Everything You Need to Know Before Burn of the Everflame

Summary

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Fantasy Fangirls: Everything You Need to Know Before Burn of the Everflame

Date: August 3, 2026
Hosts: Nicole and Lexi (Fantasy Fangirls)
Focus: A lore-rich, spoiler-packed guide to the Kindred’s Curse Saga in preparation for Burn of the Everflame (Book 4)

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Episode Overview

In this detailed, high-energy episode, sisters Nicole and Lexi take listeners on an in-depth walkthrough of everything crucial to remember (and theorize!) before diving into Burn of the Everflame, the conclusion to Pen Cole's Kindred's Curse Saga. This encyclopedic FanGuide covers major world lore, realms, magic system, societal conflicts, and the complicated status of every key character — with a big focus on where the story left off after Heat. The hosts blend spoiler warnings, witty sister banter, feminist rage, and expert-level Easter eggs, creating a must-listen guide for returning fans eager for the series finale.

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Major Themes & Purpose

• Comprehensive Recap: Re-examine the Kindred's Curse Saga’s sprawling world, plot, and character arcs.
• Lore & Predictions: Prep for book 4 with deep dives into religion, magic, and social tensions.
• Spoiler Warning: Major spoilers for Spark, Glow, and Heat — but NOT Burn; focus on catching up/re-orienting.
• Theorizing & Bets: While predictions are reserved for the next episode, Nicole and Lexi start placing big bets.

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Episode Breakdown

1. World of Omarion: Lore, Religion, and Society

[07:27 - 10:38]

• Pre-Kindred Dawn:

  • Mortals worshipped Old Gods and the Everflame, a sacred, physically real “Tree of Life and Death.”
  • Upon death, souls judged by the Old Gods: worthy souls warm in the Undying Fire, unworthy in a cold hell (with a possible “second chance”).
  • (Lexi): “I think we will absolutely learn more about this second chance... we could even see our FMC judged and experience this firsthand.” [08:47]
  • Ancient mortal history, civilizations, and culture have been systematically erased or redacted since the Kindred’s arrival.

• The Kindred Arrival:

  • 10 immortal siblings (the Kindred) brought magic and their gryverns; their 'help' shifted societal, political, and magical structure forever.
  • Attempted to bind their immortality to their mortal partners, but the spell went wrong — resulting in nine realms, each ruled by a magical “descended” bloodline.

• Descent into Oligarchy:

  • The offspring of mortal/Kindred unions — the Descended — became rulers, separate, and eventually oppressors.
  • Mortals forced into ghettos or outright banned from some realms (e.g., Igneous).

2. The Nine Realms & Forgotten Lands

[21:20 - 37:06]

• Lumnos: Light & Shadow magic, lush forests; descending obsessed with beauty/power; mostly mortal friendly but with strict class divisions.
• Fortos: Force & Valor; gendered magic (healing in women, decay in men); militaristic, anti-rebel, mortals permitted but segregated.
• Faunos: Beast & Brute; animal magic, jungle settings; mortals forbidden except the ring road.
• Arboros: Root & Thorn; plant magic; farm-based and mortal-friendly; current queen is secretly half-mortal.
• Igneous: Sand & Flame; fire/sand magic; mortals banned (step on soil = instant death by flames).
• Umbros: Mind & Secret; mind control/reading; perpetual night canyon realm, black market, now devastated by Ophiuchai.
• Miros: Sea & Sky; wind/water magic; port realm, recently less mortal-friendly due to Guardian/Ophiuchai attacks.
• Sophos: Thought & Spark; electricity/total recall; futuristic, communal, mortals allowed by invite.
• Monteos: Stone & Ice; largest realm, harsh, elitist, run by a council, mortals banned (officially “for their own safety”).
• Forgotten Lands: Once Omnos’s realm, now a no-go zone “absorbed” by Monteos; Ophiuchai’s current seat of power.
• Kuril: The neutral island at Omarion’s heart, formerly home to the Everflame. Now the site of the Kindred temple and the only place descended magic doesn’t work (except perhaps for DM in the finale).

“Kuril was a sacred place for mortals long before the Kindred arrived ... I think the roots of the Everflame Tree are still beneath the soil of Kuril.”
— Nicole [44:39]

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3. Magic System: Foraging, Godhoods, and Gryverns

[36:41 - 43:16]

• Foraging Magic:
  • The Kindred’s “foraging spell” created the magical boundaries of nine realms.
  • Authority and magic tied to the annual Foraging Day ritual on Kuril, binding crowns to their land’s magic source.
  • Descended lose magic outside their realm, unless permitted by a crown or when forging magic is disrupted (as it currently is).
• Godhoods:
  • Descended magic is personified as a powerful, sentient “godhood” within, driven by emotion.
  • Crowns are strongest; half-mortal descended may be stronger still (echoes of Kindred’s original design).
• Gryverns:
  • Immortal, magically bound “dragon-griffin” guardians — each realm has (or had) one, bound to its crown.
  • Key plot element: Can only be killed by godstone bolts or setting foot on Kuril.
  • “I think it’s a given...we will get multiple gryvern deaths [in Burn].”
    — Lexi [42:13]

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4. Plot State at End of Book 3 (Heat of the Everflame)

[57:28 - 67:29]

• DM Bellator:

  • Half-mortal, bearer of four crowns (potential for more), uniquely able to absorb/replicate all forms of magic, possesses mysterious “silver light/fire” (potentially connected to Everflame itself).
  • Stabbed by the Igneous King with a godstone blade on Kuril, currently dead (but likely not for long due to Omnos blood and precedent set by Ophiuchai’s survival).
  • Trapped on Kuril by a new version of the foraging spell: “bound to the island—to never again leave these shores.” [57:37]
  • Must fulfill a magically-binding bargain: kill the man who led the attack (presumably Ophiuchai, though possible loopholes abound).
  • “I actually could see DM losing it [her magic] by choice and walking away from the kill she doesn’t know if she can do in the first place...”
    — Lexi [71:23]

• Luther:

  • The Lumnos prince, famously powerful and pro-mortal, bears physical and emotional scars. Now with the “mommy Guardians,” sharing DM’s vision for equality.
  • “He is the most powerful Lumnos descended with both light and shadow magic ... he has always imagined himself serving the queen of Lumnos after Mother Lumnos gave him a second chance at life as a boy.” [73:09]
  • Sporting a beard, as Nicole gleefully notes.

• Teller:

  • DM’s fully mortal younger brother; survivor of brutal plot twists; recently rescued from Sophos, currently with Luther and the good Guardians.

• Lily:

  • Healer in Lumnos, ex of Teller. May become important in rallying younger generations.

• Alix, Taran, Zellaric, and Eleanor:

  • Core members of DM’s “inner circle.” Their fates are closely tied to DM, with subplots around identity, power, and love.
  • Possible mating ceremony (with foreshadowed bloodshed).

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5. Societal Conflicts: Mortals vs. Descended, Guardian Factions, and Crowns

[62:25 - 67:29]

• Mortals’ Perspective:

  • Deep distrust of descended after centuries of oppression.
  • The Guardians of the Everflame split in two:
    • Faction #1 (led by Aurelie + DM): Seeking equality and recovery of lost mortal culture.
    • Faction #2 (led by Ophiuchai + Vance): Seeking utter destruction of the descended.
  • Ophiuchai has been kidnapping descended children, theorized to be for magical “batteries,” control, or to raise a new regime.

• The Crowns:

  • Most have agreed to trap DM and alter the Foraging magic at Doriel’s suggestion.
  • Current speculation and bets on how many crowns will die by the end of Burn (likely all, to fulfill series prophecy).

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6. Key Side Characters & Where They Stand

[101:13 - 117:38, selected summaries]:

• Remus Corbois:
  • Luther and Lily’s manipulative, power-clutching father; recently lost his magic; likely to play a major intrigue role.
• Gareth & Aemon Corbois:
  • Antagonists within the 20 houses, abusers, symbols of old guard.
• Doriel:
  • Nonbinary Sophos crown; driven more by rules/survival than malice, central to DM’s current confinement.
• O Banneron (Miros king), Igneous king, Queen Murell (Arboros), Faunos queen:
  • All play roles in crown politics re: DM’s fate and the shifting realm alliances.
• Vance:
  • Leader of the “bad daddy Guardians,” ultra-violent, out for all descended blood; multiple bets on who kills him (Nicole: Henry, Lexi: Ophiuchai indirectly).
• Henry:
  • DM’s ex, complicated alliance with Guardians, potentially redeemable (or not), new relationship with Lana.
• Del, Breck, Cordelia, Simon, Ennis, Runa, Stuart:
  • Allies and wild cards, each representing a perspective on revolution, loyalty, and survival.

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7. Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• “I think we will absolutely learn more about this second chance... we could even see our FMC judged and experience this firsthand.” — Lexi [08:47]
• “If you have not finished Spark and Glow and Heat of the Everflame, please go finish the series. We will be here when you’re done.” — Nicole [04:48]
• “I think it’s a given ... we will get multiple Gryvern deaths [in Burn].” — Lexi [42:13]
• "Kuril was a sacred place for mortals long before the Kindred arrived ... I think the roots of the Everflame Tree are still beneath the soil of Kuril." — Nicole [44:39]
• “The Guardians killed Andre. I think that Vance 1000% led that fight.” — Nicole [96:40]
• “He [Vance] is a shoot first, ask questions, never kind of a person.” — Nicole [93:17]
• “Henry is so impressionable... I think Henry is going to stay on the good side for Burn and not go to Vance’s.” — Lexi [93:08]
• “There is way too much crazy wild card magic for us to follow the rules we’ve been following for the series so far.” — Lexi [112:55]

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8. Format & Future Episodes

[118:04 - 121:17]

• Burn of the Everflame coverage will be a read-along, not a postmortem deep dive:

  • Two episodes a week, each covering up to a specific chapter.
  • Nicole and Lexi will theorize and react in real time alongside listeners.

• Coming Soon:

  • Part 2 (final predictions and bets for Burn), releasing August 4th.
  • “Everything You Need to Know from Crescent City for ACOTAR 6” (August 10th).
  • Burn of the Everflame read-along starts September 8th.

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Summary Table: State of Key Figures at End of Heat

| Character | Status | |----------------|--------------------------------------------| | DM Bellator | 4 crowns, stabbed w/ godstone, trapped | | Luther | With good Guardians, alive, pro-DM | | Teller | Child prodigy, escaped Sophos, w/ Luther | | Lily | Healer in Lumnos, single, might be in danger | | Aurelie | Guardian leader (equality, not genocide) | | Vance | Bad Guardian leader, enemies w/ DM | | Henry | Torn between Guardian factions, new GF | | Ophiuchai | Big Bad, likely literal Omnos | | Other Crowns | Trapped DM, lines drawn, targets? |

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a densely packed, expertly structured canon overview — filled with lore nuances, character analysis, arc recaps, and worldbuilding. Nicole and Lexi’s dynamic keeps it both accessible and thrilling for hardcore fans returning after a gap or diving straight into Burn. Their infectious energy, constant theorizing, and willingness to make public bets all combine for a high-value listen.

Listeners are prepped for Burn, with all major players, plot threads, worldbuilding, and burning questions brought into the light — just as the final conflict looms.

