The wind of the Obsidian Plains carried a low hum — a mournful tone that almost sounded like the echo of forgotten prayers. Beneath the strange, violet sky, the sand shimmered like black glass, endless and silent.
Riku and his companions trudged across the endless expanse. Every step sank into the soft, glittering sand, leaving faint footprints that vanished within moments.
Ren wiped sweat from his brow and groaned.
"You'd think death would've at least come with better weather. I'm melting."
Mina chuckled softly.
"You complain too much for someone who's technically not alive."
Ren shot her a playful glare.
"Hey, ghost or not, I still deserve shade."
Arin smirked.
"Then stop talking — maybe you'll sweat less."
The group burst into laughter, their voices echoing across the empty plains. Even Riku smiled faintly, though his thoughts were elsewhere. The memory of the dragon they'd encountered days ago still lingered — its warning, its power, the glimpse it gave him of something older than death itself.
As the laughter faded, Mina walked beside Riku, brushing her fingers through the dark sand.
"You've been quiet again."
Riku nodded, gaze distant.
"That dragon said this realm used to be sacred… a place of balance. I keep thinking — what if it wasn't meant to trap souls, but to protect something?"
Mina tilted her head.
"You mean the relics?"
"Maybe. Or maybe… the relics are what corrupted it."
The thought hung in the air, heavy and uncertain.
Ren broke the silence with a grin.
"Well, whatever the case, I say we find this relic calling to me before something else does. Preferably before my feet burn off."
Arin snorted.
"You've said that every hour since we left camp."
"Consistency is key!"
Their teasing banter carried them forward until the horizon began to shift. Ahead, a jagged ridge jutted from the sand like broken fangs. The air shimmered strangely there, bending light in distorted waves.
Ren's pace slowed.
"This place… feels different."
Mina nodded, her expression tensing.
"Like something's watching us."
Arin's eyes narrowed as she scanned the landscape. The plains were empty — nothing but shadows and sand — yet an unease gnawed at her instincts.
The group found a spot near the ridge and set up a small camp. Mina raised a light ward, a glowing sigil that pulsed with gentle energy, while Ren tried to cook something that smelled suspiciously like burnt smoke.
"You're cooking again?" Arin asked flatly.
"You never know, maybe food still works here."
"It doesn't," Mina replied without looking up.
Ren sighed dramatically.
"You people are killing my spirit — again."
The others laughed, easing the tension for a moment.
As night crept across the plains — though "night" in this realm was more a soft violet glow dimming to indigo — Riku sat alone at the camp's edge, Eclipsera resting across his lap. The blade shimmered faintly, whispering as if speaking in a language just beyond hearing.
"Riku…"
He blinked. For a heartbeat, he thought he heard his own name — soft, drawn out like an echo from another time.
Before he could focus, Arin approached, bow in hand.
"You feel it too, don't you?"
Riku nodded.
"We're being followed."
Arin scanned the dunes.
"Tracks. About fifty meters out. Light steps, deliberate. Whoever it is knows how to move quietly."
Ren and Mina quickly joined them.
"Could be another spirit?" Ren offered.
"No," Mina said softly. "Too… focused. Spirits wander. This one hunts."
Then — a voice.
Low. Cold. Carried by the wind.
"I see… even in death, fools still chase what they don't understand."
The group turned sharply.
On the ridge above them stood a figure draped in black, cloak fluttering like torn silk. Beneath the hood, faint traces of a once-human face glowed pale blue — eyes burning like dying stars.
Riku gripped his sword.
"Who are you?"
The figure stepped forward, sand swirling at his feet as if the ground itself bowed to him.
"I am what remains of Kael Veynar, relic keeper of the old world. A soul who defied time, only to be forgotten by it."
Ren frowned.
"Relic keeper? Like, an actual job?"
Kael ignored him. His voice echoed with venom.
"For a thousand years I've waited — waited for those like you to come sniffing after the relics. Each time, I've taken them, one by one. But you…" His gaze locked on Riku's sword. "You carry two. That makes you dangerous."
Riku tightened his grip.
"We didn't come to fight."
Kael's expression darkened.
"Then you should not have walked the Obsidian Plains. Here, relics belong to me."
Before they could react, the air shattered with a deafening crack. Sand exploded upward as a pulse of dark energy swept through the camp, scattering everything.
Arin dove behind a boulder, loosing two glowing arrows that split through the air — but Kael merely raised a hand. The arrows froze mid-flight, crumbled to dust, and vanished.
"Magic?" Arin hissed.
"Ancient," Mina said, eyes wide. "That's relic energy — corrupted."
Kael raised his staff — an old, rusted weapon that glowed faintly with runes.
"Your relics… they sing too loudly. Let me quiet them for you."
Riku darted forward, Eclipsera blazing with dark light. The clash shook the ground, sparks of black and crimson scattering like fireflies.
The others joined in — Ren summoned spectral chains from his relic, trying to bind Kael, while Mina cast luminous sigils across the sand to trap him. But Kael moved like a storm — ancient, fluid, unstoppable.
"You think yourselves chosen?" Kael's voice thundered. "You are nothing but children playing with the ashes of gods!"
He swung his staff, unleashing a wave of violet fire that shattered Mina's sigils and sent Ren crashing into the sand.
Riku gritted his teeth, pushing back against the onslaught. "You're wrong," he growled. "We fight because we have no choice."
Kael smirked.
"Then you'll die the same way I did — fighting for nothing."
As their blades locked again, Kael's hood slipped back, revealing a face cracked with luminous lines — veins of relic energy burned into his skin. His eyes burned with hatred older than memory.
Riku pushed harder, their relics colliding in a burst of light that sent both tumbling backward.
Mina rushed to Riku's side. "You okay?"
He nodded weakly. "I've fought generals, but this guy—"
"He's worse," Ren finished, staggering up, blood running down his arm.
Arin aimed another arrow, whispering to her bow. A streak of blue light burst forth, striking Kael squarely in the chest. For a heartbeat, he staggered — surprised.
"Impossible…" he hissed.
Mina took the opening, chanting quickly. Her light flared, forming a barrier around Riku. "Now, Riku!"
Riku surged forward, his sword blazing with twin energies — the darkness of Eclipsera and the fury of Wrath's relic.
He struck.
The impact sent shockwaves through the air, tearing a crater in the sand. For a moment, Kael was silent — then he laughed, a hollow, chilling sound.
"Good," he rasped. "You're stronger than I expected. That means your fall will be even sweeter."
He vanished in a swirl of dark smoke, leaving only the echo of his voice on the wind.
"I will have your relics, boy. When next we meet, even death will not save you."
The wind died down. Silence reclaimed the plains.
Ren groaned, collapsing onto the sand. "Well… that went great."
Mina helped him up, her expression tense. "Whoever he was… he wasn't lying. That power—it's ancient."
Riku looked down at his trembling hands. The relics still pulsed, uneasy.
"He said he's been here a thousand years," he murmured. "If he's real… then this realm has history we don't understand."
Arin nodded grimly.
"And we just made ourselves part of it."
Above them, the violet sky shimmered faintly — and somewhere far beyond the dunes, a whisper rose again.
"Eclipsera…"
And for the first time, Riku wondered whether the relic was calling to him — or warning him.