The air still hummed with fading energy when Arlen finally rose to his feet. The others were silent, each lost in their own thoughts. The Rift had closed behind them, sealing away the horrors and mysteries they'd barely survived. Yet something about the silence felt wrong—too heavy, too still.
Lira was the first to break it.
"We should move," she said softly, scanning the crimson-tinged horizon. "The Rift might be gone, but this place… it's still warped. We don't know what's lingering."
Arlen nodded slowly. "You're right."
His voice carried an unfamiliar depth—like he was speaking from somewhere far away. Even he noticed it. There was a weight inside him now, something vast and quiet, as though that vision—no, that meeting—had carved its mark deep into his soul.
Rynel knelt beside a broken pillar jutting from the ash. "Our path back to the Vale Guild's extraction point is blocked. This whole area's shifted. We'll have to find another way."
Kaine, still leaning on his staff, frowned. "If the spatial distortion remains, we could be walking in circles. Unless…"
"Unless we trust the one who's been through worse," Lira interrupted, looking toward Arlen.
He met her gaze. "You mean me."
"Exactly. That thing back there—the way you controlled the energy, how you broke the anchor… You felt it, didn't you? Like the world itself listened."
He hesitated. Then, quietly, "Yeah. It felt like it was alive. And angry."
No one replied. The group began walking, their boots crunching over the blackened soil. The landscape around them looked alien—twisted trees with glasslike bark, rivers of faintly glowing mist snaking through the cracks in the ground. The remnants of the Rift's collapse had bled into the land, reshaping it into something between dream and nightmare.
For hours, they walked in silence.
Finally, Rynel spoke. "So… Arlen. Back there, when you touched the anchor—you were gone for minutes. Did you see something?"
Arlen looked at him, then at the endless red horizon. "A reflection."
Lira frowned. "A reflection?"
He nodded slowly. "Of what I might've been. Or what I could become."
The others exchanged uncertain glances. Kaine muttered under his breath, "Cryptic as ever."
Arlen ignored him. The memory of Ardentis still burned in his mind—those words, heavy with both warning and strange comfort. Protect what you hold dear… even when the heavens burn.
The wind shifted. It carried with it a whisper, faint but unmistakable.
> "He watches still…"
Arlen froze. Lira immediately drew her weapons, eyes darting around. "Who's there?"
Nothing but silence answered.
Then, a low growl echoed through the mist ahead.
Shapes began to emerge—dozens of them, their outlines flickering like mirages. Beast-like, malformed things, fused with crystal and shadow. Their eyes glowed white, unblinking.
"Corrupted Riftlings," Kaine whispered. "Leftovers from the breach."
Rynel nocked an arrow. "They're hunting."
Lira moved closer to Arlen. "You think you can still use your lightning?"
He tested his hand. Sparks flared weakly between his fingers. "Not like before. But enough."
The creatures didn't wait.
They charged as one, screeching through the haze. Lira and Rynel met the front line, cutting through the first wave in flashes of steel and light. Kaine's staff flared, releasing bursts of compressed mana that tore through the corrupted mist. Arlen joined the fray, frost gathering around his arms as he weaved between them.
A beast lunged—he ducked, frost-blades forming along his wrists. He slashed upward, severing its head in a single motion. Another came from behind; lightning surged along his body, blasting it back into shards.
But there were too many.
"Back!" Lira shouted. "We regroup by the ridge!"
They retreated toward the rocks, fending off the advancing swarm. Arlen's breaths came in ragged bursts, the strain on his still-healing body mounting fast. His frost-armament flickered, unstable.
"Arlen!" Lira's voice cut through the chaos. "You're burning out!"
He grit his teeth. "Not yet!"
He thrust his hands forward—an explosion of lightning ripped through the mist, vaporizing a cluster of Riftlings. The recoil sent him sprawling. Lira darted to his side, blocking a claw strike with her blade before driving her knee into the creature's chest and cutting it down.
When the last of them fell, silence returned—shattered, tense silence.
Arlen lay on his back, breathing heavily, staring at the strange, broken sky. Lira crouched beside him, brushing frost from his cheek. "You idiot," she muttered softly, her voice trembling. "You could've died again."
He smiled faintly. "You'd just bring me back anyway."
She froze. Then she glared—but her eyes softened. "Don't joke about that."
"Not joking," he murmured. "You always do."
Something in her chest tightened. Before she could speak, Kaine approached, wiping blood from his sleeve. "We can't stay here. Whatever's corrupting this region—it's getting worse."
Rynel pointed ahead. "I see ruins in the distance. Maybe shelter."
They moved again.
As they approached the ruins, Arlen's pace slowed. The structures were ancient, half-buried in ash, carved with symbols that glowed faintly blue. Recognition flickered in his eyes.
"I've seen this before," he said quietly.
Lira looked at him. "Where?"
"In my vision."
The others paused. Rynel muttered, "That's… comforting."
They entered the ruins carefully. Inside, the air was cool, dry, untouched by the Rift's corruption. Strange orbs of light hovered above the cracked floor, illuminating faded murals—depictions of celestial beings, wars among stars, and a single figure standing above them all, holding both frost and lightning in his hands.
Arlen stopped at that one. He reached out, brushing his fingers against the ancient stone.
"Ardentis," he whispered.
Lira joined him, eyes wide. "That's… you?"
He shook his head slowly. "No. That's who I was."
Before she could ask anything more, Kaine called from across the chamber. "You'll want to see this."
They gathered near a collapsed altar. Embedded within the stone was a sphere of pure crystal, pulsing faintly. As Arlen stepped closer, it reacted—glowing brighter.
Lira stepped forward instinctively. "Careful—"
But the light engulfed them.
The world shifted again. For a moment, they stood in darkness. Then—visions burst forth around them. Fleeting images, memories not their own.
A kingdom of frost floating above clouds. Armies of light clashing with beasts of shadow. And in the center—Ardentis, wielding his twin elements with divine precision.
Then another scene—one darker.
Ardentis kneeling, his own power spiraling out of control, consuming everything around him. The heavens shattered; the stars fell. And with his dying breath, he whispered a curse.
> "Let me forget."
The vision ended abruptly.
They were back in the ruins. The crystal dimmed, then cracked apart. No one spoke.
Finally, Lira whispered, "He wanted to forget himself…"
Arlen stood motionless, staring at the shards. "And now I'm the one remembering."
The silence that followed felt infinite.
Kaine exhaled shakily. "Then whatever he—whatever you—did, it wasn't meant to be undone."
Rynel's hand tightened around his bow. "Then maybe that's why the Rift keeps reacting to you."
Arlen said nothing. He turned, walking toward the broken archway. Outside, the horizon had changed again. The red mist had faded, replaced by eerie twilight.
He looked up, eyes distant.
"I think… the world's waking up."
Lira stepped beside him. "Then we need to be ready for what's coming."
He gave a faint smile. "Yeah. Together."
She nodded. "Always."
---