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Next up: Don’t miss Part 2 for all their predictions, wild theories, and “FFG famous” bets! [Scheduled August 4, 2026]

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Transcript

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[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Therapy has been really a game changer for me. Recently I have been learning how to be a lot more present in my life outside of work, my family, especially with my husband. And it's really helping me also identify my own triggers when I can get very defensive. And it's just helping me become more aware of myself and identifying all these aspects that, you know, just kind of feel tangled up in your day to day and make me do things or feel things that I might not always want to do or feel. And it's really helping me rewire my narratives, be a better wife and mother and business partner too. And it's just been really, really, really, really helpful. I don't More I could drive that

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

home, see the reviews, see what stands out, and see if better help is right for you. Visit betterhelp.com FFG that's better. HP.com FFG. Welcome, welcome, welcome to the Fantasy Fangirls Podcast, where two sisters dive deep, beloved Fantasy Lore character themed series and more.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'm Lexi, older sister and Fantasy Lore nerd.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

And I'm Nicole, younger sister and romantic at heart.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

And today's episode is all about everything you need to know before reading Burn of the Everflame, the fourth and final book of the Kindred's Curse Saga by Pen Cole.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

This episode goes over where our story and our characters left off at the end of Heat, as well as general world building to refresh your memory. But tomorrow's episode, that's right, you get two episodes in one week, will revolve around our final predictions, our lingering questions, and of course, our famous FFG bets. All the fun theorizing stuff.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

With that said, please listen closely to our spoiler warning because we are talking spoilers, spoilers, spoilers for the first three books in the Kindred's Curse saga, including all of Spark, Glow and Heat of the Everflame. Full Disclosure Friends, we are fortunate to receive an arc of Burn of the Everflame that comes out on September 8th, but we are not reading anything beyond the first three Luther chapters that Pen publicly shared last year. So again, this episode does not include any spoilers for Burn the Everflame as we all prepare to read this final book of the series.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

But like Lexi said, it will contain spoilers for the very end of Heat of the Everflame. Like the last page, the last paragraph, the last sentence. Yes, we are going to be talking all about it. So if you have not finished Spark and Glow and Heat of the Ever Flame, please go finish the series. We will be here when you're done.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next, we at Fantasy Fangirls are adults who say adult things about adult books. In other words, friends, this podcast is rated R. We are back in the

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

land of the Luther My top book boyfriends. I missed you my darling. So please be mindful of those little listening ears.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Be sure to check out our other two podcasts in the Fantasy Fangirls Media Network. Fantasy Fan Fellas is hosted by our Executive Producer Hayden and booktok star Steven Walker as they wrap up their coverage of the Mistborn Trilogy and begin their read along deep dive for Dungeon Crawler Carl.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Then of course we have Fantasy Fan Reads hosted by the delightful Jess of Lost Books of Jess that's all about the comfy cozy coffee conversations with author interviews and so much more. Give both of these FFG Network shows. A follow link is in the show notes.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Additionally, we would love to see you at upcoming live events like the midnight release party for Burn of The Everflame on September 7th where we're joining Pin Cole in New York for the celebration.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

We're so excited. Then we also have our ACOTAR 6 and 7 midnight release parties with tattered cover and booking gather in Denver, Colorado

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

as well as our live show tour starting in Chicago on September 9, Charlotte, North Carolina on September 24 and New York City on September 27.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Links to all of these events and more are in the show notes and on our website. Check it out for all the details.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Last thing before we jump into this Everything you need to know before Burn episode. If you love Fantasy Fangirls and want more events, more content, more community and so much more, please check out Fantasy Fan Club.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

We have six Media Network tiers that you can join, three of which are Fantasy Fangirl specific things like access to our Boppin Discord, live Q&As, book clubs, often featuring the authors themselves, community events, ad free early access episodes, our full episode outlines behind the scenes privileges and so much more can be found at the Fantasy Fan Club.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Join the party and learn more about all the fan club tier [e-mail] fanclub. The link is also in the show notes and thank you friends so much from the bottom of our hearts for supporting us at Fantasy Fangirls. It means everything and we appreciate you so dearly.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

And now 11 will fall for one to rise. It's back to Omarion we ride. Yay.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

First things first, let's refresh our memories on the world of Omarion. Its history, religions, geography, magic system and societal structure that all play key importance to the plot starting with what life was like for the mortals here before the Kindred arrived to this world and changed everything. Before the ten Kindred arrived, the mortals worshiped the old Gods and the Everflame. The Everflame is known as the Tree of Life and Death, thought to be the source of all life and death. Depicted as a gnarled tree with leaves of flame, it is believed to have been a real physical tree that grew on Kuril, whose leaves truly did burn with a perpetual fire until the Kindred chopped it down to make room for their temple. According to old mortal religion, all life begins as spiritual sparks from the Everflame that fall to the earth as glowing seeds. It is said that at death, those found worthy by the old gods are placed among its burning branches where their earthly bodies may turn to ash, but their souls remain forever warmed by the Undying Fire. Souls found unworthy are condemned to the cold hell encased in ice. But they can petition for a second chance to earn their way into the warm haven of the Undying Fire. This part really stands out to me because I think we will absolutely learn more about this with the Second Chance. We've gotten a lot of language with DM feeling like she's going to be judged. So I could even see us, you know, experiencing this for ourselves as the readers in some way or fashion.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So we're going to talk a lot about will DM die? Will DM not die? I could absolutely see her dying, going to this cold place and then coming face to face with that red haired man who again we'll be talking more about. And then he's going to judge her into a second chance at life basically. I think it's something like that too firsthand as dm. Yeah, that would be so interesting with

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

an FMC being considered unworthy in that sense. And she has to deal with a lot of her own self conflict of having to do bad things for the greater good. So I'll be curious to see how that works out.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'll be curious too because DM does have a little bit of a moral high horse around being good, being not a killer being, you know, a healer. And I would think it's very ironic and interesting character development for her to be considered unworthy and then her have to do something so.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So like let's take diem out of the equation here because I didn't mean to start this everything you need to do it before burn, you know, kind of thing with that. But what if it could be orally as well?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh, it totally could, yeah.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Then there were the ancient mortal civilizations which were Very different from how mortals live in the present day. These civilizations had unique names that are now banned from being spoken or even written down. The mortals tested out many different governing bodies, including monarchies, councils, parliaments, even self rule. They were working toward a fair and just system when the Kindred came and messed it all up. But they also had their own religions, their own gods, books, knowledge, universities, technology, etc. Now in our current time, that has all since been completely wiped or painstakingly redacted page by page. Of all the old mortal civilizations, the only thing that has still persisted till today is the Everflame. But even that's now banned.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Lets go back many, many, many millennia ago to when the 10. That's right. 10 immortal siblings known as the Kindred came to this world seeking refuge actually from their own violent destruction. In their world, the Kindred each brought their own unique form of magic as well as their gryverns to Omarion. They also brought a piece of their homeworld called the Heartstring Stone. But when they arrived to this world, Amarian, the locals, the mortals, while they were advancing in their own technologies, trying their own governing systems, they were deep, deep, deep in war. And it actually reminded the Kindred of what was going down on their own homeworld. Which again was filled with violent destruction. But here they could actually do something about it. So the Kindred helped the mortals with their gifts and their powers. And as a result the mortals started bowing to them as gods. And most of the Kindred welcomed it. Though One of the 10 siblings, Omnos, was not put off by the war on their homeland, nor the war here on Amarian. After arriving and stopping the war on Amarian soil, nine out of the ten Kindred fell in love with mortal citizens of Amarian. And rather than watch their beloved wither to old age and die, the Kindred agreed to abandon their eternal youth and bind themselves to their mortal lovers lives. Or that's what we were led to believe. Or that's what you thought we learn in Monteos diary in Heat of the Everflame that the original plan was actually the opposite. To bind their mortal lovers lifespans to their immortal lifespan. But something went wrong and the nine Kindred had to pay quote, the ultimate price. Note that the 10th kindred sibling, spoiler it's Omnos, did not bind their immortal life to a mortal. That's important. While we don't know how this happened, how this went wrong, we do know that the result was the foraging spell which broke Omarion into nine different realms. Each realm named after the Kindred, or at least the Kindred's Amarian name and infused with that particular Kindred slash patron God or Goddess's magic. So Monteos, for example, got her whole section of the map and that section of the land can only do stone and ice magic. Ice Lash Snell this original day is now celebrated every single year in our current timeline as Foraging Day, where every Crown has to go to the island of Kuril, put their blood on the Heartstone, basically re upping the magical borders of the Nine Realms for another year back to the nine Kindred. Though they had intended for their offspring of their mortal kindred unions, these offspring were called the Descended to rule over the realms and live in harmony with the other mortals. Well, that didn't really go to plan. Descended have long lives, fast healing strength and magic. Depending on their realm, the Kindred blood is always going to be stronger than the mortals. So anytime there is a drop of Kindred blood in someone's ancestry, they are considered Descended. And the foraging spell included that the most powerful descendant of the realm would always inherit the crown whenever the previous crown passed away. But this Descended and the mortals living in harmony did not go to plan, which is the vast understatement, and instead, over the generations, the Descendant oppressed the mortals by forcing them into their own cities and some realms, even banning them completely like Igneous, where they walk on the soil and burst into flames. Not a good look for Igneous.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

We're about to discuss the Nine Realms and a whole bunch more. But first, thank you so much for your support as we have this quick

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

That's easy.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Charity Lawson from Bachelor Happy Hour]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Charity Lawson from Bachelor Happy Hour]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Charity Lawson from Bachelor Happy Hour]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Mary from Two Judgy Girls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

with that historical context. Now let's move on to the high level overview of the nine realms that make up Amaran plus the Forgotten Lands. Kicking it off with Lumnos Realm of Light and Shadow. This is where we spend the majority of Spark and Glow because it is DM's home realm. The two types of magic here are the ability to control light and slash or darkness. Lumnos descendants eye color is blue and Lumnos geographical landscape is large, lush leafy forests. Its current ruler is d', Ambellator preceded by the late King Ulther Corbois, where the crown was in the Corbois family for several generations. Known for its artists and artisans, the elegant descended who live within Lumnos are obsessed with wealth, beauty and power. The Lumnos Gryvern is our beloved Sarai who of course is alive and really better stay that way. She is devoted to DM and we love her. She's playful and like a mother hen for dm with a feisty personality. Lumnos is one of the more mortal friendly realm, but options for mortals are still very limited and they are considered lower class citizens. Half mortal children are strictly forbidden and there are many restrictions on mortal resources, education, jobs, etc. Etc. You name it.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next we have Fortos Realm of Force and Valor. They are the only realm where magic is based off of gender. The ability to heal is in women, the ability to kill rapidly through decay is in men or some people who are non binary have both types of magic. Their eye color is red, red eyes. They have this rocky flatland geography. The ruler is currently Diamelator, the first queen ever in Forto's history who replaced the cruel king of Fortos who thought he was the Toughest shit after she killed him in heat. While most of the realms have gryverns, Fortos does not. Their gryvern was killed many, many, many years ago during the Blood War, which we'll get into momentarily. While mortals are permitted in Fortos, they have very heavy restrictions. The mortal villages of Fortos are not as segregated as Lumnos, but they really do tend to keep to their own. Fortos is overall very strict and anti any type of rebel. You cannot breathe the word Guardians of the Everflame here without some serious consequences. Fortos is most commonly known for being populated by the hard nosed rule obsessed soldiers of the Amarian army. Fortos contains the headquarters and the training grounds of the army that serve all nine realms of Amarian. The army is split between descended and mortals, and of course the hierarchy still applies here. Descended are more prized soldiers than mortal soldiers, but not all descended are soldiers. Remember, the males of this world have that killing magic, whereas the women are healers and thus considered less than and weak. If you want to hear our feminine rage about that, go listen to episode five of our Heat of the Everflame coverage. Some of our characters actually have served on the mortal side of the Amarian army. Breck, who was the previous weapon master and has since deserted the army. Andre, who was the previous retired leader of the Mortal, which is a massive, massively huge position. And of course Arlie, who was a mortal healer, but more specifically a spy for the Fortos king and a double agent actually for the Guardians before she left Fortos and the army after giving birth to dm.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

We're going through the circular world of Omarion, but we're doing it counterclockwise. So next up is Faunos, realm of beast and Brute. Their magic is the ability to communicate with and slash or conjure all forms of animal life. I will say we're still a little unclear about what conjuring animal life means. As far as I can tell, we haven't really seen that on the page yet. Thanos descended eye color is yellow and the geography here is humid jungles. Thanos is ruled by a queen and her gryvern is alive. The descended here live by the same code as the animal kingdom. They control, hunt or become the prey. Mortals are forbidden in phonos. They are only permitted to pass through the realm by staying on the ring road. The ring road is what connects are all of the realms of Amari. And it's like one big road in a ring. Get it?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Life is a highway. Next we have Arboros Realm of root and thorn. Their magical abilities are to communicate and slash or conjure plant life, like the Faunus magic. We haven't seen too much of this, and I'll actually even say we haven't seen DM talk to plants as far as I'm concerned.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, we've seen her conjure quite a bit. But not talk to them.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, but not talk to them yet. And I'm very excited. Their eye color is green. They have laid back farming lands that are tucked into redwood forests, rich vegetation which supplies many of the medicinal plants used by the healers across the continent. This sounds delightful. The ruler is currently Queen Morel, who believes that life is meant to propagate and spread, and has a deep love for all things nature. Sounds about right for Arboros. But she's also secretly a half mortal and very sympathetic to the Guardians.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Morel.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

