Year fifteen of the Firefolk Era, the night of the autumn equinox.
The Fireheart Platform stood silent atop the Ruin Abyss. No wind stirred across the land, yet ten thousand lamps swayed gently. A Ya sat cross-legged at its center, facing the stone wall engraved with the words "Heart Lantern." On the long scroll beneath it, new words had begun to appear—the names of newly appointed Lamp Guarders from across the Nine Provinces, slowly lighting up like stars. She gazed at the river of lamps and saw streams of crimson-gold flame winding out of the earth's veins, flowing into the heavens to meet the river of stars, as though all that remained between heaven and earth was one undying current of light.
Suddenly, as midnight approached, heaven and earth fell utterly silent.
A thousand lamp flames trembled at once, then rang out together—not with sound, but with Heartvoice, like a tide washing over the soul, like an ancient bell tolling deep within the heart. A Ya abruptly raised her head and saw blurred faces emerging within every flame—elders, youths, women, children. They spoke no words, yet whispers drifted from the hearts of the flames, like wind passing through woods, like rain falling on ash. Every word entered her heart with perfect clarity:
“I wish to stand guard for Shouyi for one more winter.”
"As long as the hearth fire still burns, home is still there."
"Tell the children to say a name when they light a lamp."
"Has someone walked the road I left unfinished?"
They were Lamp Guarders.
They were the Lamp Guarders who had become lamplight, returned to the earth's veins, and fallen into deep slumber within Ashen Speech. Their wills had never dispersed, but lay hidden deep within the lamp flames. Through the remembrance of the "Heart