The courtyard still burned.
The night that had once belonged to stars was now nothing but fire and ruin. The air was thick with smoke and molten dust; the ground bled light where cracks ran deep into the stone. Jayden could barely breathe through the heat. His water essence trembled in his veins, begging to recoil, to flee from the devouring red that filled the world.
The Gate Guardian stood in the center of the chaos — a tower of flame and bone. Every step it took left trails of molten glass in its wake. The remnants of the academy wall sagged behind it like wax. It didn't move like a beast. It moved like an executioner.
When it roared, the sky burned.
"Everyone fall back!" one of the instructors screamed, but her voice drowned beneath the sound. She slammed her gauntlets into the earth; stone surged up in jagged waves. The Guardian struck once — and the entire formation shattered. Dozens of students tumbled backward as the ground exploded into fire.
Jayden ducked behind a half-melted pillar, Kael beside him, both coughing smoke.
"Tell me this is a dream," Kael muttered, lightning trembling faintly across his skin. His voice broke halfway through the words.
Jayden didn't answer. He couldn't. His eyes were fixed on the figure walking toward the flames — Headmaster Varrick.
He didn't rush. He didn't shout. He simply walked. The heat bent around him, and every ember that came close flickered out. The closer he came, the quieter the chaos seemed to grow, like the world itself was holding its breath.
The instructors pulled the wounded behind the fountain. The courtyard's sigils flickered, one after another, struggling to contain the spread of flame. It wasn't enough.
Varrick stopped a few paces from the Gate Guardian.
For a heartbeat, neither moved. The creature loomed above him, vast and endless, its shoulders brushing the smoke-thick clouds. Magma pulsed through its chest, carving veins of fire under the charred armor that clung to its form. The heat alone could have turned men to ash.
Jayden swallowed hard. Every instinct in his body screamed to run.
The Guardian spoke first — not in words, but in a sound that was both roar and whisper. It was rage made alive. The temperature spiked; the air itself twisted into shimmering waves.
Then it struck.
The Guardian swung its molten blade in a downward arc that shattered the courtyard. The impact was like a meteor hitting the earth — stone split, air screamed, and fire poured outward in a wave that erased everything in its path.
Jayden raised his arms to shield his face.
When the light cleared, Varrick was still standing.
The stone under his feet had not cracked. The air around him shimmered faintly, not from a barrier, but from pressure — raw, suffocating power condensed until even flame obeyed it.
He lifted his gaze, calm and unflinching. "You do not belong here."
The Guardian roared again, a sound that peeled at the edges of reality. Its molten limbs twisted, growing sharper, more defined. A corona of fire erupted behind it, forming wings that stretched across the sky. The heat blasted outward, turning the ground into molten rivers. It raised both arms and hurled a storm of flame toward Varrick.
The world turned white.
For a moment, Jayden saw nothing but the storm — a sun being born too close to earth. But through the glare, he saw movement. Varrick stepped forward once, his coat whipping behind him in the heat. His hand rose, fingers cutting through the inferno.
The storm folded in on itself.
Fire shrieked as it imploded, crushed by invisible force. The Guardian staggered, molten armor cracking like glass. The heat collapsed into silence, leaving only the sound of stone cooling and air gasping for space.
Varrick exhaled. "You were warned."
The Guardian lunged again, faster this time, a blur of molten rage. It slammed its clawed fist into the ground where he stood. The earth buckled and split into a crater a hundred feet wide.
But Varrick was already behind it.
Jayden barely saw him move — a flicker, a displacement of air, and then a sound like thunder breaking in half. A ripple of force slammed into the Guardian's back, bending its spine until magma poured from the cracks. The creature screamed, flames bursting from its wounds.
The sound made every bone in Jayden's body ache.
Kael muttered under his breath, voice barely audible. "He's not fighting it… he's dismantling it."
The Guardian whirled, bringing its molten blade in a wide, sweeping arc. Varrick caught it with his hand.
Jayden's heart stopped.
The blade — a thing of flame and fury that could cut through steel — stopped dead in his grasp. The molten edges hissed against his skin but did not burn. For a moment, the world seemed to hang suspended between motion and silence.
Then Varrick twisted.
The blade shattered into embers. The Guardian howled and backhanded him across the courtyard. The impact split the air. Varrick slammed into a broken tower, the stone detonating around him.
Kael flinched. "Got him—"
The word died in his throat. From the dust, Varrick walked out again.
Slowly. Deliberately.
Each step echoed like a drumbeat. Power rolled from him in invisible waves, bending the air, making the flames recoil as if the world itself feared to touch him. His eyes glowed faintly with pale light, not elemental — deeper than that, older.
The Guardian struck again — both arms this time, hammering down like the fall of meteors. Varrick raised a single finger.
The impact never landed.
Jayden saw it — the way the world bent, like gravity itself had turned against the creature. The Guardian froze mid-motion, limbs trembling, magma cracking under invisible strain. The air screamed from the pressure.
Varrick's voice was quiet, but it carried through the fire.
"Return."
The Guardian's molten body imploded. Fire folded inward, bones snapped, and its form collapsed in on itself, reduced to cinders and ash. The light that had burned like a sun dimmed to nothing, leaving behind only the echo of heat.
Jayden realized he hadn't breathed in almost a full minute.
The courtyard was silent except for the hiss of cooling stone. Students and instructors stared, wide-eyed and unmoving. Even Kael had lost his grin.
Varrick turned, his coat tattered, his eyes still faintly aglow. He looked at the remnants of the Gate — the circle of molten runes still pulsing in the sky, half-open, half-wounded.
Silence returned.
Jayden could feel his own heartbeat again. He looked around — at the broken walls, the scorched ground, the students huddled in disbelief. Kael let out a slow whistle.
"Remind me," he whispered, "to never piss off the headmaster."
Jayden didn't answer. His eyes stayed on Varrick — on the calm, steady figure who had just silenced a strong gate guardian.
He thought of the power that had almost swallowed them. The way it had felt in his bones. The way Varrick's presence had erased it like it was nothing.
And for the first time since unlocking his talent, Jayden wondered just how far away the summit truly was.