The last we saw of Murell, she's actively distancing herself from dm. I don't. I don't blame her. She wants to continue to aid the Guardians, but she wants to do it in secret, because if she's outed to the rest of the Crown, she's kind of shit out of luck. This is actually one of the few realms that is still friendly to mortals, allowing them to be permitted with very, very few restrictions. Which we can assume is why it's one of the strongholds for the the major air quotes. Good Guardians.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Then we have Ignos, Realm of sand and Flame, with the magical ability to control sand and slash or fire. Igneous descended eye color is orange and this realm is sprawling sun scorched, harsh deserts. Igneous is ruled by a king who is an angry asshole with a temper. And his gryvern is alive, named Tybalt. He's Sarai's Buu who she's been separated from for millennia. He might be known for being mean and vicious, but we also have to wonder if that's because he is bound to such horrible crowns who have mistreated him since in Heat of the Everflame, Tybalt did help Diem to the extent that he could. Igneous uniquely bans mortals from even entering the realm. Even traveling on the ring road is certain death. Literally, when a mortal steps across the border into Igneous, they burst into flame. Once, a land of warm hospitality was scorned during the Blood War and afterward became isolated and ruthless. That's when the King took over and exiled Slash.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Killed all the mortals Next. One of the favorites here at Team FFG is Umbros, Realm of Mind and Secret. They have the magical ability to read and slash or control minds. This is presumably going to be very big in the upcoming war. And given how we've seen this magic used at the ball in Glow of the Everflame with two centenaries making an entire group of guardians turn around willingly and leave the castle.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Well, and also how these two centenaries know Lumnos descendants secrets. We haven't really seen any consequences of that big risk factor yet that occurred in Glow of the Everflame. Though I do think that we'll get something resulting from all of that mind reading. And burn. That's a big Easter egg that can still come back into play.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Their eye color is black. They have this rocky canyoness underground perpetual night geography which. Whoa, hold on. The realm is literally entirely carved into canyons where it is non stop night. This place is so cool. Previously the ruler. Was your cell gone too soon, my girl. But unfortunately after her death at the King of Igneous Hands at the end of Heder the Everflame, it is now Diam Bellator. The Gryvern is alive and named Kriani. Note, this is the only other realm that DM is the queen of that has a gryvern. So she technically now has two gryverns. Sarai and Kriani. Kriani is the gryvern who they battled with in the sky during the middle of Heat of the Everflame. Mortals are permitted to work and live freely without any restrictions. Go Ambrose. Mortals tend to work in less than savory career paths here. Like assassins, spies, courtesans and opium dealers. And this is the realm that Luther and Aurelie smuggled the half mortal children from Lumnos. The city itself is known for sketchiness. Its black market, its trading, its galore from jewels to bottled dragonfire. This city has literally everything you could ever want and then some. And it's given quite the nefarious reputation as a result. Or maybe I should say it, it gave quite the reputation as a result. Because we know by the end of Heat of the Everflame, Ophiuchai has infiltrated Umbros and basically decimated the city. We don't know how many people are alive still, but we can gather it's not a lot.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

And Penn has confirmed with us that some of the half mortal children from Zellaryx and have survived. And some of the centenaries have too alive.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yes, yes, yes.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So not everybody's dead, but a lot

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

of people are dead.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah. Moving on to Miro's realm of Sea and sky, whose magic is the ability to control wind and slash or water. Mira's descended eye color is blue, green and unsurprisingly, Mirrors is home to Marian's largest and busiest port. It's considered the primary port across all nine realms. It's ruled by King o' Banneron who for the most part is charming and casual. His gryvern is alive. And the rowdy, fun loving citizens of Meros love a good sail on the open sea. They love adventure and a hearty ale to welcome them home. But this realm has especially been a target for the Guardians. Mortals are permitted here with some restrictions though thanks to these recent Guardian attacks, I've gathered Miros is becoming less and less mortal friendly.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Definitely. Especially because Ophiuchai has basically gone in and like flattened fishing cities, taken children from those cities and carved 10 pointed stars onto corpses before they strung them up as a well.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Even before all of that happened back in Glow, during Andre's funeral, some of his old army friends were saying that there's been a lot of Guardian attacks in Mirrors. This is before Ophiuchai and that basically the Guardians were going to ruin everything for the mortals because Mirrors was getting really mad and they were basically saying that they were worried Mirrors might ban mortals now.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Next we have Sophos, Realm of Thought and Spark. They have the ability to control electricity and slash or recall information and any information they've ever seen or heard. This is our dream. Their eye color is pink. Their cities are futuristic. Sophos contains Amarian's largest libraries and a number of prestigious invitation only research institutions. Their current crown is Doriel who is a very of the people type ruler. They insist on people calling them by their name, not their title. And Doriel is very cunning, always one step ahead and likes to keep the rules and the sops of Omarion in place. The Gryvern in Sophos is alive and named Vexus, though Vexus, as we see in Heat of the Everflame, is used to a life of leisure and comforts and is not exactly prepared for war. Mortals here are permitted but by invitation only, mortals can earn a spot at one of the libraries. However, it is very very difficult given how mortal structure and education is set up in Omarion. Teller earned a spot here however towards the end of Heat. But when Doriel used Teller against D to get her to agree to their demands. I don't think he's a student anymore. But here mortals and descended co mingle and most of the residential Buildings are actually communal with a diverse mix of people encouraged to interact and expand their minds. Sophos is known for their obsession with knowledge and cutting edge innovations, but their innovations are not allowed to leave Sophos soil unless as a coordination gift.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Much to Luther's dismay with the showers.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Much to my dismay with the showers. I fucking want a sofos. Here's the deal. I say I'd live in Miro's, I would live in Sofos solely for the bathrooms.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I just want the thought magic where I can remember everything I've ever read. Do you know how much easier that would make our jobs?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh my God, our jobs would be infinitely easier.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Brooke's like no, you need me. The last official realm is Monteo's Realm of Stone and Ice with the magical ability to control guess what? Rock and Slash or Ice and Snow? Their eye color is purple and Monteos is the largest of the nine realms with stunning snow capped lavender mountains. Ah, this is my dream here. The Monteos crown is now Diam Bellator after its elderly king died at the end of glow when the Guardians bombed DMs coronation. Sadly, the Monteos Gryvern is deceased, killed centuries ago in the Blood War. Little is known about the reclusive descendant of Monteos who seek virtue in all things. This is where I would not do well in Monteos. They're rarely seen and refuse to speak to outsiders. But after visiting in Heat, we the readers know that this is the only realm run by a Crown Council where the crown is only one member of the council. This gives DM some ideas for future ruling in other realms. Realms Mortals are banned in Mantios, but the descendants reasoning is that it's to protect them from dying in this environment because the terrain and weather is too

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

harsh for mortals then part of the Mantios realm is called the Forgotten Lands. The Forgotten Lands is actually the lost Realm of the tenth Kindred Omnos. But no one except the Sophos Crown knows that to be true to the Montius descended this is an area of Montios in which the they do not enter. They say the land is evil and cursed and few descended are willing to go and most who dare are never seen again. Dun dun dun. When the Lavender mountains end, a dark forest sets on a series of steep hills. Its trees are blackened and gnarled, almost like they've been poisoned or burned or drained perhaps. At the center is a valley so deep deep you cannot see the bottom. Though it was within the Monteos borders. It feels angry and disconnected, like it's being rejected from the realm itself. That's because it used to be the Omnos Realm until he was lost to history and the land was absorbed by Montios. The Omnos Gryvern is very much alive. Surprise. And its name is Zephyrus. It would seem that he is just as nasty as his crown. Ophiuchi. These forgotten lands are where Ophiuchai has been residing with his faction of the Guardians. And they're up to some not great stuff.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Time for us to go through the forging magic and descendants godhood. Because the magic system in this world is one of my all time favorites. Although the Kindred are considered gods of Amarian, they had their own deities back on their homeworld. And when they came to Amarian, they brought a piece of that divine power with them which is called the Heartstone. This heartstone is the source of the descended magic. When the Kindred cast the foraging spell to create the nine realms of Omarion that we know of today, they embedded the foraging magic across the land. That's why every year on Foraging Day, the nine crowns have to recast the foraging spell to keep the foraging magic in place. Due to this foraging spell that structured the nine realms, a descendant does not have access to their magic when outside the borders of their terramere and AKA their realm where they were born, where their magic is rooted. There are a few exceptions to this though. Number one, the crowns can use their magic in other realms because they are personally also connected to that foraging magic as a crown after all. And the crown of a realm can break this restriction for outside descended, allowing them access again to their magic while in the crown's realm. Like for instance, the Umbro's queen lets Descended half mortals have access to their magic if they pay their taxes. But what's more and important for our story, the crowns have not been able to properly perform the recasting of the forging spell for more than a year now. They need to recast the foraging spell with the new crown dm. But yeah, that's all gone to shit, which makes a forging magic act funky. Descended and foreign realms can occasionally randomly access their magic when they should not be able to in other realms. The crowns need to recast the foraging spell to maintain structure in Omarion. But Diem has thrown a few wrenches on that zooming in on the descendant's magic. A descendant's magic originates from what is called their godhood, which is sort of a sentient voice within the descended. The godhood hates being trapped in a physical body and when it's leashed for too long without release, it gets angry. The longer it's held in, the angrier it gets. That is why for most descended, even a few days without a release of any kind of magic can be dangerous. The godhead feeds off of emotions and manifests for the first time during puberty, usually when a descendant is extremely angry or threatened at first, a descendant must use those strong emotions to wield their power, since learning to summon it while calm will come with time and lots and lots of practice. The downside to this godhood feeding off their emotions is for if for whatever reason, a descendant can't or won't feel any emotions, it's a struggle to use their magic. Since they can't, they can't connect with their godhood. Eventually, the use of their godhood typically becomes second nature for the descendant because they become familiar with it and understand how to channel their magic. As they grow into their power and sharpen their skills, it's hard to quantify how powerful a descendant's magic is. Some are very powerful and can wield both types of their realm's magic. Some seem weaker but have more stamina. Others are simply not powerful at all with their type of magic, etc. Final thing to note about godhoods is that the most powerful of the descended are also able to see sense each other's magic. In Lumnos, for example, there's only a handful that can feel the strength of DM and Luther's magic. Crowns naturally have the most powerful auras that can be felt by other powerful descendant. Because remember, crowns are the most powerful descendant of their realm and Ophiuchai's aura is the most powerful of all.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

While we're on magic, we've gotta also talk about gryverns. Gryverns are fire breathing immortal creatures with spiked scaled heads of a sea dragon and the wings and the front talons of an eagle and the body of a lion. They came to Omarion when the ten kindred arrived to the mortal realm. Many, many, many millennia ago. Each of the siblings brought their gryvern as their own companion and guardian. But at the forging, the kindred bound the beast to an eternity of service with the crown of each realm. So these gryverns are bound to their realm's crown and must protect them at all costs and obey every command no matter what. They are magically bound to obey the crown and only the crown. Maybe put an asterisk next to that. They also have made it so that the Gryverns cannot speak about the tenth Kindred Omnos, which is why we see in Heat Sarai try to talk about it, and she can't.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Diem has promised Sarai that she will find a way to free her, and she is determined to reunite Sarai and her igneous Gryvren leva Tybalt. After thousands and thousands and thousands, thousands of years separated, I am convinced that DM will indeed find a way to break the magic that forces these Gryverns to obey. She is quite powerful, so I don't see it being, I'm going to say, that big of a challenge. I just want the Gryverns to be happy and live happily ever after.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Well, so during the Blood War, the Forto Scriver, a male named Baldron, and the Monteos Gryvern, a female named Remari, they were both killed by the mortal rebels. Friendly reminder. The Blood War was between the descended and the mortals. While it's extremely difficult to kill a Gryvern, the rebels during the Blood War had God Stone bolts to shoot into the sky and take down gryverns. The Guardians in our present day have a very limited supply, but they still have these bolts left over from the Blood War, which, yes, I'm very worried about. And this brings me, actually, to my first question of the day, Lexi. Do you think we're gonna lose a Gryvern and burn? Yes. Like, I do, too.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Sadly, I think it's a given. In fact, I don't even want to say this, but I worry and think we will get multiple Gryvor deaths by at least one of each way to kill a Gryvern. So there's two known ways of killing a Gryvern. Setting foot on Creel soil. I worry that is going to happen to someone. And a Godstone bolt. And all we can do is just hope that it's not Sarai.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't see a world in which Sarai dies. I really. No, I say that, and I really. I said that with very medium confidence inside.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I say that with medium confidence with really everybody.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I personally see Kreani, who's the Umbro Scryvern. I see her passing away, mostly for

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

storytelling purposes, because DM. DM's got Sarai kind of thing, you know?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So, also, like, if DM does become the queen of all the realms, she's gonna have all the Gryverns in the sky. And then she'll be like, fly, my pretties, fly.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

If Luther gets a Gryvern, oh, I like that.

