📜 Codex Entry: The Vision at the Tavern of Flames (13 A.A.)

“The Oath is not finished. One still waits.”

Recorded from Witness Testimonies at the Red Vale Archives

Compiled under Order of the High Ashkeeper – Verified by Dreamer’s Ridge Cross-Council

Classification: Confirmed Multi-Factional Vision | Ember Oath Resurgence Event

The Flame Rekindled

It began with a stranger. No name. No banner. A hood drawn low against the firelight. Witnesses disagree on many things—height, voice, even species—but all agree on what they carried:

A shard of glass that wept flame without smoke.

This object—now referred to in Guild records as the Weeping Shard—was cast into the hearth at the Tavern of Flames, a neutral gathering hall on the southern border of the Heartland. It was not a sacred site. It was not a battlefield.

And yet, the moment it struck fire, every soul present shared the same vision.

The Vision

Each account differs in tone, but not in detail. The vision was as follows:

🔹 A crown, cracked and sundered, falling through an ocean of ash

🔹 A black tree, roots upturned, blooming with blood

🔹 A voice—not shouted, not whispered, but known:“The Oath is not finished. One still waits.”

Some saw it through flame. Others in water. A few claimed their breath stopped.All heard the words.And all remembered them.

Interpretations & Impact

Within three days, representatives from all five surviving factions had sent emissaries to the tavern’s hearth. By the end of the week, the Council of Ash was formally reconvened for the first time since the Accord’s collapse.

No two factions agreed on what the vision meant.

Faction	Interpretation
The Emberborn	The Shard is a remnant of the First Flame. The Oath must be renewed through sacrifice.
The Stone Pact	The Black Tree is proof that the roots of corruption remain. The factions must purge it together.
Hal’golgra Line	The “one who waits” is a hidden heir to the rebellion. They must be found and crowned.
The Ash-Walkers	The vision is not a call to unity, but a warning—prophecy has turned inward. The Oath is unraveling.

The Blackened Root issued no statement.But new vine-carved altars began appearing across the Wastes of Ash within days.

The Shard

The Weeping Shard has not been seen since. Witnesses claim it melted into the fire or vanished at the moment the vision ended. One scribe stated it sank into the floorboards, leaving a spiral brand behind. That spiral has since been sanded clean by fearful tavernkeepers.

Rumors persist that the Shard was not destroyed, but claimed—by a faction, a heretic, or worse.

The Guild of Seers has declared it a relic of First Memory, possibly linked to pre-demonic prophecy.

If true, the Shard predates the Demon War. Possibly even Kalgrath Hasgram.

The Words

“The Oath is not finished.”

Does this imply the original Ember Oath was flawed? Incomplete? Or corrupted over time?

“One still waits.”

Is this a reference to a person? A relic? A force? Some believe it speaks of a true Oathbearer—one who was meant to rise during the Accord, but never did. Others believe the voice refers to something more primordial. Something beneath.

The Guild has sealed further theological discussion until a clearer consensus can be formed.

Closing Analysis: From Spark to Fire

Historians do not agree on whether this moment caused the War of False Dawn. But none deny it was the beginning of the end for post-Accord neutrality.

It was not a declaration.It was not a call to arms.

It was a reminder—that the past was never laid to rest.It was only waiting.

Next Archive:

📖 Codex Entry – The Shattering of the Wounded Crossroads (22 A.A.)