The amber crescent beside Kokoro’s family mark shines. The dry well unfolds into a westward stair, its steps descending beneath the hill as distant flame answers the living coal.
Sella and Mira follow through the opening passage. Behind them, the oath chamber seals, while the village elder remains far above at the shrine, guarding the fading rings.
The stair opens into a vast sanctum. Ancient pillars rise around a black-stone altar, each carved with folded flames, family marks, and lines deliberately chiseled away.
Mira Venn
Those marks were erased after the oath. Someone wanted the guardian’s terms forgotten, not merely hidden.
The living coal lifts from Kokoro’s palm and hangs above the altar. A western fire kindles beyond it, forming the outline of a towering presence crowned in ember.
Sella Venn
Guardian of the western deep, we bring the answering voice beneath the First House. Show us what your covenant required.
the western guardian
The bloodline was granted a voice, but never ownership. Ask what the first house concealed, and learn what the guardian still demands.