[Mary from Two Judgy Girls]

For him.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Maybe Luther can get tibbled. What if Luther gets a gryvern and after the igneous king is gone, and then he can get tibbled, she gets a ride. They can all fly off into the sunset. Shifting our focus to another very, very important location in Kuril. Kuril is the island in the center of Omarion, and the only neutral territory where descended magic does not work. So even DM cannot access her magic wall on Kuriel. Which really sucks for our girl right now with all those books in her head. But she can't access that Sophos magic anyway. So remember that Omarion is one big donut shaped continent with the sacred sea there in the middle. That's where this island is. Kurile is separated from the mainland by the sacred sea, and the waters around it are heavily patrolled. Kuril is where the Nine Crowns perform their rituals with the Heartstone to keep the foraging magic in place. These rituals include the annual Foraging Day and the rite of coronation. Whenever there is a new crown, the Crowns are traditionally the only people allowed on the island, and even then, only for rituals. But here's the thing. Kuriel was a sacred place for the mortals long before the Kindred arrived. This island was once home to the Everflame, the sacred tree of life and death from the old mortal religions. Once when the Kindred arrived, they decided to anoint themselves as divine rulers and chopped the Everflame down to make room for their temple.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So correct me if I'm wrong though. We both believe that the roots of the Everflame Tree are still beneath the soil of Kuri. Yes. Cool. So since DM has Arboros magic, I am wondering if somehow she'll surpass the Cannot use magic on Kuriel and and regrow the Everflame Tree. I don't think this will be one. She's stranded on Creel. I think this would be after the final battle. Or during the final battle. There's also a bunch of flame root on Korea, which is the only place where this root grows. Friendly reminder. Flame root is the rare, rare plant that nullifies all descended magic. Aurelie was feeding it to DM for many, many years, unbeknownst to her descended quote unquote daughter. Woof. Harley, we'll talk about you later. So I don't think it's an accident that this plant is called Flameroot and it grows in the only place where the Ever Flame might have its roots left.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Absolutely. One million percent. Okay, I'll talk about my theory around this a lot in tomorrow's episode. But remember that DM can stop the effects of of Flame Root on Descended with her Silver Light magic that we saw in the Forto's prison.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So yeah, if, if, if in the vision she explodes into Silver Light. If that vision happens on Korea, which I think we both think that the final battle is going to happen on Creel. Yes.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't. I don't know if Creel is big enough for how. I don't know. But also, the descendant can't use their magic there.

[Paige from Gigli Squad]

Yeah.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

And that's why during the Blood War, it was like such a. Such a craved place is because it was on.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So do you think that she can use her Silver Fire Magic here?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I think she'll definitely use her Silver Fire Magic here, burn away all the Flame Root, then use her Arboros magic to rebuild the Everflame and then re spark the Everflame. And she is the reigniter of the Everflame bringing it.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I agree like 60 with what you're saying. I don't think she would use her Arboros magic for the Everflame. I think that rekindling the Spark is separate from that. I think that her being the daughter of the Forgotten, of both of Omnos and of the Everflame, I think that is what is going to help her resurrect the Everflame Tree. Not necessarily the Kindred magic. Also very important to note about Kuril Pre Kindred. There are stories about how women used to risk their lives to cross the Sacred Sea once labor started so they could give birth on the island, believing that a child born on the Everflame's soil would be imbued with its sacred power of life. And we get no other information about this? This is one line in Heat of the Everflame. But friends, who was born on Korea? Dm. DM was born on Korea. I think that this is going to be absolutely crucial in Burn with her having the Ever Flames sacred power of life. I get goosebumps every time I think about this.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

The Kindred Temple is the main structure on Kuril and is built to serve as a symbolic map of Omarion. It is made entirely of godstone and contains ornate archways topped with tall thin obelisks. With a flame lit cauldron, one for each of the realms. Yes, even the 10th realm. But it is dark and in the corner. Nobody puts Omnos in a corner. In the center of the open aired rotunda representing the island of Kuril is a low pedestal stool holding on to the Heartstone. If the Heartstone is Destroyed, the borders between the realms will crumble and fall. Oh like 11 will fall for one to rise. What? At the end of Glow, when DM pours her blood on the Heartstone for the coronation ritual, it cracks, which is what causes the current borders to be breaking down that we see in heat. To be fair, I don't think that the Heartstone's making it out of this series.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't really think so either. Or maybe DM will somehow some way be able to break it up and like a little piece of it is in each of the realms. I will say too. Without the Heartstone, descended don't have magic. And that could be a potential way that the series ends where the descendant become magic list. Without the Heartstone, the realms would crumble and fall. That would be the end of the descended reign. That's kind of where we might be heading toward here.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

100%.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I think so. But I do wonder if little pieces of it will still exist. But it'll almost be like for the people instead of only for like these nine crowns as it is right now.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, Are we making a bet? I think the Heartstone is going to be like done as a doornail by the end of the series.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Like DMs gonna use her silver light to go poof with it.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'm not gonna go that niche with that fact. I'm gonna say it is. It is going to be a dead stone. There is no more beat beating of the heart.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, I will. I think that it will continue existing in a different form. You know what I mean?

[Mary from Two Judgy Girls]

With.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, so magic will still be attached to it, but it'll be in a different form. I think it'll be magic. Less than just a stone or dead. Near the temple is a hidden door that also leads to the underground chamber that opens. Feoki was held in within the Godstone temple, but he is obviously since free. Kuril is also the location that the Blood War was fought many centuries ago. The island was fiercely a sought after prize that both the mortal rebels and the Descendant wanted for themselves for different reasons, but the main was power. I also assume that this is going to be the location of the big battle at the end of Burn.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

About that Blood War. Because we cannot talk about the Kindred's Curse saga without highlighting this historical event. The Blood War was a devastating but pivotal war in Amarian history that happened centuries ago. Waged between mortal rebels and the Descendant with thousands and thousands of casualties on both sides and lasting effects on this world. The mortals were tired of the oppression from the descended and they wanted to fight for their autonomy. The war was so violent and far reaching that it left a permanent mark on the political, magical and social fabric of Omarion. It's remembered not just for its protection brutality, but the ideological war over blood and power itself. Older descended remember the war. In fact, Penn has equated it to like our grandparents In World War II, two of the Crown's pre diem, Umbros and Montios did rule at the time of the Blood War. The Guardians of the Everflame was the mortal rebel group who took up arms against the descended to fight for their homeland. They collected weapons to use against the descended and their gryverns, like godstone bolts, some of which still exist today. A Blood sun appeared on the eve of the war, which according to the mortals, gave the war its name. I'll also note that chapter one of Spark is when we see the next Blood Sun. When was last one before that? On the day of DM's birth. So blood sun is very important for our story somehow, some way. But back to the Blood War because it was the old Lumnose king who coined the name Blood War because ultimately the war was about blood. Who would triumph, who would survive. I want us to remember this concept about bloodlines as we head into Burn with so much setup and heat for this to be a reoccurring theme. As a whole, the crowns were certain they would prevail because they believed the blood of the nine kindred would always win out in war as in life. But this thinking cost them dearly. They underestimated the mortals because of their hubris. And it almost cost them the war. In the aftermath, realms enacted brutal purity laws, Especially Umbros with their ability to control and or read minds. The Emperor's queen executed all but the most powerful 100 of her own descended. Then in Lumnos, the progeny laws passed to ban mortal descended children to avoid further diluting descended magic. Nicole and I do have a running theory that half mortals are traditionally more powerful than regular descended here. So very interesting to think about because

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

we believe that since it was the Kindred's original intent to have the descended and the mortals live in harmony, they almost gave half mortals the ability to be more powerful. So that they continued to become more powerful, more powerful, more powerful as bloodlines continued to melt. And obviously that did not go to plan.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

It was like they were really wanting there to become the whole melting pot. Which yeah, if you think about that, that would mean that there would over time, if The Kindred encouraged the their offspring, the descended and other mortals to continue.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Everyone would be magical by the end.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

That's right. Interesting.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Interesting indeed.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So again, we're thinking about bloodlines. We're thinking about what the Kindred might have intended, what the Blood War represented. All of that there. Oh my gosh. Sorry. That just like totally broke my brain. I think there's something really to that with the half mortals actually being more magical. After the Blood War, most realms also placed extra restrictions on mortals, which vary in severity depending on the realm, and a few even banning them outright. Like Igneos, these harsh laws were passed to punish the mortals and keep them in permanent subjugation. And mortal exile or execution became more common policy in several realms. While mention of the old gods had previously been removed from history, it was not until after the Blood War that mention of the Everflame was entirely banned. Because it had been the rallying cry for the mortals, the guardians of the Everflame. Right. So the descendant attempted to remove it from existence too. Any and all references to old mortal religion are forbidden. And this is all very important context for our present day story. Because if we know anything is that when the oppressed are oppressed to this extent, they're gonna fucking fight back.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Paige from Gigli Squad]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

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[Paige from Gigli Squad]

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[Mary from Two Judgy Girls]

This episode is sponsored by Zocdoc. Have you been putting off a doctor's appointment or need a dentist and you don't know where to start? We've definitely been there and that's why we use ZocDoc. Actually over the holidays Michael had a dental emergency and seemingly every office was closed. But we hopped onto zocdoc, found an in network dentist, had great reviews, saw real time appointments available, which was key. It was on New Year's Day and booked an appointment in just minutes. It took so much of the stress out of the already stressful situation. Zocdoc makes it easy to search and compare over 250000 local in network providers across more than 200 specialties so you can find the right doctor or dentist and book instantly. Taking care of your health just got easier. Download the ZocDoc app today and book that appointment on your to do list. That's Z, O C Doc, Zoc Doc.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right friends, believe it or not, that was all set up. Now let's jump into.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

There's so much more I want to say too, but it's like nope, nope.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Just got high level. How many times in these two episode outlines I was like like pull it back Nicole. Pull it back. They don't need to know how DM makes X, Y and Z plant medicine or whatever. We love this world. Let us get to where the things have left off for our crew and just the state of the world at the end of Heat of the Everflame, relations between mortal and descended are rocky. But for the time being they at least have a common enemy, so to speak. Ophiuchai and the Guardians he's convinced to join his cause, which all the crowns see. All guardians in this category and thus Diem. That is very important. To say that things are rocky with the descendant, especially the crowns, is kind of an understatement. Many of the descendants don't want Diem as their crown because they see her as everything they stand against for everything they've ever known. Take Lemnos for example. Diem is a half, half mortal herself and she wants to allow half mortals to live freely within the realm as well as allow mortals and descended to co mingle and cohabitate as they wish. But this is so far from what the descendants here are used to, and more importantly, what they're used to with keeping power in their own hands, which is suppress, suppress, suppress the mortals. They're also used to the mortals staying in their place in Mortal City, where the descendant have complete control over everything they have access to, including what they teach and schools. Oh, that's bad. But if the mortals are allowed to do with as they please without restriction and control, what the descendant have is gone. Many of the descendants, specifically the 20 houses in Lumnos, they don't want to lose any power or control that they have. And just by existing, DM is already threatening that control and power because she doesn't answer to them. And that's just one of the nine realms. Remember, DM has four Crowns. So not only is she a half mortal queen, she is also an openly half mortal queen. I should say she is an anomaly and viewed as an outsider in all of her realms. Fortos hates her because she broke everyone out of prison, but mostly because she's a woman. Umbros. As far as we know, the survivors of Ophiuchai's deadly attack do not know that she's their crime crown yet. And Matios is the only one that I'm going to say accepts her. But they do worry about her very clear connection to Ophiuchai, to Doriel, the Crown of Sophos, and thus the rest of the crowns. DM is sympathetic to Ophiuchai's cause. She has his 10 pointed star mark on her. She got that from him when she found him in the forging magic. This is very important. She's got the same magic as him, she has the same eyes as him. She's his daughter. Even if Diem and Ophiuchai are clearly not on the same team, she is still considered a threat to the Realms because she could easily follow in his footsteps if they even believe that they were not on the same team. So instead of just refreshing the forging magic at the end of this book, Doriel actually reworks the spell under the guise of protecting the temple from the rebels. The revisions include binding DM to the island to, quote, never again leave these shores, altering the wards around the Hearthstone so that if anyone who is not a crown steps onto the island, they die. That includes any Gryverns that fly over the borders. This is all possible because of how the Kindred originally wrote the foraging spell. If all nine crowns are in agreement, they can make the change to whatever they want. And because Dorial has Teller, they're kind of able to make DM agree to whatever they want. I don't think this is what the Kindred had in mind, though. Doriel.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'm realizing that assuming that DM does get all nine crowns, which there's so much context leading up to that, that that's where things are leading, that is where she would be able to change things on her own, kind of however she wants in that way. Yeah, true.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

