All Chapters of Ashes of the Crown: Chapter 51
- Chapter 60
73 chapters
Chapter 51
Signs of the FutureThe path from Renshollow wound through war-torn golden fields. Even though the terrain was warmed by the early sun, Kael and his friends were surrounded by a solemn silence. The weight of the lives lost, the shouts, and the ashes from the siege were all still vivid in the mind.With her robes still scorched at the hems, Mira strolled silently next to Kael. Finally, she remarked, "Renshollow was a victory, but I don't feel like we won."Kael's face was tired as he looked at her. "We kept the populace safe. stopped the tide. However, the Shadow Council is still very much intact.Grent, continuing on his way, paused to stretch his aching shoulders. "Next time, we'll need more than just pitchforks and torches if that was only a taste of their army."Selene brushed dust off her cloak and nodded. "And additional allies." This cannot be done by us alone.Bow in hand, Orin jogged up from the rear. Speaking
Last Updated : 2025-06-09
Chapter 52
Shadows at DawnThe cold breath of dawn crept across the cliffs of Vareth as Kael stood at the edge of the precipice. Below him, the sea churned in slow fury, waves crashing against jagged rocks that had tasted centuries of blood and storm. The wind tugged at his cloak, whispering fragments of the past—memories of Renshollow, of friends he had lost, of the promises he still bore.Behind him, the remnants of the resistance encampment stirred. Tents flapped in the wind. Fires crackled in the morning stillness. Every man and woman bore signs of war—bandaged wounds, sleepless eyes, armor dented and dull. And yet, they stood. They endured.Mira approached, her robes dusted with ash and dried blood, her eyes sunken with exhaustion. A thin journal was clutched in her hand, the spine fraying from use.“The scouts returned,” she said quietly. “The last of the Shadow Council have retreated into the Iron Hollows. But they won’t
Last Updated : 2025-07-21
Chapter 53
Into the Iron HollowsThe Iron Hollows rose before them like the jaws of a buried beast, dark and ancient. Mist poured from the broken stones, cloaking the valley in an unnatural silence. Trees twisted in agonized shapes along the path, their bark scorched as though touched by flame centuries ago. Even the birds had abandoned the sky above it.Kael rode at the front, the Blade of Eryndor sheathed across his back, pulsing faintly against his spine. The rhythm reminded him he was alive—and of the burden he carried. Every step of his mount brought them closer to the council’s den, closer to the end.Behind him, the resistance followed in somber formation. Mira, riding beside Selene, whispered incantations under her breath, while Grent rode grim and silent. Their numbers were a fraction of what they once were, but what remained had been tempered in fire.As they reached the narrow pass, Kael raised a hand, signal
Last Updated : 2025-07-28
Chapter 54
The Long Silence There was still smoke over the hills when the Iron Hollows fell down behind them. The sky, which had been dark and full of black clouds and the shouts of cursed spirits, was now a delicate gold color in the serenity of dawn. Kael stood on the ridge above the battlefield, taking in the smell of ash and wildflowers. It was done. reinforcing the idea that war is bad. Grent joined him, hobbling a little, and his armor was burned and damaged. He responded, "We held the line." "The council is gone." The curse has been broken. Kael nodded. The words didn't sound like they were winning. They sounded like a eulogy. The survivors walked amid the dead below. Using makeshift stretchers, saying quiet prayers, and slowly remembering and lamenting. Mira knelt next to a young mage who had fallen while protecting a group of scouts. Selene helped carry an injured archer away from a burning road. Kael didn
Last Updated : 2025-07-28
Chapter 55
The Cost of LightThe wind howled through the Iron Hollows like a hurt animal, its sound bouncing off walls that time and deceit had sculpted. The small trails that wound through the mountains were littered with shattered stone and the bones of long-dead soldiers. These were dismal signs of the route Kael now followed.He walked in front of the group, his shadow made of steel and fire. The Blade of Eryndor pulsed weakly at his side, and its warmth was a lifeline in the chilly deathlight of the Hollow's within. Mira, Grent, Selene, and a small group of resistance warriors followed him. Their faces were harsh from loss and keen with hope.Selene got closer and spoke in a quiet voice. "How far down do these tunnels go?""Far enough," Kael said without stopping. "The Shadow Council erected their fortress deep beneath the earth. They wanted to be forgotten. We won't let them.Mira held out a torch. Its flame m
Last Updated : 2025-07-28
Chapter 56
