Where the Emberblooms Burn Bright

“I was Elara, a Steward, a healer blessed with the Hearthstone Spirit. Years ago, I saved Governor Thorne' s life, sharing my essence, mending him when no one else could, bringing life back to his dying state. Now, I carried his child, a powerful new life blossoming within me. But then Isabelle Hayes, ambitious and cold, whispered poison into his ear. She convinced Thorne my child' s nascent power was a threat, unnatural. He betrayed me, ordering the destruction of the sacred Emberblooms our child's Spirit needed, imprisoning me, twisting my purpose into a weapon against me. Isabelle falsely claimed I was hiding the Spirit of my unborn child, faking a mysterious illness. Thorne, blinded by fear and manipulation, cruelly demanded I give him what was already lost. My baby, its Spirit already gone because he destroyed the Emberblooms, lay still within me. He refused to believe me, beating and torturing me. For every phantom symptom Isabelle displayed, he executed another of my people. I watched, helpless, as my entire community, including my sister, was massacred. Finally, he ordered a surgeon to cut the Spirit from my chest, ending my life on the desecrated land of my ancestors. How could the man I saved become such a monster? How could he sacrifice everything – my child, my people, me – for a lie? As my life faded, stolen for a Spirit that wasn't there, a raw, immense injustice consumed me. Had he truly forgotten I gave him a piece of my own Spirit, the very thing keeping him alive? But as my body burned, tossed like trash, something ancient and furious ignited. The earth itself revolted, refusing to let my death be in vain. I felt a surge, a rebirth from the flames, fused with immense power. I am Elara, the healer no more. I am the Reckoning; justice will be swift and absolute.”