But would it just be too convenient for all of the crowns to die? I'm gonn even off page, probably by Ophiuchai's hands. And then suddenly she's like, oh, I can get off the island.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't think every crown is going to be dying off page. I do think there have to be a few.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I think Dorial's going to die on page.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I do too.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I could see Mirelle dying on page. So Arboros and Sophos I think would die on page, and then Ignios, which we'll get into that later. But I. I don't see Miros and Faunus dying on page. Unless it's like kind of a two birds, one stone.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

They're just like I could see Miros kind of dying in the midst of battle. He and Dorial are friends. Maybe he saves Dorial or something like that. I want him to go out fighting. Sufficient to say most mortals, they do not trust the descendant, to put it mildly. Especially after lifetimes of abuse at the descendants hands. Though as we head into Burn, the line is starting to blur with the fight of descended verse mortals that has always been so set in stone. Even the Guardians of the Everflame have split into two factions. Those that follow Aurelie, the leader of the Guardians for the past 10 years, and sort of by proxy, DM her daughter. least that is the goal. To assure everyone that DM is on the good Guardian side, while these Guardians still have a deep Rooted resentment toward the descended. They are specifically fighting for equality in Emarian. They want to reclaim their long forgotten identities that the Kindred and descended took away from them. And they want equal say in governing and resources. Then there are the Guardians. Aiming for the total destruction of the descended and the crowns to reclaim Amarian only for the mortals.

[Mary from Two Judgy Girls]

Again.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

These Guardians are willing to kill anyone and everyone who gets in their way. Mortal and descended alike, especially all descended. No exceptions. These Guardians are led by Ophiuchai, who yes, may be a descended or Omnose like Hendred himself, which is what we're leaning toward. But Ophiuchai is out for vengeance against all descended. So this faction of Guardians have rallied around him because of how bloodthirsty he is and how powerful he is. They are headquartered in the Forgotten Lands and are a very serious threat because Ophiuchai is quite frankly all powerful and unstoppable. This faction of the Guardians with Ophiuchai at their helm are attacking the realms with large scale attacks and Umbros no diem during this so devastating consequences. And Sophos with DM there to make Ophiuchai leave. Ophiuchai's Guardian faction, led by Vance of course and his crew are also orchestrating smaller, more strategic attacks in most other realms, especially Miros. Which brings us to the missing descended children who have disappeared after Ophiuchai's attacks. While we have no idea where these children are, although I'm thinking probably somewhere in the Forgotten Lands, we can assume that hopefully they are safe and taken care of. Or at least that's what we're choosing to believe. Don't give me that look, Nicole.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I was going to say because it

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

is Ophi, so it can't be anything good. I'm just trying. Okay. Our biggest questions around this are why is Ophiuchai taking them and what are his plans with these children who remember most have not grown into their descended power yet and don't have the fast healing capabilities yet.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, so I have a quick question. We know from your cell that Zellera in of Lumna's half mortal children who were given that like second chance in life. We know that they are no longer in Umbros and I personally assumed that they were dead based off of yourselves. Quote Tell my dear Zellerik that he'll need a new staff. But what if Ophiuchai took them and they're still alive? Like that little girl with a super powerful light and shadow magic. She made the flowers with other with the Other kid. Like, there's, There's. There's no way Ophia Kai would just pass up on adding that kind of powerful child to whatever child shrine he's making.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, so he is very much down with all the descended. But to your point here, I could see him holding on to these youngsters for his new reign, to use them and specifically their powers for maintaining the world after he wipes out the current way of Amarian. Or actually, this is frighteningly more likely, the children who are coming into their power are a way for him to supercharge his own power.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So that's what I'm thinking. It's like he's stealing these children to basically get power off the descended. We know from DM that when she went into forging magic, she was able to almost siphon magic. She felt the urge to siphon magic off of other people, and she's like, holy, that. That's terrifying. And I could absolutely see that this is what Ophi Akai is doing, where he's basically just like, using them as a giant battery pack. But then there's also this major hole in my theory here that most descended children haven't come into their magic yet. Unless he's specifically targeting magical children. Specifically half mortal magical children who have been tapped into their power.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I think that because it's been pointed out that he's taking all of the descended children, what I'm thinking more of is that it makes it easy for him to groom and control them for his purposes. Some are coming into their power, like that little Lumnose half mortal girl we met in Umbros. Remember, Ophiuchai is immortal as far as we're concerned with him being kindred. So for a lack of a better word, these children, he could. They can be raised, essentially, they'll grow into their power and they would know their place and their role in this new regime. Yeah, I don't really like talking about that.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I could see it being both. I could see it being both.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So there we have basic world building and the current state of the world. But what about the characters in our story? Time to go through where things leave off for the main characters, starting with our FMC dm Bellator, who is dead there. The end. That's what happens to her. Just kidding.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Well, kind of.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

She is dead, but we're not going

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

to worry about that yet.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'll get to that in a moment. By the end of Heat, DM officially has four crowns. Lumnos, Monteos, Fortos, and Ambrose. Potentially five. Soon With Igneous getting scratched by Godstone, he's got a time bomb on him now. Being the descendant of the 10th Kindred omnos, with Ophiuchai as her father, she has the power to absorb magic that hits her. She can also use all of the realm's magic, like Ophiuchai can. We're presuming this is specifically Omnos magic, like where he can absorb any and all magic and then use it himself. But it's not clear if DM and Ophiuchai have this unlimited power, and it was originally a kindred thing because they are the only two who are not tied to the Nine Realms forging magic like everyone else. There is also that that silver fire slash light magic that DM has that we've seen a handful of times where she can make beans go poof and cause a lot of damage, generating Godstone in the process. And she can use this silver light to destroy God Stone and cure the nullifying effects of Flame Root. It's not clear if this is Omnos magic or something else. I am personally convinced that it's ever flame magic, and I will walk through that whole theory tomorrow. Earlier we mentioned how in the old mortal religion there was a strong belief that giving birth to birth to a child on the island would give that child access to the power of the Everflame. I will never shut up about the fact that DM was born on the island. There is even that note that Orly left in the margins of one of her healer journals. It says, Diem Kuril, Godstone equals death, Life equals question mark. But DM is now trapped on the island by the only people who can release her, the crowns. Also, in the very, very, very end, Diem is stabbed in the heart with a Godstone blade by the King of Igneous. So yes, let's revisit that whole her being dead part. We can't forget that her sire Ophiuchai was also stabbed in the heart with a Godstone. Blame on Koreel. And he survived, much to or at least dismay. So I'm not worried about her actually being dead. She's got a lot else to deal with. I'm much more worried about DM getting off the island and successfully completing the bonded bargain that she has with Toriel, which about that, DM and Doriel make a bonded bargain on their way to Kuril. In its exact words, the bargain goes that Doriel vows to do everything they can to convince the Miros King to vote for a pardon for D.M. and her mother and Doriel will recommend the other Crowns do the same. In return, DM swears that she did not know about the attack on the island or the attack on the Sophos Realm, and she vows to kill the man who led it. So Diem takes this bargain to mean that she has to kill Ophiuchai herself, and in exchange, she has a chance at her coronation, as well as a full pardon for the crimes that she has been accused of, AKA orchestrating the attack on the island, and a pardon for Arleigh being the leader of the Guardians. In exchange, Doriel will do everything they can to convince the other Crowns to pardon her and her mother. Dm. I want to reach through the pages there and boop you on the nose,

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

not be a little bit more clear on her bargains.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

God. Dorial tells DM after they've trapped her on the island, that once when they kill Ophiucai and thus DM loses her magic, then the Crowns will come back and they will release her. In other words, the Crowns are scared of DM and how powerful she is. So Doriel tricks her into having no chance to fulfill her part of the bargain by being trapped somewhere that nobody else is. So then she will lose all of her magic and no won't be a threat to everybody else. But if we have learned anything, it is that the wording of bargains matter a great deal, and vowing to kill the man who led it might offer a loophole, like, could it possibly be Vance instead? Although I will admit it certainly seems likely that it was Ophiuchai who led the attack. But if he's indeed kindred, does that label him as a man technically? Maybe I've been reading too much fantasy with the whole man versus male debate. But while I'm on this topic of her bonded bargain, I actually could see DM losing it by choice and walking away from the kill she doesn't know if she can do in the first place, and she would consciously accept that this means that she will not have magic and somebody else would certainly have to kill Opia Guy because he cannot.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Luther would be like me. I vote I volunteer as tribute.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

But I. I really could see DM at the end of the series losing her magic, but it would be by her own choice so that she can be normal again.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Which, I'm not gonna lie, I don't hate that twist on the losing magic trope, because you and I have been very open on this podcast about not loving the losing magic trope, but I feel like that's when it feels like a deus ex machina and it's without the the FMC's control. And here it would be by her own choice. I could see that being really interesting. Am I hoping for that? Not necessarily. But is that a loophole that I'm like, I can vibe with that?

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, I agree. Especially for how connected to being a mortal DM has been. And it's kind of like she's been able to live in both worlds and she's choosing to live more of the mortal one. Obviously she still has a long lifespan probably and all that. But anyway, this is not the predictions episode.

[Paige from Gigli Squad]

That's true.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

That's true. Next we have Luther, the prince of Limnos himself. He is the most powerful Lumnos descended. I'm going to say that as a statement because DM is not a Lumnose descendant. I think we can agree on that. He is the most powerful Lumnos descended with both light and shadow magic for a long, long, long, long, long time. He was presumed to be the heir to the Lumnos crown before dm. Walt waltzed along, but he's always imagined himself serving the queen of Lumnos after Mother Lumnos gave him a second chance at life as a boy. And the vision of helping a gray eyed queen and serve his queen he does. The last we see of Luther Teller is choosing to save Luther over Perth who is sadly dead. So sad.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Perth, my boy.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Boy. While Teller and Luther were trying to leave the island before the foraging spell killed them all, we know that Luther is alive. And knowing Luther, he is willing to do anything to get back to Diem. But he is currently with the Guardians. This is the orally guardian side. Luther is a half mortal, but that is still.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Should we call them the Mommy Guardians and the Daddy Guardians. Where the Daddy Guardians are the bad guardians.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

The bad Daddy Guardians.

