Cael, a farmer's son, loses his father when a beast stampede masks an attack on his village. His father's last words: find the ones behind this crest. The brassão he presses into Cael's hand marks one of the highest ranks of the Order of the Eternal Flame — but Cael cannot read it.
Left with only his broken uncle Aldren — a man whose fragmented mind drifts between true and false memory — Cael pushes the wheelchair onto the open road.
Along the way, he meets Lys, a young mage bound for a great
Crest in Ashes - In the basement of the burned church—an unreadable will and a hand that cannot reach
The cold stone floor clung to his back.
Every time he breathed, the wound in his side throbbed with a sharp pulse. The fevered flesh ached and festered beneath the crude bandage of rough rope and mud. Kale Elden opened his eyes a sliver.
Dark.
The stonework of the ceiling floated dimly in the faint light. This was the basement of an abandoned church. Behind the altar, there was a crumbling wall, and the three of them were hiding in the gap. The air reeked of mold, mixed with the smell of dirt and old wax.
(Five days, huh.)
He'd lost track of how long it had been since they left the village. Chased, fleeing, wounded. Before he knew it, they were in this hole.
Beside him, Noel Grenfield breathed in shallow gasps. Her auburn hair was matted with sweat and dirt, her face pale. The wound where her left shoulder had been shot through was swollen enough to be visible even through the cloth wrapping. Yet she still clutched her shortbow with her remaining right hand, and her eyes alone remained open.
"...You're awake."
Noel said in a hoarse voice.
"Yeah. ...What time is it now?"
"Night. Probably close to dawn. The feel of things outside has changed a little."
Kale tried to sit up.
His side burned with pain.
"...gh."
His breath caught. The edge of his vision flickered white.
"Don't move. Your wound will open."
"...If I don't move, I'll just die."
Kale gritted his teeth and managed to lean his back against the wall. The cold stone felt good against his fevered body.
In the opposite corner, Lys Kanal sat with his knees drawn up. His short black hair fell over his face, hiding his expression. His hands hung limply, fingertips occasionally twitching in spasms.
He had exhausted his magical power.
That night, when the mercenary band attacked, Lys had mustered his last strength to cast fire magic. This was the price. His mana circulatory system was empty, and the trembling in his fingertips wouldn't stop.
"Lys. Did you drink water?"
Lys slowly raised his head.
His silver eyes glinted sharply in the darkness.
"...I drank. It was muddy water, though."
"I see. ...Sorry, muddy water's all we've got."
"Don't apologize. Just being alive is enough."
Lys's voice was terribly dry.
The food had run out the day before.
The last hard bread had been split into three portions half a day ago. The only water was muddy water scooped from a puddle outside the church, filtered through cloth. And even that was almost gone.
Kale gripped the copper badge hanging from his neck.
A ring and a flame.
The thing his father had clutched in a sea of blood.
'Find the one with this crest.'
The last words echoed in the depths of his ears.
(Even if you tell me to find them...)
(I can't read what this pattern even is.)
The cold of the metal bit into his fingertips.
—Thump.
His side pulsed heavily.
Heat coursed through his entire body. The core of his head went hazy, his vision warped. Kale rested his head against the wall.
(Dad.)
(Am I going to stay like this, not understanding anything?)
His eyelids grew heavy.
—Before he knew it, he was inside a burning village.
Flames.
Houses, fields, everything was burning.
His father lay collapsed. Bleeding from the belly, and yet still reaching out his hand.
"Kale... take this..."
His father's voice.
"Find the one with this crest..."
The copper plate pressed into his hand. Soaked with blood, slippery and wet.
"Dad, wait. I can't read. I don't know what this pattern is."
"Find them..."
"Dad!"
"Kale..."
His father's eyes were looking at him.
"Even if you can't read it... you..."
The words were swallowed by the flames.
"Dad!!"
—He woke up.
His heart was pounding violently. His whole body was drenched in sweat. Whether from the fever or the nightmare, his breathing was ragged.
