Morning broke with a sour wind. Thin and biting, it swept across the ridge like a warning. Riku gathered his gear without a word, the Pale Flame emissary already waiting at the edge of the southern trench, their ember-glass mask reflecting the forge-light behind him.
Kael and Sira approached quietly, their steps light. They knew better than to ask questions this early. The only sound was the low hum of the forge pulsing in the distance, steady as breath.
The emissary spoke only once before they left. "Beyond the ridge, you will find the ruins where flame and stone first spoke. Others have walked there and vanished. We do not follow beyond the broken gate."
Riku gave a single nod. "We will."
They traveled west in silence, climbing sharp basalt ridges until the world below was nothing but mist and fractured stone. The landscape shifted as they passed deeper into the crater's shadow—no beasts stirred, no birds cried. Just wind through hollow spires.
By midday, they saw it.
A broken tower rose from the chasm below, its top sheared off, its surface lined with weathered carvings. Beneath it sprawled a collapsed complex of black stone and heat-fused glass. Vent steam hissed through the cracks in the earth, giving the ruins the appearance of a wounded machine still breathing faintly.
Riku paused at the ridge's edge. "Relay tower. Foldsmith architecture, maybe."
Kael crouched, squinting at the faded symbols. "Could be older. Core conduits still active, faint but steady."
They descended slowly, moving between cracked walls and buried corridors. The deeper they went, the warmer the air became—almost suffocating. Light from their lanterns caught glimmers of broken fold-reactor plates embedded in the stone.
In the main chamber, half-buried beneath fallen supports, they found it.
A core housing. Cracked, darkened, but unmistakably a fold-reactor. Not alive, but not dead either.
Kael whistled low. "If we can rebuild that, we could power the entire forge for weeks."
Riku knelt beside the core, running his palm along the fractured casing. His system flickered softly, noting the structure's dormant energy. He ignored the prompt, storing the observation for later.
"Strip what we can carry. We'll send a salvage crew once we know it's safe."
But the ruins were never going to be safe.
The first shot came from the upper balcony—silent, sharp. A metal dart embedded itself in the stone beside Kael's head, hissing faintly before burning out.
Sira reacted instantly, loosing an arrow into the shadows above. A metallic screech rang out as a sentry drone, dormant until now, dropped from the rafters, wings fractured, claws scraping the walls as it fell.
Another pair activated, red eyes sparking to life.
"Defense drones," Kael shouted. "They're old but functional!"
Riku surged forward, glaive striking one mid-flight, cleaving through its chassis with a single arc. Sparks erupted. Sira and Kael handled the second with coordinated strikes, cutting its wing supports and sending it crashing into the rubble.
When the dust settled, only the cracked hum of the core remained.
Riku exhaled slowly, adjusting his grip on the glaive. "That's enough for one trip."
They gathered fragments of the drones, salvaging wiring and reinforced plates. Before leaving, Riku knelt by the fold-reactor one last time, tracing the faint energy pulse running through its remains.
"Next time," he whispered, almost to himself.
They exited into the dusk, the ruins falling silent behind them, leaving more questions than answers. The Pale Flame emissary waited where they left him, unmoved.
"You returned," the emissary said quietly.
"For now." Riku glanced back over his shoulder once. "No one else finds that place. Burn the markers. Let it fade."
The emissary bowed his head. "As you wish."
Night fell as they returned to Blackridge. The forge lights welcomed them home, steady and warm.
In the workshop, Riku laid out the salvaged parts across the workbench. Gears. Shattered optics. Old conduit fragments. As he organized the pieces, his system whispered softly.
[Material Refined: Obsidian Relay Shards → Enhanced Comm Nodes | Signal Range +50%]
He stared at the polished comm nodes in his palm, cool and perfectly shaped. They would allow his scouts to report from the far ridges without risking themselves.
He slid them into the storage case and left the workshop in silence.
Another piece of the unknown had been claimed. And still, it felt like a fraction of what waited beyond the next ridge.
The Blood Moon was only halfway through.
And tomorrow, something else would crawl from the dark.