Kael awoke to the scent of ash and copper.
The room was dim, lit by flickering crystals embedded in the stone walls like veins of dying starlight. Seris stood at the doorway, arms crossed, her armor reattached and gleaming faintly in the cold glow.
"You're awake," she said, her tone unreadable. "Good. He's waiting."
Kael sat up, rubbing the stiffness from his eyes. His body ached in a dozen places, but it was the pulsing warmth on his wrist that grabbed his attention. The mark was still there—alive, flickering softly like a campfire about to catch.
"Who's waiting?"
"The Coreforger."
Kael blinked. "That sounds like a title from a video game."
Seris didn't smile. "You'll want to take this seriously. Come on."
She didn't wait for more questions. With a sigh, Kael stumbled to his feet and followed, boots scraping quietly along the boneglass tiles that made up the outpost's narrow halls. The Ember Rest was quieter than before—though even silence in this world seemed charged with tension.
The path they took spiraled downward. Wards pulsed faintly from the walls. Energy buzzed underfoot. Kael felt like he was walking into a reactor.
Finally, they reached a door carved from obsidian, three interlocking sigils etched across its surface. Seris pressed her palm to the center rune. It glowed.
The door groaned open, stone grinding against stone.
---
The chamber beyond was vast. Circular. Airy, but humming with restrained force. Rotating rings of arcane runes drifted lazily in the air like orbiting satellites. At the room's center stood a man.
He looked ancient—not in a decaying way, but in the sense of something carved by time. His robes were crimson and ash-grey, marked with elemental emblems along the hem. His eyes burned faintly with inner fire, and his bare arms were covered in layered tattoos—each symbol representing a fragment bonded, mastered, and survived.
"Kael," Seris said, motioning forward. "Meet Veron, the Coreforger."
Kael tilted his head. "You make it sound like he builds engines."
"In a way," Veron said, stepping forward. "But engines don't dream, and they don't break their wielders."
Kael felt the man's gaze settle over him like a pressure front.
"You're the fracture-marked one," Veron murmured. "Two fragments. One vessel. Still breathing. That's not just rare. It's unnatural."
Kael's fingers flexed. "I didn't ask for this."
"No one does. The Core doesn't care. It only answers."
Seris stepped beside Veron. "He pulled Boneflame and Solar Fang. Raw. Unfiltered. Survived it too."
Veron arched a brow. "Impressive. And terrifying."
Kael frowned. "Terrifying?"
Veron's tone sharpened. "Because you didn't bind those fragments—you absorbed them. That breaks the rules. And things that break rules tend to attract things worse than death."
He turned and walked toward a stone platform at the far end of the room. "Come. If we don't stabilize you, your body will either implode… or worse, become something unrecognizable."
---
They descended into the heart of Ember Rest.
Beneath the surface lay a crucible chamber, larger than Kael expected. Carvings lined the walls—stories of elemental warriors, failed ascensions, and flickering sigils left by souls who'd passed or perished here. The floor bore scorch marks, gouges, even what looked like claw tracks.
"This," Veron said, "is where potential either blossoms… or burns."
Kael swallowed. "Not ominous at all."
"You'll fight," Veron continued. "Not to win, but to sync. Controlled combat will trigger your core's realignment."
"Against who?"
The doors behind them opened with a hiss of air.
A girl strode into the chamber.
She was younger than Kael, maybe seventeen or eighteen. Her eyes were stormcloud gray, framed by lashes as dark as coal. Her hair, black with violet undertones, was braided into a sharp, elegant crown.
She wore a sleeveless tunic lined with fire-etched thread, and her boots sparked faintly with each step.
"Veyra," Seris said. "Flamecaster. Volunteer."
Kael blinked. "Volunteer?"
"She requested to test you."
Veyra stopped a few feet from him, sizing him up like a scientist inspecting a flawed sample.
"You're the thief," she said.
"I prefer 'accidental collector,'" Kael replied.
She rolled her eyes. "You wear two cores without understanding either. That's insulting."
Veron raised a hand. "This is a Trial. You both know the rules. No fatal strikes. First to surrender or lose control ends it."
Kael muttered under his breath, "Great. I'm a test dummy with a glowing tattoo."
"Begin," Veron declared.
---
Veyra moved first.
Twin jets of flame spiraled from her arms, arcing toward Kael with surgical precision. He dodged sideways, barely avoiding the first strike.
A flame spear followed—he ducked. The air burned.
Kael drew on the Boneflame. It responded instantly.
> "Fragment Activation: Boneflame (61%)."
Black fire coiled from his palm, striking her incoming flames mid-air. The impact exploded in a flare of smoke and heat.
She dashed through it, blade of light-fire forming in her hand.
Kael raised both hands, drawing on the Solar Fang. It surged—hot, wild.
> "Dual Sync: 49%. Warning: Instability Rising."
"Yeah, yeah, I know," he muttered.
He parried her strike with a shield of golden fire, staggered back, then retaliated with a burst that forced her to leap away.
"You've got power," she called, circling him. "But no control. You're like a wildfire—burning everything, even yourself."
"I'm adapting," Kael growled.
She lunged again, faster this time. Her movements were precise—trained. Kael barely kept up, blocking with improvised bursts of combined flame and light.
Their fragments clashed, the air hissing with steam and heat distortions.
He found a rhythm.
Block. Step. Counter.
Light-flame spear. Evade. Redirect.
> "Core Sync: 56%. Pulse Stabilizing."
His body felt lighter. The two energies weren't clashing now—they were dancing. Harmonizing.
Veyra hesitated for a heartbeat. Her aura wavered.
Kael seized the moment, firing a tight beam of solar-charged Boneflame that forced her to roll aside.
"Not bad," she muttered, panting. "You're learning."
Kael grinned. "I'm stubborn."
Veyra raised both arms. Her body glowed. Fire erupted around her like wings.
> "Overdrive Mode Detected: Fragment Surge."
She launched into the air, raining flame down like meteors.
Kael pushed harder.
> "Core Integrity: Pushing Threshold. 64%. Danger."
He focused. Pushed past the pain.
Two fragments merged in his palm—a rotating sphere of dark and light, spinning faster, hotter.
"Just hold together…"
He threw it.
The explosion rocked the chamber.
Flame and light collided mid-air with her barrage. A sonic boom followed.
When the smoke cleared, Veyra was on the ground—breathing, conscious, but unable to stand.
Kael dropped to a knee.
> "Stabilization: Success. Core Dual-Bond Formed."
Veron's voice echoed. "Enough."
He stepped forward, placing a palm on Kael's back. The mark on Kael's wrist was steady now, pulsing like a calm heart.
"You've done what few can," Veron said. "You've begun to master chaos."
Kael smiled faintly. "Still feel like I'm gonna pass out."
"You will. Rest. Tomorrow, your path leads to the Spire of Echoes."
---
Later, Kael sat beside Seris in a quiet chamber lined with old maps and flickering runes.
She handed him water. "You impressed them."
"I nearly died."
"Exactly."
He chuckled.
"What's at this Spire?" he asked.
Seris looked out the narrow window slit. "Old knowledge. Forbidden tech. Things that might explain why you're different."
Kael nodded slowly. "And probably more people trying to kill me?"
"Oh, definitely."
He leaned back, staring at the ceiling.
For the first time, the mark on his wrist didn't feel like a curse.
Somewhere deep in the Ashlands, something stirred.
Watching. Waiting.
The fracture-marked one had survived.