The mountain groaned like something alive. Wind howled through its jagged ridges, carrying with it the faint echo of whispers — voices that weren't human, murmuring things the group couldn't quite understand.
Snowflakes drifted like pale ashes as Riku trudged forward, his boots sinking into the frost. Behind him, Ren led the way, his crimson hair damp with sweat and frost, eyes narrowed at the path ahead. Mina followed closely, one hand brushing the rough stone wall beside her for balance. Arin and Kai brought up the rear, their breaths visible in the freezing air.
The silence between them was heavy — the kind that comes after too much fighting and too many close calls.
"Tell me again why we're hiking up a cursed mountain," Kai muttered, shivering. His tech-gauntlet flickered with a weak light, sputtering like a dying candle. "My scanner's picking up radiation, ancient runes, and something that looks suspiciously like… bad vibes."
Ren chuckled softly. "Because, genius, that's where the relic calls from."
Kai groaned. "Right. The talking relic. Of course."
Riku smirked faintly. "You're still the one who said you'd come, remember?"
"Yeah, I thought there'd be less freezing and more treasure. My bad."
Mina's quiet laugh broke the tension. For a moment, they all relaxed — until she spoke again, voice almost drowned by the wind.
"You ever think about… what you left behind?"
Ren glanced back. "You mean before this place?"
"Yeah," Mina whispered. "Before the Realm. I remember flashes. A classroom. My mom's voice. Then… just light."
Her fingers trembled slightly. "Sometimes I wonder if my body's still lying somewhere back there. Like… am I just a dream that forgot how to wake up?"
No one answered for a while. The sound of snow crunching under their boots filled the silence.
Finally, Arin spoke. "You're not alone in that. Before this world, I was… an artist." Her eyes softened as she spoke. "I painted skies. Oceans. Faces of people who smiled for me. Then, one day, a car crash took all of it. I woke up here, with a bow and no idea why I still existed."
Her voice trembled. "Sometimes I wonder if art even matters when everything ends."
Riku looked at her, his expression gentle. "It does. Because even now, when you shoot, it's like you're still painting — just with light instead of color."
Arin's lips curved faintly. "You say that like a poet."
"Maybe I was one," Riku muttered, half-smiling.
⸻
They reached a narrow bridge of stone that stretched across a black chasm. Below, faint blue light pulsed like veins running through the rock.
Ren paused. "We're close. I can feel it — the relic's energy. It's calling."
Kai peered over the edge and nearly slipped. "You sure it's not just hypothermia calling your name, buddy?"
"Shut up, Kai," Mina said, but she was smiling now. The group began to cross, one by one.
Halfway across, the air shifted. The temperature dropped sharply — and a low rumble shuddered through the ground.
"…You hear that?" Arin whispered.
Before anyone could answer, the mountain's heart roared open.
From beneath the bridge, scales the color of molten iron burst through the rock. A massive head, crowned in horns of bone and frost, rose into the air — eyes burning with blue fire.
A dragon, ancient and spectral, emerged from the shadows. Its wings unfurled like tattered banners of starlight.
Kai froze. "Oh. Cool. A ghost dragon. I definitely wasn't emotionally prepared for this."
"Spread out!" Ren shouted.
The creature's roar tore through the air, shaking the bridge. Riku dove aside as shards of ice exploded around him. Mina threw her hands forward, summoning her aura — pale light shaped like a shield — just as the dragon's breath struck. The shield cracked, but held.
Arin loosed arrow after arrow, her bow glowing with sacred light. Each shot struck true, but the dragon only grew angrier.
Ren gritted his teeth. His sword gleamed, runes glowing red. "If this is a test, then let's pass it."
He charged.
Riku followed, sword drawn, the Relic of Wrath pulsing through his veins. The dragon's tail lashed, slamming him against a wall. He spat blood but stood again, fury igniting in his eyes.
"You're not stopping me!"
Power crackled from his sword like lightning. With a roar that matched the dragon's, he leapt, slashing down in a burst of glowing crimson. The impact tore through scales and shattered the stone beneath them.
Mina rushed to his side, her aura blazing. "Riku! You'll burn yourself out—!"
"Then I'll burn bright enough to win!"
For a moment, everything was light — red, blue, white — as relic energy clashed with ancient magic.
Then, silence.
The dragon froze. Its form flickered, then began to dissolve into a swirl of shimmering dust. The bridge trembled, cracks forming beneath them.
They stumbled to solid ground as the spirit's voice echoed in their minds:
"You have been judged… and found worthy."
Then it was gone.
⸻
Minutes later, the group sat in the quiet glow of a dying campfire near the mountain's base. No one spoke. The battle had drained them all.
Kai broke the silence first. "Okay, that was… top ten on my list of near-death experiences. And I've only been here a week."
Arin smirked tiredly. "You're getting used to it."
Ren leaned against a boulder, clutching his side. His relic glowed faintly, as if healing him. "That wasn't just a monster. That was a guardian — a test. Someone wanted to know if we were ready."
"Ready for what?" Mina asked softly.
Ren's eyes flicked upward, toward the peak still lost in fog. "Whatever's waiting up there. And I don't think it's a dragon this time."
Riku's hand clenched around his sword. "The General."
The wind blew harder, carrying whispers again — this time clearer. A name. A promise.
A threat.
Mina looked toward the sound, her eyes reflecting faint blue light. For just an instant, her pupils slit like a dragon's before returning to normal.
Riku noticed — and his heart skipped a beat.
"Mina…?"
She blinked, unaware. "What is it?"
"Nothing," he lied, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something — or someone — had come back with her from that fight.