The Oath's Embers The storm clouds that came over Eldros had nothing to do with the weather. As Kael and his friends got closer to the broken gates of the Iron Hollows, the sky themselves appeared to weep. At first, the rain was a whisper, then a hiss, and finally it soaked through armor and fabric. The Blade of Eryndor sizzled with each drop, and it pulsed with an increasing feeling of urgency as if it could know what was coming. Kael rode in the front, his face stiff and his mouth firm against the fear that was building in his chest. Selene rode next to him, quiet for once. The weight of what they were going to confront made her typical sharpness dim. Mira, Grent, and the rest of the Resistance pursued them. The Iron Hollows looked like a wound in the ground, with black stone that had been scarred by years of battle and depravity. It used to be a citadel for dwarven rulers, but it has long ago fallen into ruin
Last Updated : 2025-07-28
Chapter 57
The Quiet AgreementIt seemed strange how quiet the air was. It wasn't the quiet before the storm; it was something deeper and older. Kael, Mira, and Selene climbed the stairs of the ruined sanctuary in the Vale of Mourning. Each breath they took felt heavy with quiet. There were no birds singing. There was no breeze. The only sound was the echo of their footsteps on mossy stone."This is it," Selene said in a voice that was abnormally quiet. "The place where the Accord rests."with front of them was a gate made of intertwined roots and stone. The archway was covered with symbols that glowed with latent power. Around the frame were carvings of the Five Crowns, which are now broken and gone. People say that this sacred area used to be a neutral zone for kings and queens, where truth ruled over violence.Kael moved forward and lifted his hand. The ward's magic made the Blade of Eryndor shine. The gate creaked open with
Last Updated : 2025-07-28
Chapter 58: The Weight of Dawn
The morning came quietly, as if the world itself was afraid to breathe too loudly.Mist rolled through the valley, drifting over the ruins of the Iron Hollows and the broken battlements of what had once been a kingdom’s scar. Kael stood among the ashes, the Blade of Eryndor sheathed at his side. Its once-blinding glow had faded to a dull shimmer, like a firebanked but still alive.He hadn’t slept. None of them had. The night had been filled with the soft sounds of rebuilding—hammer on stone, prayers for the dead, the crackle of small fires meant to warm and not to burn.Selene found him at the ridge overlooking the valley, her hair tangled by the wind, her armor scuffed and darkened from the last battle. She didn’t speak at first. She just stood beside him, shoulder brushing his, both of them looking down at the gray horizon.“It’s strange,” she said finally. “All this silence. After everything we’ve done, I thought the world would sound different.”Kael exhaled slowly. “It does. You
Last Updated : 2025-11-04
Chapter 59: The Light That Remains
The rains had passed, and the world smelled of new beginnings.Morning sunlight washed over the valley of Eryndor, spilling across the broken hills and settling on the foundations of a city reborn. It had been three months since the fall of the Shadow Council, three months since Kael had buried the Blade of Eryndor in the earth and walked away from war. Yet still, the echoes of what had been lingered—in the silence between hammer blows, in the whispers of songs sung for the fallen, in the faces of those who now dared to dream.Kael stood at the crest of a hill overlooking the valley. Below, life had returned where once there was only ruin. The River Thane flowed freely again, no longer choked with ash. Children ran through the new settlements, their laughter ringing like bells through the morning air. Fields of barley and wildflowers stretched across the plains, golden and alive.He felt the breeze lift his cloak and smiled faintly. Peace was still fragile, a living thing that could v
Last Updated : 2025-11-04
Chapter 60: Epilogue – Ashes to Dawn
The years came and went quietly, as they often do when peace finally takes root.The wars that once scarred the kingdoms faded into history—first into stories, then into lessons, and finally into legends. What had been a fractured realm was now whole again, bound not by conquest, but by shared loss and the slow, stubborn work of rebuilding.The cities of men, elves, and dwarves thrived once more. Trade routes reopened. Rivers ran clear where they had once been poisoned by shadow. The scars of battle still marked the earth, but life had found a way to grow between them—flowers sprouting through old cracks, ivy reclaiming ruined towers.And through it all, the memory of those who had carried the light endured.Kael Eryndor had long since laid down his sword.The Blade of Eryndor remained buried where he’d left it, its once-brilliant glow now resting beneath the soil of the valley that bore his family’s name. The people had tried to retrieve it, to place it in the Hall of Kings—but Kael
Last Updated : 2025-11-11