Forgotten Embers | ONC2025

A kingdom doomed to burn. A beast fated to rise. A love that should have changed everything. The curse that will never forget.

Once every quarter year, on the same fateful night, the kingdom is reduced to ash. The people cower, the king grieves, and when the sun rises, the world is restored; perfect, untouched, and utterly unaware of the devastation that came before. No one remembers the ruin. No one questions the cycle.

This time, though, something is changing. Fragments of forgotten lives claw at the edges of her mind. The king hesitates when he should be certain. Old wounds ache with memories that shouldn't exist. And for the first time in centuries, she has a choice: let the curse claim them once more, or break the cycle; no matter the cost.

But to do that, they must remember. And if they do, she might lose him all over again.

Because the past isn't done with them. And this time, when the flames rise, there may be no reset... only reckoning.

Written for the open novella contest 2025.
Prompt 129 : The ink of our souls binds us beyond the pages of time.