[Experian Boost Announcer]

Yes.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

And they just drop that for Pen at the midnight release party and see what happens. What could go wrong?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

She fucking loved that. Are you kidding? Yes. I'm so down for this. Okay, so Luther is with the Mommy Guardians. Luther's half mortal status is still a secret. But he wants a better world for the half mortals and has the same vision of for Amarian as Diem. A place where mortals and descended can live in peace together and are free to live without question or oppression. Also we are happy to note that he has a beard now at the beginning of burn and occult is happy. Another thing to note about Luther is he has currently a scar basically going up his Entire body and onto his face as well. This is from when Remus attacked him as a child. This is what sent him to have a conversation with Mother Lumnos where she re gifted him with life. Basically, Remus tried to kill his son because Luther found out about his true birth mother, a mortal named Floral, and was trying to get away with her. This blow that Luther ended up taking was meant for Floral, which actually Remus dealt another one and ended up killing Floral. But this is what's interesting about this here scar. It goes all the way up his body, with the exception of one very clear, unblemished piece of skin right over his heart. But don't worry, we're gonna get into the mate bond theory that that all ties to in tomorrow's prediction episode.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Sticking with DM's inner circle group, we've got her younger half brother who is fully mortal, named teller, who is 17, almost 18 years old. He is three years younger than DM. He is very smart, and their mother orally arranged for him to attend the Lumnos descended school where he was the only mortal. He and Luther's little sister Lily were falling in love, but there was friction of him being mortal and and her descended. Then our story escalated and he had to break up with Lily to leave Lumnose, and he accepted an invitation to Sophos's prestigious research institution. Remember that? DM did not tell him about the original invitation he received back in Glow at her Ascension Ball. And he was pissed, but he's mostly forgiven her now. While in Sophos, Teller was kidnapped and held hostage by the Sophos Crown as leverage against DM to do their bedding and be imprisoned on the island of Kuril. The last we see of Teller, he is holding on to Luther atop Sarai, flying away from Kuril, having had to make the excruciating decision between saving Luther or Perth from staying on the soil of Kirill at the deadly deadline. He is currently with Luther and Orlie with her faction of the Guardians, which means that he's reunited with his mother for the first time in 8ish months.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

We can't talk about Teller without discussing Lily. Lily, as far as we know, is in Lumnos training to be a healer. She and Teller have broken up and we can imagine she's sad. Teller's sad, and she's probably sad as a result. We know that Remus, Lily's father, was involved in swaying Teller's decision to go to Sophos. And I could absolutely see Remus already having Lily Betrothed to another for political gain. However, Lexi, I think it was you who said that there's a possibility of she being one of the children who was taken by ophiuchai. However, she's 16, so I'm gonna hope that ophiuchai has an age limit.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

She'd actually be older than that too, if she and tell her are the same age.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

She's probably like, 17 now.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, well, he hasn't attacked Lumnos yet. To our knowledge.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

To our knowledge is doing some heavy lifting that I am nervous about. I do not like that I am going to go with. Lily has been throwing herself into her career as a healer because you know what? That's always worked for me after a breakup. So

[Paige from Gigli Squad]

fair.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Very fair. It's gonna be mighty helpful. And burn. Let's just say yes.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Well, and we do know that back in Lumnos, Eleanor has been rallying the younger members of the descended houses to side with diem. So I could see Lily being involved with this new generation of descendants seeking positive change. Of course, we have Taryn and Zelleric. Taryn is a courbois cousin who is very close with Luther. He's a skilled warrior with shadow magic. Zellaric was one of the half mortal children Luther saved from Lumnos, who established himself as a prominent businessman in Umbros as he grew up. He is a very powerful descendant who can wield both light and shadow magic. His father is Jean Hanover, Part of one of the most influential houses in Lumnos, who are especially known for hating mortals. Jean is not happy that, number one, he has a half mortal son who survived one of his brothel expeditions. And number two, that his half mortal son is now here in Lumnos. Last we see of Taran and Zellaric, they are in Luno city at the palace. After our crew return from Umbros, Taran and Zellaric are falling in love. Aww. And we've theorized that the mating ceremony pin has hinted at is theirs. Both of these males have lived really rough lives Between Taran's abuse from his father and Zellaryk being cast aside and forced to do what he can to protect the other half. Mortals in Umbros, they need their happily ever after. Although in the lead up to burns release date reveal, Penn sent us a wedding invitation, which was for the mating ceremony, and it had blood on it. So I'm very worried about this.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So she's also admitted that there's. There's highlights and low lights in this here wedding, and I'M worried that the blood is is tied to a low light.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, me too. Yeah, way too much conversation about stranded mates and when one mate dies. I'm getting to that.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'm getting all that into Morrow.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, okay.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next we have Alix, my girl crush. Alix is another Courbois Cousin and DMs High General of the Guard, which she takes very seriously even though she's loyal to the court Diem. She has been ordered by Diem to serve under Remus while DM is locked away on Kuril. And oh, obey his orders as if they were DMs own. And remember, Elix follows orders. Elix is also working on different ways to use Godstone for the upcoming war. Like how we see in the visions where DM is wearing a Godstone breastplate. She, Alix is wanting to create armor made from Godstone. Remember, nothing can so much as scratch Godstone. But Godstone can only be made by the Kindred. How interesting that DIA made some actually accidentally. Alix is also the master of light illusion magic, which makes her the perfect undercover spy. My heart goes out to Alix, who has just been probably having to do some hard work on the inside right now. She is one of the most level headed characters in this entire series.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I love her.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I love her.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't think she's making it out alone.

[Experian Boost Announcer]

No.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Don't you dare say that about my beautiful woman. Oh my God.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Sorry. Last but certainly not least, in DM's inner circle, Eleanor, another Corpois cousin who may not be magically powerful, but she is loyal, honest, and a strategic ally, slash dear friend to DM. Eleanor is technically the Regent of Lumnos, but the 20 houses do not view her as legitimate. She's one of DM's most trusted advisors and has helped DM navigate the differences between Descended and mortal cultures. Especially since DM was thrust into the position of being Queen with no formal training. Eleanor is also trying to work in the background to find allies for DM within Lunos's 20 houses. Specifically with a younger descended who don't really believe in what their houses are doing, what their parents and their parents generations are doing.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

This is a big deal. The younger generations of the Lumnos descended are sympathetic to DM's beliefs. I think that this is going to be massive when it comes to who sides with who during the upcoming war.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yes, absolutely. And the Kindred's Curse saga has so many societal themes, political themes that very much apply to our reality. And this general theme of the Old generation's ways and the new generation's progressiveness I think is certainly going to take a little bit more of the spotlight in Burn.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Absolutely. Now we've talked already about how the Guardians are split, but we have to discuss some of the most important Guardians in the series and where they currently stand. First off, Mother of the Year. Oh Arlie Bellator. Mother. Our Mother Gothel. Mother knows best. Arlie is the leader. I'm sorry, am I wrong? Am I wrong? Actually she's gotten better. She's the redemption arc that Mother Gothel never got entangled. Arlie is the leader of the Guardians that does not side with her ex Booth thing Ophiuchai she does not believe in murdering all descended willy nilly. Props to you girl. She would seem she would rather take their weapons, disrupt their trade routes and leverage the Guardians power of inconveniencing the descended so that they, you know, take the mortals seriously so that they respect them. So that they agree to the mortals having an equal seat at the table. Unlike Vance who would rather just kill all descended on sight regardless of if they're innocent or not. For a while, Arleigh was very distrustful of my boy Luther, despite working with him for years in Lumnos to get the half mortal children to safety in Ambrose. But after having a heart to heart with her daughter's love, she and Lutheran have a tentative truce. Especially because we can imagine their goals are very aligned right now with get the DM off the fucking island stat. Now why do we call Arlie Mother of the Year? Oh where do I begin? For years Arlie was drugging DM her daughter with Flameroot to protect against the fact that DM is descended. Air Quotes Flameroot nullifies a descendant's powers so DM thought she was mortal for literal years. During this time, Aurelie was the leader of the Guardians of the Everflame and the palace healer read Spy for the Guardians in the palace. She learned about Luther being a half mortal. Then she used that information to blackmail Luther to get her to allow him to hitch a ride to Kuril. She was on Kuril the island for about eight months and used the the time to gather more flame root and plant bombs for the Guardians to set off during the next crown ceremony, thus giving the Guardians the opportunity to take over Kreel which is what happened at the end of Glow for all of Heat. The Guardians had Kreel in their clutches for years. Arlie has put the Guardians mission over her family point blank. I'm sorry I'm going to say it. She thought that while she was making the world better for her family, it justified everything, but it was really layering more and more lies into their relationship. By the end of Heat though, this is where we give Arlie a gold star. Arleigh and DM have their big blow up. Arlie has seen just how much her decisions have hurt her family. Dare I say she has seen the light, but we don't know how this is going to translate to her previous role of leader of the Guardians.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

She was also married to Andre Bellator, a mortal from the Amarian army who was murdered in glow. And yes, we will talk lots about the suspects in tomorrow's episode. He was the love of Orly's life, and when he died while she was on Koreal for the Guardian mission, I think that was another big wake up call that made her recognize how much her prioritization of the Guardians harmed her family, especially with DMs big blow up at her. Now she wants to make things right for her remaining family, her two children, while balancing continuing to be the leader of the Guardians during this very trying time. And given who DM is, that's not always going to be easy. Which brings us to another Guardian leader, part of Orly's faction named Cordelia. Del for short. Del leads the Arboros cell of the Guardians and she has always had a close relationship with Aurelie and they share the same goals. Del became an ally of sorts to Diem in HEAT when she was imprisoned by the Arboros Guardians. But the last time they saw each other, DM was being rescued by Luther and co before they set bombs off in the Guardian camp. So after that, and you know, by the end of Heat now, their allyship status is probably in the past and will need to be re established.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Another Guardian, Breck, was originally from Fortos and was an experienced weapons maker in the Fortos army. Handy to have as a Guardian, huh? We last see Breq very early on in Heat. He was working close with Del in the Arboros cell. He's always been very helpful to dm, including helping her escape in our Boros so she could hopefully make it back to Lumnos. But at this point DM still owes him a favor for the blade that he gave her way back in Spark. That favor has not been cashed in. We can assume that he is on the good Guardian side, but given that we haven't seen him in a while. That's not confirmed. We don't know if he's with Ophiucai. Or with Dell. I'm scared.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

See him being on ophiuchai side as a spy still having the favor for with DM and that coming into play where someone on the other side demos them a favor and I don't know how I really do think that that favor is going to come back because it happened in sparse and then we were reminded of it when they saw each other again in Heat. The fact that we were reminded of that means that it is absolutely coming back.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Hundred percent.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Then there's Henry. Oh, Henry. What are we going to do with you? I feel like I should get a Henry hat on right now.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I know.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Where's your Henry hat?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Wait, are we bringing Henry back? We're bringing Henry hats back, right?

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yes. And remember, you lost a bet and so you have to wear a Henry hat for each of the Burn episodes.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

You have to get me the Henry hats. So I will not. That's easy.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

You say that's easy that you say that Henry is DM's childhood best friend, obviously mortal, and they were somewhat of an item in Spark. He's the man DM thought Spark in Glow.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Are we forgetting everything that happened in glow with DMs daddy? I love him. It's very complicated.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

She thought she would marry him. She thought she should love him in that romantic way. Henry became a Guardian and fell under Vance's doctrine going to the extremes to take down the descendant. He was momentarily going to be the.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I can't even say this with a straight face.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Momentarily going to be the Lumnos King consort using DM to get the Guardians in power. We are totally going to look over the fact that when he first saw her as the Queen, he almost pulled a knife on her.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Her.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

He and DM had a very complicated relationship throughout this series, leading me to have that segment in many of our deep dive episodes called the Henry Hat where we looked where I looked at the story and his actions from his pov. Because no one forget he is one of Penn's favorite characters. Even in her social media bios it says that she is Henry's number one fan. She's teased that the Henry it's because

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

there's like like four of them. That's why there's only her and Jess. And I think one member of our discord community, Penn has teased that the

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Henry haters will be eating their words and Burn. So Henry, our eyes are on you and your character arc heading into this final book. By the end of Heat, we can gather that Henry is a little more open minded after how crazy things got under Vance's leadership. Henry's got a new girl, though, named Lana, a healer who worked with DM at the Healer Center. Henry and Lana got together sometime around when Henry was supposed to be betrothed to Diem, when she became Lumnos queen. DM knows that Henry and Lana are together now, and she genuinely does wish them well. As awkward and complicated as the entire situation is, last we see of Henry, he and Lana are still in Lumnos, but we don't know exactly where he lands with the Guardians anymore. We can certainly assume that he is still part of the Guardians, but he's gonna have to choose a faction. And I don't feel like he is going to choose Vance this time, partly because he's got a sweet girl with him now.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I really, really hope Henry has the wherewithal to make this decision, not for another woman.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Like, I really hope Pen has said how impressionable he is. And so he really had Vance as his guiding light guy for a long time, and now he's got a girl who might have, you know, stolen him from dm. I say stolen, like, again, very complicated. That's gonna be a good influence.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't see Aunt Lana as an influence, though. Lana is very go with the flow crouch. Like, she is definitely. When we hear in Spark about the. I'm gonna call it like the traditional couple in Spark, there is the, like, you know, I'm gonna take care of the house character, and then there's the. I'm going to follow in the footsteps. I'm going to make sure the. The other one is so taken care of. And da, da, da, da. And Lana's, to me, definitely sounds like she's filling the latter role, which.

