead zone.

The moment he stepped across its boundary, the fragments inside his soul went silent.

No Crown.

No Witness.

No Knowledge.

No Sword.

No White Flame.

No Sixth connection.

For the first time since awakening, Ethan could not feel the magic inside him.

The silence was unsettling.

It was also familiar.

The Ashen Capital had been built to suppress magic.

Ethan had designed the dead zone to protect the Identity Fragment.

Or to imprison it.

He could no longer remember which.

Veyron stepped across the boundary.

His body immediately began to shake.

The bloodline connection within him vanished.

He dropped to one knee.

Ethan looked at him.

"Can you continue?"

Veyron laughed weakly.

"Without magic, I am only a man."

"That is what most people are."

"I am not used to it."

"Then learn."

The road ahead was covered in gray ash.

No wind moved through it.

No birds flew overhead.

Even their footsteps sounded muffled.

After several hours, they reached the remains of an old stone gate.

Half of the structure had collapsed.

A black symbol was carved into the ground.

Ethan recognized it.

The mark of the Ashen Empire.

A crown surrounded by a broken circle.

Beneath it was a sentence written in the old language.

**Only the one who remembers may enter.**

Noah read the translated inscription on a crystal tablet.

"So the gate is locked."

Ethan placed his hand against the symbol.

Nothing happened.

The fragments were silent.

His magic could not function inside the dead zone.

Then the gate whispered.

Not through mana.

Through memory.

**State your name.**

Ethan looked toward the ruined city beyond the gate.

A black tower rose in the distance.

The Seventh Fragment was inside.

He answered:

"Ethan Vale."

The gate remained closed.

The voice returned.

**That is the name of your body.**

Ethan said nothing.

Veyron watched him.

The others waited.

The gate asked again.

**State your name.**

Ethan looked at the ash-covered road.

He remembered the throne.

The wars.

The blood.

The academy.

The second life.

He could say Azeroth Veyr.

He could say Ethan Vale.

Neither answer was complete.

The gate waited.

Ethan placed one hand over his heart.

"My name is Ethan Vale."

The black symbol beneath him began to glow.

"But Azeroth Veyr is part of me."

The gate shook.

The ruined stones rose from the ground.

Ethan continued:

"I am not the man I was."

The black tower in the distance lit up.

"But I will not pretend he never existed."

The gate opened.

A wave of ash swept across the road.

Beyond the entrance, the City of Ash waited.

The city was exactly as Ethan remembered it.

And completely different.

Its walls were broken.

Its towers were empty.

Its streets were filled with statues.

Every statue looked like Ethan.

King.

General.

Mage.

Monster.

The city had preserved every version of him.

At the center stood the black tower.

A single figure waited at its entrance.

A young man with Ethan’s face.

He wore a simple black uniform.

No crown.

No weapon.

No armor.

He smiled.

"Welcome home, Ethan Vale."

The figure’s eyes were violet.

"Or should I call you Azeroth?"

Ethan stepped through the gate.

Behind him, the stone doors closed.

And from the top of the black tower, the Seventh Fragment began to sing.

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**Author’s Note: Add the novel to library, and send support if you like it!**