The wind had calmed.
The snow no longer bit at Kai's skin—it merely drifted now, silent and strange, like it respected the fight he'd survived.
His footsteps crunched across the icy terrain, deeper and deeper into the endless white. Around him, the blizzard's scars still marked the land—scorched snow, half-melted bodies of monsters, broken glacier towers that had been shattered in his last stand.
"Temple, huh?" Kai muttered to himself, trudging forward.
The Watcher's final words still echoed in his head.
"Find the temple. The door will open in fire and silence."
He wasn't sure what she meant. But he had nothing else to follow—no trail, no tech, no Tony Stark poking around in his Omnitrix to give him answers.
Just instinct.
And frostbite.
"Why is it always cryptic ghost ladies and not someone who gives maps?"
He sighed and kept walking.
After what felt like an hour, he noticed something in the distance—barely visible through the haze of white.
A black spike, protruding from the ground.
He stopped.
Stared.
Then ran toward it.
The black spike wasn't stone. It was metal—cold to the touch, carved with runes he couldn't recognize. It jutted out of the snow like the tip of a blade, or maybe the crown of something larger buried beneath the ice.
Kai circled around it, eyes scanning for clues.
Then he felt it.
A low vibration beneath his feet.
The ground was humming.
"This is it…"
He stepped back and activated the Omnitrix.
It pulsed faintly—less like a tool, and more like a compass, subtly tugging his wrist forward, toward the spike.
He knelt and placed his palm on the metal.
Nothing happened.
He thought back to the Watcher's words again:
"Fire and silence."
He looked up at the stormy sky.
"Well, I got fire."
He stepped back and turned the dial.
A few clicks.
Then the symbol of Heatblast lit up again.
"Let's try this."
He slammed it down.
FWOOSH.
Flame exploded around him, body shifting to magma and plasma.
Now Heatblast, he raised his arm, summoned a glowing orb of white-hot fire—and thrust it forward.
The flames struck the black metal—and were absorbed instantly.
The rune lines lit up—first red, then gold, then a pale, ancient blue.
Kai stepped back.
The snow began to collapse inward, spiraling like a drain.
And beneath it…
Stairs.
The temple was hidden under a frozen crater, its peak buried, its mouth now opened like a wound in the ice.
Carved steps spiraled downward, glowing faintly with blue runes. The walls were not made of stone, but of a strange, obsidian glass, slick to the touch and warmer than the air outside.
Kai reverted to human form as he descended, the temperature somehow rising the deeper he went.
He had no weapons.
Only his fists, his instincts, and the Omnitrix.
The air changed.
And then, suddenly—silence.
No wind.
No echo.
Even his footsteps made no sound.
He remembered the second half of the Watcher's words:
"The door will open in fire and silence."
He was here.
But what was waiting?
---
The Inner Chamber
At the bottom of the stairs, the corridor opened into a massive, circular chamber.
A temple heart.
Tall pillars surrounded him, each carved with alien glyphs. In the center stood a floating crystal monolith, pulsing softly like a heartbeat.
Above it, a rotating ring of symbols—dozens of alien languages, shifting like gears.
Kai stepped closer.
"What… is this place?"
The Omnitrix pulsed once.
Beep.
And suddenly—
The monolith reacted.
A surge of light enveloped the room.
Images formed in midair—projections, like holograms. Not from Earth. Not from any world he recognized.
One showed a galaxy fracturing, stars blinking out.
Another showed aliens fighting, wielding weapons of light and energy.
And at the center of it all…
A tall shadow, cloaked in swirling void, watching as worlds collapsed.
Kai stared.
The figure resembled the being the Watcher had shown him.
He looked at the Omnitrix.
"Is this why you brought me here?"
Then the final image struck him.
A human boy—Kai himself—surrounded by different versions of himself.
Each one wielding a different alien form.
Each one battling shadows.
Then all images vanished.
The monolith dimmed.
Only the hum remained.
Kai backed away slowly, heart thumping.
"You're telling me… I'm part of something bigger than just Earth?"
The Omnitrix didn't answer.
But the silence seemed to agree.
He turned to leave—only to notice another path had opened behind the crystal monolith.
A long tunnel. Lined with statues.
Each statue held a different weapon or artifact, all shaped like alien tech. One even wore a gauntlet like the Omnitrix—but twisted, broken, corrupted.
He walked slowly down the tunnel, eyes flicking from one relic to the next.
At the very end was a door.
A smooth, glowing circle.
He stepped toward it, palm out.
It opened with a whisper of wind.
Beyond it—
Was light.
Not harsh.
Warm.
Real sunlight.
Trees.
Birdsong.
A new dimension?