[Experian Boost Announcer]

Agree.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

That's why Henry likes her so much. Well, exactly. But that, to me, doesn't read any impressionable. So I actually could see Henry going to the Vance side at the beginning of the book. I do not think he's going to end the series on the Ophiucai, I'm assuming, defeated side. I definitely think he, either in the final battle or right before the final battle is going to turn to the side of our crew.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I'm willing to make a bet on that.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay. Okay.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I am just so hung up on him and this girl. Like, that was kind of how we were left with. With them and I. He's so impressionable and.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

But Lana is not. She doesn't have opinions. Like, Alana's just kind of there. Like, no offense to Lana. I'm sorry. That was very mean. I'm sorry.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

But. Okay, so think about back when DM was observing that she, Lana, did not share. Where she didn't share the same information about the weaknesses of the palace that DM did. So I think that she was a

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

little bit higher compass than dm, which. Okay, that would. That's kind of.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah. Henry having a good, high moral compass with him is going to help him. So I.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So how. How would you like to form this bet? How would you like to form this bet?

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I think Henry is going to stay on the good side for Burns and not go to Vance's. He will not fall under Vance's spell again.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right, while we're talking about Henry, we have to discuss his guiding light, Vance. Vance is the leader of the Guardians who have decided to join forces with Ophiuchai. And he fucking hates dm. Putting it blankly and everything she stands for. He was also temporarily the leader of the Lumnos Guardian Cell while Aurelia was away, which was not the best leadership choice given the death and mayhem he caused during that time. He is a shoot first, ask questions, never kind of a person and wants to see the total, total destruction of the Descendant reign. Though he is actively siding with the descended. Descended air quotes. And is. I'm not quite sure where his headspace is with that, though. I wonder if he actually thinks that he can just kill Ophi when everything's all set and done. So we see Vance a few times in Heat of the Ever Flame, but once is where we're still at the Arboro cell. This is at the beginning of the book where he loses an arm. Vance.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh no.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Try to warn you to get out of the way, but Sarai landed and thus took an arm. He is milking this injury for all it's worth. Trying to get other mortals to see just how evil the Descended and especially dmr like. Oh, Henry. Henry, is that you? Who. Who believed that. That DM was totally evil because Vance's arm was taken? Wow. How interesting. We both, along with the rest of the fandom, believe hope please God, help that Vance is cat food by the end of this series. So, two questions.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Driver food. Take the rest of them to Rye.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Absolutely not. He does not deserve to be grasping. That is not a tasty meal. I want a feral, naked mole rat eating him. At this point. I. He doesn't deserve Gryvin food. So questions for you, Lexi. Two of them. One. Who do you think is going to kill Vance?

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So, according to the very few bets that we made, A year ago I said, ophiuchai, do I still believe that I have a rule now where I will not make bets until we have.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I honestly so glad that you didn't have that rule for this because I'm stoked with some of the best.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, so, like, the question is, do I still believe that Ophiuchai will kill Vance? You're not going to like my answer here, Nicole. Partially. I think that Ophiuchai will indirectly cause Vance's death. The fact is Ophiuchai is using Vance. They're really kind of using each other here. And I could see Vance getting power hungry. He considers himself the leaders of the Guardians and tensions rising between them as Vance tries to wedge his way back to the top. But Ophiuchai is like, no, no, no, get back in line. Get. Get down. Like, I'm. I'm the boss here. Which Vance will not appreciate. And I think that Ophiuchai will have the opportunity to stop Vance's death, but he will make the conscious decision to not save Vance and let the thorn in his side die.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, interesting. So I actually think that Henry is going to be the one to kill Vance. I do believe still that he is going to fall under Vance's influence once again, but it's going to be like one of the final knife twists. We're going to talk about this a lot in tomorrow's episode, but we both believe that the Guardians killed Andre. I think that Vance 1000% led that fight, if you will.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Me too.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So because of that, I could see Henry finding out about that and being livid with this man who led him in a horrific dis direction for so many years. I don't think Henry was part of the. The crew that killed Andre. I should be very clear because that would be unredeemable in my. And I don't think Penn would do that. My top two are DM and Henry. According to the bet we made a while ago. I'm sticking with Henry. And I will, I will. I will lay down with that hill to die on. But I could also see dm, given what we were saying earlier about that bonded bargain with Dorial and kill the man who led it. If Vance somehow was the man who led that fight, then that would fulfill the bargain and her. I could totally see that being a loophole. But for right now, we're gonna go with Henry. Okay, my second question for you. Do you think that Vance is going to be the first casualty in burn? No.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Really? Well, Penn has alluded that we will get much more Advance's backstory, and we will understand how, why he is the way that he is. She gave us some very good teasers about why he hates the descendant as much as he does. And there is a very good reason for that. Nicole and I have speculated that he had a family previously or something along those lines. I'm also going out on a limb and think that we are going to get a Vance pov. And I think these tensions within his and Ophikai's faction, they have to build up throughout the story. So I think that Vance will die, whether it's in the final battle or right before it. But we have way too much to learn about Van, so there's too much delicious tension between him and Ophiuchai to happen. So I don't think that he'll be the first at all.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't know if I agree that we're gonna get advanced pov. I think we're going to get a scene where DM uses Umbros magic and looks into Vance's mind.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, that actually makes a lot of sense too.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, yeah. I, I, I see us getting this scene through DMs very, very squishy heart. I see it. I see us getting it through because that I feel like if we see it through Vance's pov, it's going to be too hard for us readers to sympathize with him. Whereas if we see it through DMs POV, a character we already do sympathize with, most of us at least. I think that it'll be much easier for us to see what happened to Vance, because I do agree. I definitely think there's something with a family. I think it would be easier for us to see that and sympathize. And I still think he's gonna die.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh, he's absolutely gonna die. He has to die in the first half or the second half of the book?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Second half, definitely. Okay, cool. Yeah.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Last and, well, certainly the least liked. Along with fans. Ophiuchai are big bad.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't know. I think I actually like Ophi more than Vance. I'm not gonna lie.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay, so we have Ophiuchai, our Big Bad. It is believed that he is a direct descendant of Omnos, the Tenth Kindred. But we at Fantasy Fangirls are pretty very much convinced that he is actually Omnos himself, and Ophiuchai is his original name from the Kindred's homeworld. Because we did learn from Montiose's diary that all the Kindred had their own names and then the mortals renamed them Lumnos, Montios, etc. But we could definitely see Ophiuchi not recognizing that Omnos name. Ophiuchai is Diem's biological father. She calls him her sire who was trapped on the island for an ungodly amount of time before Aurelie eventually found him while hiding out there on Vortos mission 20 plus years ago. Bang bang bang. Led to Diem's birth. DMs blood falling on the Heartstone is what allowed Ophiuchai's chains to break, leading to his ability to finally leave the island, access his power again and pursue his his vengeance. After being trapped on the island alone for many, many, many, many, many many many years, Ophiuchai started to hatch a plan to essentially take over the continent. He wants to make sure that he will never be forgotten again. As well as becoming the supreme ruler of Amarian and removing everyone in his way to do that, even if it means killing every single person working against him or not. Like we mentioned earlier, he is all powerful like like dm, he absorbs others magic and it makes him stronger. And we've gotten context clues that he can also wield all of the realms magic too. So we are making that assumption. According to her bonded bargain with Dorial, DM has to eliminate the man who led that attack, AKA her sire. As far as any of us understand it. But more on our theories about how DM will execute. Get it that plan in tomorrow's episode.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right, those are our main players in the series. What about our side characters that are important to remember? Starting off with Daddio Remus Corbois. Remus is Luther and Lily's father and the head of House Corbois. After breaking a bonded bargain with Liam back in Glow, he no longer has his magic. A fact he wants no one knowing about. Remus is complex, if you will. Like every damn person in this world. At the end of the day, he wants power and wants to keep all the power he possibly can. And is his grubby little hands. Which means the realm, you know, not seeing DM as the rightful ruler. Oh. Oh no. Shoot.

[Charity Lawson from Bachelor Happy Hour]

Darn.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I guess I'll have to keep being regent then. Even though Eleanor is technically Regent. Remus basically says that noise. Remus is not working so far against DM to the point of siding with the other houses though. This is where he gets in the gray. For instance, he's not working against Diem and siding with the Hanovers. Remus is trying to prevent War in Limnos and he's playing political chess to the best of his abilities and keeping the power in house Corbois is the only way he knows how.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

We learned that he has at least been upholding DM's law about not executing any of the half mortal children. Which the fact that we are celebrating that shows just how low the bar is.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah. We know from pen though that in Burn we're going to learn from quite a decent amount about Remus and his motives that have been in place since the beginning of the series. What does that mean? I don't know. We screamed about it for about five minutes and I think came up with nothing during that episode.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

So he's such a fascinating great character who represents the older generation, the traditional ways and trying to compromise with the new generation to hold on to his power while still being objectively a bad guy who after all killed Luther's mortal mother and tried to kill Luther himself when he was a child. We cannot forget about that. I wonder if we'll learn more about the relationship between the three brothers of Remus, Gareth and Ulther, the late Lumnos king. Yeah, I think about like from the beginning of the series. One of the things that we know from his past is that before Luther was born, Remus got a vision right from Lumnos that his firstborn was going to be the heir and have the Lumnos crown. Then we have the shit stained Gareth Courbois, Remus's older brother. Gareth is Aaron and Aemond's father and a horrible one at that. Ever since his sons were young, Gareth physically abused them, leaving them with lashes and burns. But once when their healing abilities manifested, it was impossible for anyone to know for sure if he stopped or if everything just healed too fast. Gareth has a deep seated hatred for the mortals and wants to keep all the realms power in the hands of the Corbois. He is not a fan of DMs whatsoever. He openly opposes her in front of the heads of the 20 houses and he and DM are constantly butting heads and I really hope that he does not make it out of the series alive.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next we have one of Gareth's sons, Eamon Corbois. Eamon is very complicated, like everyone but this one especially, especially more than he appears peers. He is Taran's older brother and has been dealing with Gareth's abuse and manipulation his entire life. Where Taran said enough is enough and stay as far as away from me as possible. Aemon never broke free of Gareth's clutches There are several tiny moments where we see him taking pleasure in DM handing Gareth his ass. But ultimately at the end of the day, Aemon has to this point done everything that Gareth wants him to do.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

We've also got the remaining crowns. First up is the Sophos crown named Dorial who is non binary and is one of the very few people who know about Omnos and why Monteos realm is so large. Doriel is the one who proposed for the crowns to revise the foraging spell so that the mortals will not be able to get to the Heartstone by extending the protections to kill anyone who is not a crown that steps onto the island and it also traps DM on the island. Doriel is clever, practical and usually rule abiding as the designated keeper of the laws among the crowns. And now Dorial is officially on DM's shit list after tricking her from Dorial's POV. It was not to be malicious. It was to protect Amarian from DMs all powerfulness. And again we've been talking so much about these great characters. Dorial is absolutely another one who, who I don't consider is a bad person, is not doing this to be malicious, but is doing what they genuinely think is right for Amarian, for their realm, for the crowns. And again what all the crowns only know of as they are so scared of DM and how much of a wild car, how powerful she is.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Think of the attack on Sophos from Dorial's pov. They see a woman who has these exact same power as the man who's attacking. They then hear about that woman letting that man go and then oh by the way, she also bears his mark where people weren't killing her. It seems like she's playing the long game and a spy for Ophiuchai. I do not blame Dorial in the slightest for trapping DM on the island

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

because Dorial real quickly, Dorial also in their bonded bargain included that DM can't have known anything about the attack on their city because and they're kind of

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

surprised when this happens and she still has her magic. So I don't blame Doriel. I don't see them making it out of the series though.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't either.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

