Morning came without sunlight.
Just a dull brightening of the red ash clouds overhead. The air hadn't changed—still hot, dry, and tense with invisible pressure. Kael awoke with his back sore, mouth dry, and wristband still warm against his skin.
Seris was already on her feet, scanning the horizon from atop a blackened rock.
"You sleep like someone who hasn't been hunted before," she said without turning.
Kael stretched with a groan. "Technically, I haven't. Not here."
She spared him a glance. "Then you'll die fast. Or get good."
Kael didn't know if that was encouragement or a warning.
---
They continued west through the Ash Circle.
Ruins rose like shattered teeth in the landscape. At times they passed broken archways half-sunken into cracked stone. Seris pointed out ancient battlegrounds, the remnants of a war no one recorded.
"This whole ring used to belong to the Ember Creed," she explained. "Before the Scorching. Before the Fractures. Now it's just contested ground."
"Who contests it?"
She shrugged. "The dead. The mad. And us."
Kael's wrist pulsed again.
> "New Fragment nearby."
His head turned sharply. The HUD inside his vision blinked faintly, marking a point off-path. About 300 meters northeast, past a collapsed tower wrapped in ashen vines.
He hesitated. "There's something out there."
Seris squinted. "You're already sensing fragments?"
He nodded.
"Fine. We check. But keep your guard up. Not all fragments are ownerless."
---
They approached the ruins.
A strange hum vibrated through Kael's bones as they neared. The sky darkened unnaturally above the site—light bending, as if swallowed by something ancient and hungry.
Near the heart of the ruins lay a pedestal of stone and scorched roots. Upon it, a sphere of molten crystal floated silently. Its glow pulsed like a heartbeat.
> "Fragment Type: Solar Fang." "Status: Claimed."
"Claimed?" Kael asked.
Seris tensed. "We leave. Now."
Too late.
A figure dropped from the broken tower, landing between them and the relic. The impact cracked the stone.
He wore jagged red armor and no helmet. His skin was scorched, his hair white and short, his eyes glowing molten gold. A brand burned on his neck—three slashes through a sun.
"Another outsider?" the man sneered. "You things are multiplying."
Seris drew her blade.
Kael's heart raced. He felt the Boneflame fragment stir in his wrist.
"You don't have to fight us," Kael said.
"Oh, I do," the man replied, stepping forward. "Because the last outsider I fought gave me this mark... and I want another."
---
Kael didn't wait.
He shifted left as Seris lunged. Her blade sang through the air, catching the red-armored man on the shoulder. Sparks flew, but the man barely flinched. His gauntleted hand caught Seris's wrist, twisted, and flung her aside like a rag doll.
Kael moved in, wrist pulsing.
> "Combat override enabled. Fragment resonance: 62%."
The Boneflame in his body stirred to life.
Kael swung his fist, not expecting it to connect—but flame burst from his knuckles mid-strike, searing toward the red warrior's chest.
The man raised an arm and blocked with ease. Even as his armor scorched, he grinned. "Not bad. Raw, but not bad."
He countered with a brutal elbow. Kael flew back, landing hard on cracked stone. Pain bloomed through his ribs.
"Your core's too young," the man said. "Hijack systems like yours? Rare. Powerful. But unstable."
Kael forced himself up. His breath was ragged. But he could feel the Boneflame—it wanted to be used.
Seris was up again, blood running down her temple.
"Together," she called.
Kael nodded.
They attacked in tandem. Seris went low, blade flicking like silver lightning. Kael followed with a wide arc of flame from his palm. The red warrior grunted as her blade nicked his thigh—his stance shifting just in time for Kael's fire to clip his side.
He snarled, eyes flashing.
Then the fragment on the pedestal pulsed.
The air quaked.
"No!" Seris shouted.
The man extended a hand toward the relic. It responded—faster than thought, the molten sphere shattered into golden light and surged into his chest.
Kael fell back, shielding his eyes.
> "Fragment assimilated: Solar Fang."
The red warrior's body began to glow. Gold lines raced up his arms and neck. His eyes became blinding suns.
"Now," he said, voice distorted. "Let's see how long you last."
---
Kael raised both hands, channeling everything he had. The Boneflame responded—fire leapt from his skin, encasing his arms in flickering white-orange light. It wasn't enough.
The red warrior moved like lightning. One moment he stood still; the next, he was on Kael. A brutal backhand sent Kael crashing through a wall of stone. Dust exploded in his wake.
Seris lunged in, her blade singing a dangerous song.
Steel met golden fire. Sparks turned into streaks of lightning as she pushed her weight into a slash meant to sever his arm.
He caught the blade with his bare hand.
"No way—" Seris barely dodged his counter, twisting mid-air and landing hard. Her armor was scorched.
Kael groaned as he pushed himself out of the rubble.
> "Pain threshold exceeded." "Activating Core Stabilization."
The flame inside him blazed hotter—painful but focused. His mind cleared. His heartbeat slowed to a rhythmic thump.
He stood.
The red warrior grinned. "Still standing? I'm impressed. And curious."
Kael wiped the blood from his mouth. "You talk too much."
Then he launched forward.
The Boneflame exploded from his feet. A streak of fire trailed his movement. He ducked low, twisting under the warrior's sweeping kick and slammed his palm against his chest.
For a second—just one—the Solar Fang and Boneflame collided. Energy sparked wild. Kael screamed as backlash coursed through his nerves.
> "Core Link Detected. Cross-hijack—initiated."
Kael had no idea what that meant.
But something leapt from the warrior and into him. Not a full fragment, but a sliver. A taste of Solar.
It burned.
The warrior staggered back, eyes wide. "You... pulled a shard?"
Kael dropped to one knee, panting.
> "New trait acquired: Lightbrand Ember (unstable)."
Seris stepped beside him. "What did you do?"
He coughed. "Borrowed... some of his sunshine."
The red warrior didn't look amused.
Lightning cracked from his shoulders. "Then die with it."
He charged.
Kael stood and met him halfway.
---
The clash was titanic. Fire and light collided again and again. Craters burst open beneath their feet, and the old ruins crumbled.
Kael's movements grew faster. The Boneflame and the Solar shard surged through him in chaotic harmony. Every time they connected, pain and power sang through his limbs.
Suddenly, a flicker of memory stabbed through Kael's mind.
—A white room.
Searing lights. Voices speaking in panicked tones. "Subject 47—unstable. Fragment compatibility exceeds safety margins!"
Then the memory vanished, leaving Kael gasping.
Seris struck the finishing blow—her blade pierced the warrior's side. Kael slammed both palms into his chest, discharging every last drop of stored heat.
The explosion sent them all flying.
Silence.
Kael blinked up at a blood-orange sky.
The warrior was gone.
Ash drifted.
Only the pedestal remained, scorched and shattered.
Seris limped over, kneeling beside him. "That was... suicidal."
Kael coughed a laugh. "But effective."
She looked at his wrist.
The mark had changed. No longer just Boneflame. Now, hints of gold shimmered at the edge.
"You're evolving," she said.
Kael sat up slowly. "Then let's make it count."
---
> "Chapter 2 complete. Core status: Dual Signature (unstable)." "Next objective: Find the Shard of Echo."
The screen blinked. Then faded.
Kael leaned back against the rubble, breathing in the warm, acrid air.
He had survived again.
But every survival came at a cost.
And this world hadn't even begun to ask for its price.