World Set Ablaze
Heat rippled through the air in shimmering waves, the scent of burning sulfur thick in Lyra's lungs.
The Everburning Titan rose, unfathomably vast, its body composed of molten rock and raw, untamed fire.
The very forge itself trembled beneath its weight, lava cascading from the cavern walls, the Crucible's glow pulsing violently.
A creature of legend. A force of destruction.
And it had just awakened.
Lyra's pulse pounded.
She had read about the Everburning Titan before. A being sealed away by the ancient alchemists. A creature of pure energy and wrath, meant to be nothing more than a myth.
And now—it stood before her.
Its eyes burned like miniature suns, devoid of thought, yet filled with primordial hunger.
The air around it wavered, superheated to the point of warping light itself.
The runic walls of the forge flickered violently, reacting to its very presence.
A slow, rumbling breath escaped the Titan's form, embers scattering like fireflies into the darkened cavern.
Then, from the base of the Crucible, a voice thick with triumph rang out.
"Behold, the power of the Everburning Titan!"
Lyra's stomach twisted.
The Alchemist King stood at the edge of the glowing pit, arms raised, his golden mask reflecting the Titan's furious glow.
Even with the fire illuminating him, his expression was unreadable beneath the mask.
Yet his voice—his voice carried the reverence of a man who had finally seized his godhood.
"With this, I will reshape the world."
The Titan shifted, its molten muscles rippling, veins of liquid flame coursing through its massive limbs.
Then it turned its gaze toward Lyra.
And stepped forward.
---
The Final Battle
The cavern quaked, the force of the Titan's movements sending torrents of molten rock surging through the chamber.
Each step it took left behind a pool of bubbling lava, the forge's ancient structures crumbling in its wake.
Lyra dove aside, barely avoiding a molten boulder as it crashed into the stone where she had stood moments before.
The heat was unbearable.
The mere presence of the Titan sapped the air from her lungs, her skin prickling as if set ablaze.
Callan was already moving, his enchanted blade flashing as he charged.
His sword—one of the finest crafted in Verdantia, forged with alchemical enhancements—bit into the Titan's molten leg.
And then melted.
Callan's eyes widened. "You've got to be kidding me—"
He barely had time to jump back before the Titan swung one massive, flaming arm, the force of it sending a shockwave through the chamber.
Elaris summoned a barrier, her staff glowing bright—
But the Titan's flames consumed her spell before it could even form.
It was unstoppable.
Lyra's mind raced.
There had to be a way. A weakness.
Her eyes flickered to the runes pulsing along the Titan's chest.
They weren't just glowing—they were reacting.
The Titan was still bound to this place.
And that meant—
It could be broken.
But how?
She reached into her satchel, fingers moving on instinct, grabbing vials, mixing solutions—
The Titanbreaker Elixir.
A potion meant to break the unbreakable.
It had to work.
Lyra worked fast, her hands steady even as the battle raged around her.
She mixed shards of the forge's crystallized essence, combined it with molten fragments of the Crucible's core.
The final ingredient—
A single drop of the Primordial Flame.
As soon as it touched the potion, the mixture reacted violently—
The vial in her palm shone with a blinding, golden light, vibrating with impossible energy.
Lyra clenched her jaw.
This was it.
She hurled the potion—
---
The Titan's Fall
The vial shattered against the Titan's core.
For a breathless moment—
Nothing happened.
Then—
A crack.
Small at first.
Then spreading like lightning through the Titan's body.
The creature let out a roar—not of anger, but agony.
Its fire flickered, unstable.
The runes along its chest fractured, their energy splintering outward in a cascade of golden flames.
The Titan staggered, its molten limbs beginning to fracture, its core splitting open.
And then—
It collapsed.
The cavern trembled, rivers of molten rock swallowing the last remnants of the Titan as it broke apart into embers.
A pulse of energy surged outward, and in that moment—
Lyra saw.
Visions.
A map, burned into her mind.
Sanctuaries. Hidden across the world.
A network of power, left behind by the ancient alchemists.
And at the center of it all—
The key to the Alchemist King's true resurrection.
---
The Syndicate's Ambush
The battle had left them exhausted, but they had won.
Or so Lyra thought.
As they stepped away from the smoldering ruins of the forge, the air shifted.
A presence.
A shadow.
Then—a flash of movement.
Before Lyra could react, dark figures burst from the shadows, blades flashing in the dying light of the forge.
Syndicate assassins.
She barely had time to dodge as a dagger whistled past her ear, embedding itself into the stone wall beside her.
Callan was already moving, cutting down one of the assassins with a swift strike, but—
More emerged.
Elaris raised her staff, sending bolts of light crackling through the darkness.
But for every Syndicate agent that fell, another replaced them.
Then—Lyra felt it.
A hand ripping something from her grasp.
The map.
She turned just in time to see a hooded figure vanish into the Thornwood, the stolen parchment clutched in their hand.
"No—!"
She moved to chase them, but before she could take a step—
A horn blew in the distance.
A sound of war.
Lyra's breath caught in her throat.
She turned—
And saw Verdantia.
Burning.
Syndicate banners flew over the city walls, flames licking at the once-proud towers.
The Alchemist King's return had begun.
And they were already too late.