"...You were talking in your sleep."
Noel said quietly.
"...What did I say?"
"You kept repeating 'Dad' and 'I can't read.'"
Kale fell silent.
He tried to steady his breathing, slowly inhaling, exhaling.
(Pathetic.)
(Muttering in my sleep at a time like this.)
But no—it wasn't just pathetic.
(I really don't know anything.)
(What Dad was trying to tell me. What this badge is. Who those masked people are. Where my uncle was taken.)
He didn't understand any of it.
Without understanding, he ran, hid, and only collected more wounds.
"...I'm going to check outside."
Noel tried to stand, bracing a hand against the wall.
Her left arm hung limp.
"Don't push yourself. Your shoulder still won't move, right?"
"I don't need to move it to use my ears. I'm just going to sense the surroundings a little."
"I'll go."
"You can't even walk straight."
"Neither can you."
"...It's different. I just can't use one arm. Your head is swimming from fever."
Noel's amber eyes looked straight at Kale.
"...Fine. Don't overdo it."
Noel slowly crawled out from behind the altar and disappeared toward the collapsed staircase.
Silence returned to the basement.
The sound of dripping water came from somewhere.
—Drip.
"...Kale-san."
Lys called in a small voice.
"What is it?"
"...It's my fault."
Lys was staring at his own fingertips.
"If I hadn't failed at mana control. If I could have cast the spell faster back then. Then you and Noel-san wouldn't have been wounded like this. And Aldren-san wouldn't have been taken away."
His voice was trembling.
"I dragged everyone into this."
"Lys."
"I'm aiming for the Magic Academy, and yet. I can't even read the address on my recommendation letter. My mana runs out immediately. I'm all knowledge and can't do anything. What use is someone like me?"
Tears spilled from Lys's silver eyes.
Wetting his black eyelashes, trailing down his cheeks.
"...I'm scared, really. Of dying like this without being able to do anything. Of dragging someone down, causing trouble, and then it just ending."
Lys's voice caught.
Kale couldn't say anything.
(I want to say he's wrong.)
(But I'm the same.)
(I can't do anything either. I can't read. I don't know how to fight.)
(I'm just running.)
—After a while, Noel returned.
"...Still far. But they're definitely getting closer."
Noel sat back down in her original spot.
"Pursuers?"
"Probably. The number of footsteps—four or five. And I smell beasts."
"Beasts... Verglim, then?"
"Maybe. The wind's bad, so I can't be sure."
Kale closed his eyes.
(So there's no more time.)
(Is this where it ends?)
(Without understanding anything?)
"...Hey."
Kale spoke with his eyes still closed.
"Both of you, listen."
Noel and Lys looked at Kale.
"I can't read."
Kale said slowly.
"So I don't understand what my father's last words meant, or what the pattern on this badge is. I don't know who those men in black are, or where my uncle is. I don't understand any of it."
His voice shook.
"I couldn't protect anything. Not the village, not my father, not my mother. Not my uncle. Not Lys, not Noel. I'm just running."
His throat tightened.
"Because I can't read, I don't know what my father wanted to tell me. Or what's written on this badge. I don't understand any of it."
Tears overflowed.
He tried to stop them, but they wouldn't stop.
"I don't understand... anything...!"
Kale cried out loud.
Like a child.
For the first time in his life, in front of others, he raised his voice and wept.
"I... I can't even understand my father's last words...!"
The sound of crying echoed through the basement.
The stone walls reverberated with it.
—After a while, Kale stopped crying.
Or rather, maybe the tears had simply run dry.
"...Me too."
Noel said quietly.
"I couldn't protect anyone either. On the battlefield, a village child. A little girl, still small. If I had noticed sooner. If I had drawn my bow better. That child wouldn't have died."
Noel, still holding her shortbow, looked up at the ceiling.
"I still remember that child's name at night. I remember, and I can't sleep. No matter how many years pass, I can't forget."