No, actually speaking of another person I don't see making it out of the series. The king of Meros o' Banneron who we don't really see much actually at all outside of the crowns meeting on the islands at the end the of glow and heat at the end of Heat. He does agree with Doriel in favor of pardoning DM and her mother, but o' Banner is not fucking happy about it. When the Crowns are casting this new foraging spell, Meros does have a look of resignation. He doesn't want it to come to this, but because of the other crowns, he's not backed into a corner per se. But there's not really a better option at the moment. At the end of the day, Meros is these fishing villages and ports are huge casualties from Guardians attacks. The more recent ones like the villages being completely wiped out and corpses carved with the ten pointed stars. That is more Ophiuchai's. But he doesn't really see the difference because the previous Guardians were also attacking his port. So I don't blame him for not being super rah rah to the to the Guardians.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next up is the Igneous King, who is really not a fan of DMs. In fact, he's the one who stabs DM in the heart with Godstone and leaves her for dead on the island. But right before this, at the very end of Heat, the Igneous King was scratched by your cell's God, stone laced nails after he stabbed her, accidentally giving Diem her fourth crown, the Umbro's crown. So at the end of Heat, he is left infected with the Godstone toxin. Claims that they figured out the cure to Godstone toxin so that they can have and healed, but they don't realize that DM's blood is actually the cure. Womp womp. Last we know, Igneous is on the island along with DM at the end of Heat. But Dorial had told him previously when they were all kind of wrapping up the ceremony that they would bring him to Sophos for the cure to Godstone. So to be determined if Byrne opens with him even still on the island left for dead and us speculating if DM chooses to heal him with her blood or. And I don't really know how this would have worked with everybody running away and like kind of like the timeline. But if Doriel did manage to get the King off of the island after he stabs dm, because Royal did say that they were going to get him off the island, but it does seem

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

like he stayed on the island to stab DM even though that because he thought he was dying, so he might as well stay and take out another crown.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

But he was also very excited about getting that Godstone toxin.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

As my whole life alive for over a year, I have thought that he's going to be on Korea. And here it is with this other option that I didn't even consider.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh, my God. I was just like reading that part. It was like, I had honestly forgotten that Dorial had said that. So, yeah, I think that either Dorial very easily could have just been like, oh, sorry, you missed the book, you missed your opportunity. Or. And it's like, oh, he's just going to stay there to die. But then also, I. I don't. I don't know.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next is Arboros, the Queen of Arboros, who is secretly half mortal and has been working with Arlie and the Guardians for a while now. While she openly does not want to trap DM on the island, she does have to go along with it, because if she doesn't, those that she cares about and the cause that she's fought for is null and void. And DM is kind of a wild card. I'm sorry, I don't blame any of the Crowns.

[Mary from Two Judgy Girls]

Maybe.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Maybe Igneous. I don't blame any of the Crowns, except for Igneous, for being against, against dm, because all of their reasoning makes a lot of sense. DM is a wild card. It looks bad to side with her and very sus to side with her, especially when Arboros Murell, the Queen, has been working undercover for so long.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yep, exactly. The Faunos Queen is willing to go along with Doriel's plan because it benefits her, but at the end of the day, she just wants to go back to her realm and do business as normal.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

She's like, just leave me with my tigers, please. Exactly. Before hopping into the next section of characters, I do have a question for you regarding the crowns. Do you think any of them are making it out of Burn Alive? Because I think. No way.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I mean, it comes back to the larger question about DM getting all the crowns. I think that's a given. And to inherit the crown, the current crown has to die. So logically, all of them have to perish for DM to become the ultimate Queen of Amarian, which prophecies are hinting toward. But it's not like I see DM going on a killing spree of the Crowns, despite how they imprisoned her. Like I was saying, like, she. She talks a lot, but she doesn't always walk the walk there. It's not her style. So I don't know, you know, what I'm actually going to say. I do think that they are all going to be gone if there's a way. Like, again, we don't know I don't

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

think they're gonna be gone at any hand.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Could be. I'm literally going to the foraging magic and take their ground from them.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

I. I don't know.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Could the Hearthstone, if she breaks off of the island and if that's how. Because we'll talk about this again more tomorrow. But, like, we do think that the Heartstone and DM doing something with the magic is going to be what gets her off of the island.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Definitely.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

And so when she does that, that could. I. I have no idea how any of that would work, but again, we are working with a very powerful person where. Yeah, there's not really many barriers of magic.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Well, with that very powerful person, I don't think DM's gonna be the one to kill the other crowns. I think it's gonna be Althea Kai.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh, I. I could see him definitely killing a few crowns.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah, for sure. Interesting. So we're not. From what I'm hearing, we're kind of sort of on the same place, so. No bet.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

No bet, no bet.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right, next. Moving on.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Hold on, hold on. Are you. Are you saying that you do think that all of the crowns are going to be dead by the end?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yes. But not at DMs hand? There's no way.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I don't think at DMs hand. I'm, like, leaning a little bit more into DM being able to go into that forging magic and literally take the crowns from them.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Do you want to make a bet

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

figuring out how to do that and being able to do that with some. Some kind of way with her getting off the island? I'm gonna make that bet. I'm totally talking myself into this right now.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

I just think that there's way too much crazy wild card magic for us to follow the rules that we've been following for the series so far. I've learned my lesson. I'm gonna say people don't die. There we go. I don't want.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Okay.

[Charity Lawson from Bachelor Happy Hour]

Don't die.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

So I'm saying all the crowns will die at the end or all the crowns minus DM will be dead at the end of Burn.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

And I think that there will be a few survivors. I'm not saying that they will still be crowns, but I do think that they will still be alive.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right, next. Moving back to Lumnose. We're not going to discuss the 20 houses. We're only going to talk about the ones that are most important. This episode is long enough. We have learned from Eleanor that many of The Houses do not actually blame Diem for what happened at the end of the challenging. Despite having challenged her, they blame instead House Hanover for orchestrating this whole charade. So it turns out that Marthe Hanover forced all of the other House Houses beyond just the 20 with threats so that every single House in Lumnos would challenge Diem. Marth Hanover has been a thorn in everyone's side and I would not be surprised if that comes to bite her in the butt in burn.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh, absolutely. As the elderly matriarch of the House, I think that she will be on a personal mission to follow through with her insistence of banning mortals from Lumnose. And we speculated that we think she particularly hates mortals because she was alive during the Blood War. That's never stated on the page, but context clues. I do think that she was. And everyone else could be like, yes, Marth, we know, we know you don't want the mortals here, but we have bigger issues right now. I could just so vividly see that in House Hanovera there is also Ileana, who was promised to Luther when he was the Lumnos heir apparent. We do not like her. And Jean Hanover, who doesn't like that his half mortal son Zelaric is alive and in Lumnos. He's kind of considered the second most powerful Lumnos descended after Luther. I do wonder if Zellaric is more powerful than him. In fact, I definitely think more powerful than. Do you think that Zellaric is going to kill his father?

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

100% absolutely. I do not see a universe in which Jaune and Marth make it out of the city series.

[Charity Lawson from Bachelor Happy Hour]

I agree.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Yeah. Some other rapid fire. We promise Houses to remember House Key Slayne, which is the smallest House, which was actually the one to fight DM in the Challenging with wrongly slain. But they are one of the most sympathetic to DM's cause. We also have House Banette, the maker of weapons in Lumnos and one of the best maker of weapons in Omarion, though many of their shipments have been disrupted by Guardians in the last few months. It is the Banette Armory that kaboomed in Spark, thanks to the Guardians and

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

House Banette, along with House Hanover are prime suspects in Andre's death, who was deemed stepfather and murdered before her. Challenging with his killer now still unknown. More on that speculation in tomorrow's episode. Looking in other realms, we also have the Umbros centenaries, specifically Simond, you slimy Simond. Now that DM is queen of Umbros, she technically leads the centenaries. There are 100 Umbros descended that have powerful mind magic. I can see them being extremely useful during the war, though it didn't seem like they cared for DM at all. So I'll be curious to see how this all happens. Specifically Simond, who was like the Umbros Queen's right hand and therefore the manager of the centenaries. You know, he's the ultimate middle management you could call.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

He really is. He really is.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Oh, man. HR needs to talk to him, though. Not good, Simon.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

They have no hr. HR isn't a threesome in Umbros right

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

now, so I definitely think that he'll be stepping up as their leader now with DM off the grid. And DM will have to come to some kind of allyship with him so that she can get the surviving Centenaries.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next, we have two characters who are quite tiny in comparison, as the previous mentioned, but we have received hints from our FONA pens that they are going to be bigger players in Burn, so we thought it best to include them. Ennis and Runa. And in case you're like, who and who? These two people were trapped in the Fortos prison and DM freed them after she killed the Fortos king and became the queen of Fortos. Ennis is an Arboros descended and Runa is a mortal woman. And they've got a spark between those too. While in Fortos, they did seem to ponder DM's vision of a new Omarion. And when they escaped, Runa did make the comment that what if they Want to join DM's army? I am betting your booty they are going to come back to join said army somehow.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

In Burn, I would be remiss if I didn't mention Stuart, the Sophos mortal teenager who gave DM the sword from her visions for the Sophos battle after fetching it from the archives. It belonged to the Kindred and we will be talking about it a lot tomorrow. He was originally from Miros, but his family moved when his mother was invited to research in Sophos. He's a happy go lucky person who Luther might not like because Stuart has a crush on dm and I just adore Stuart so much I had to include him for myself.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right, friends, we could probably keep going with characters, but we're done, we promise. As you can tell, we are so excited to be back in this world and this is extra exciting for fantasy fangirls because this is the first, first time ever we are covering a final book in A series, which means we're going to do things a little bit differently. While we normally deep dive a book or a series with the context of end of book spoilers, we are going to be deep diving Burn of the Everflame in a read along style. Meaning that if we're covering chapters 15 through 24, you only have to read up to chapter 24 till listen to the episode, not the end of books. Like our normal deep dives, we ourselves will also only have read up to that end of chapter point as well. So again, if we are doing chapter 15 through 24, we will have only read up to chapter 24. This way Lexi and I can still theorize as we go along and you, the audience can take your time soaking up this last book book in this series.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

It's a really choose your own adventure. You can either read along with us and take your time with it because there's so many books that are coming out this fall right around that time too. Or you could read up the whole thing and then laugh at us, you

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

know, as we make so many more bets, I'm sure. Oh my God, I'm excited.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

It's gonna be a new kind of chaos and I'm so excited for it. Also friends, we will be releasing two episodes episodes a week, every Monday and Thursday for a total of eight episodes of Burn of the Everflame over four weeks. And there we have it friends. Everything you need to know before starting Burn of the Everflame by Pen Cole. But again, this is only really part one. Because tomorrow, Tuesday, August 4th, we are dropping part two, an episode entirely dedicated to our final predictions for Burn of the Everflame. Confession Time. A little peek behind the curtains. Today's recap episode and tomorrow's burn predictions. Episode Episode were originally only going to be one episode, but as we were working on the outline it got a little too long. Considerable length if you will. So while we're recording it all in one day, we wanted to break it up into two episodes so not to scare anyone with the episode length. If you can't tell, we're a little excited to be back in Amarian.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Next Monday we are going to be taking a break from Amarian. On August 10th we are going to be heading to Prythian for an everything you need to know from Crescent City for Acotar 6. This will include full series spoilers for both Acotar and Crescent City. Crescent City spoilers will center around everything you need to know for Acotar. But fear not, we will be back to omarion starting on September 8th with our two episodes a week as we deep dive Bird of the Everflame. Ah but remember this is different than our previous deep dives. We are deep diving it in a read along style like we just mentioned. Thank you as always to our head Sophos Scholar AKA our Content researcher Brooke and of course our sanity Manager, our Executive producer and co host of the Fantasy Fanfellas podcast, Hayden.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

Check out our website with tons of book resources including book guides like For Kindred's Curse Saga trivia like For Kindred's Curse Saga quizzes like which Omarion realm would you live in, other book recommendations, and so much more.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

You can pre order my book Oath of the Chosen right now which comes out on May 11th of next year.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

We are very active on social media so please be sure to follow us on Instagram and slash our TikTok antasyfangirlspod. And if you're watching this on YouTube or want to watch on YouTube, pretty please hit that subscribe button to keep following along.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

While you are hitting buttons, don't forget to hit that five star button on whatever podcasting platform you are listening on. And don't just do it for this podcast, please do it for any and all podcasts you regularly listen to. And last but certainly not least, share this episode with your fellow Kindred Curse Saga friends. You know the group of friends of readers that have been waiting for this book and maybe it's been a while since you've done a reread. This is the end, the perfect episode to send to the group chat.

[Lexi from Fantasy Fangirls]

All right everyone, we will see you tomorrow for our predictions episode. Get ready for the chaos because that was not today.

[Nicole from Fantasy Fangirls]

Bye bye.

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