Noel's voice was flat, as if she had suppressed all emotion.
But that flatness was, conversely, all the more painful.
"...Me too."
Lys said in a trembling voice.
"I couldn't protect anyone either. No—far from protecting, I put everyone in danger. Because of my control failure, you were wounded, Noel-san was shot in the shoulder. If only I had been more competent."
"Lys."
"My dream was to become a mage. To enter the Lyuberg Magic Academy and become the greatest mage on the continent. But like this, forget dreams—I'm just a burden."
Lys covered his face.
Tears spilled through the gaps between his fingers.
"I'm sorry... I'm sorry..."
The three of them were silent for a while.
There were no words blaming each other.
If there was blame, it was only for themselves.
—Drip.
Only the sound of water echoed in the basement.
"...Hey."
Kale raised his head.
"I'm going to learn to read."
Lys and Noel looked at Kale.
"I lost because I couldn't read. Because I can't read, I don't understand my father's last words. Or the meaning of this badge. So I'm going to learn to read."
Kale's voice was clear, unlike before.
"If I can read, I'll understand the meaning of my father's badge. Next time, I'll be able to protect. I don't want to keep running without understanding anything anymore."
Kale turned toward Lys.
"Lys. Teach me to read."
Lys, his face still wet with tears, looked back at Kale.
"...Now?"
"Now. Here, now, we start."
"But the pursuers—"
"That's exactly why. Before I die, I want to learn even one character. I want to be able to read my father's words."
Lys stared at Kale for a while.
Then, with trembling fingers, he traced the mud on the ground.
One stroke, two strokes.
"...This is the character for 'fire.'"
A single character was drawn in the mud.
"Fire. It means flame."
"Fire..."
Kale stared intently at the character.
"So this is fire."
"Yes. The flame pattern on the badge you're holding. That's modeled after the shape of this 'fire' character."
Kale removed the badge from his neck.
The ring and flame carved into the copper plate.
The shape of that flame overlapped with the 'fire' character in the mud.
(So this is fire.)
(The fire my father tried to protect.)
Kale traced 'fire' in the mud with his finger.
One stroke, two strokes.
Crooked and bent.
But it was definitely 'fire.'
"...Is it right?"
"Yes. It's right. You're doing well."
Lys smiled faintly.
It was an awkward smile, with tear tracks still remaining.
"I'll write it again."
Kale wrote 'fire' in the mud over and over.
One stroke, two strokes.
His fingertips got dirty with mud.
His side hurt.
His head swam with fever.
But he wrote.
Again and again and again.
(This will be my weapon.)
(Learning to read will be my fight.)
"...Next, teach me 'water.'"
"Yes."
Lys was about to write another character in the mud.
—At that moment.
From far away, a wolf's howl echoed.
Awooooooo.
The three of them froze.
"...Close."
Noel tried to ready her shortbow, but her face twisted from the pain in her left shoulder.
"Lys, magic?"
"...I can't cast. My mana is empty."
"Got it. Stay back."
Kale looked around.
Near the collapsed altar, a candlestick had fallen. A heavy brass candlestick. Wax was stuck to it.
Kale picked it up.
It was satisfyingly heavy.
"Noel, the exit?"
"There's a collapsed gap in the wall behind the altar. A hole big enough for one child to pass through. It connects outside."
"Good. You two go out through that hole first."
"Kale, what about you—"
"I'll buy time."
"That's reckless. You have a fever."
"Reckless or not, I have no choice. You can't use your shoulder. Lys has no mana. I'll do it."
—From the top of the stairs, footsteps could be heard.
Multiple.
Coming down the stone steps.
"...They're here."
Kale gripped the candlestick tighter.
The cold feel of metal in his palm.
(It's okay.)
(I can do this.)
(Dad. Watch me.)
The footsteps drew closer.
Three. No, four.
Torchlight leaked from the top of the stairs.
"...Someone's down in the basem
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