Serina's POV
The red mist hit me like a punch to the throat.
I stumbled forward, gasping, my eyes watering so badly I could barely see. It felt like breathing in hot smoke mixed with acid. Every breath burned all the way down to my lungs.
"Come on, Serina. You've survived worse," I wheezed to myself, pulling my worn shirt up over my nose and mouth. It didn't help much.
I'd made it past the city gates just before dawn by hiding in a merchant's wagon. The guards never checked the ones leaving the city—only the ones coming in. After all, who would be stupid enough to sneak OUT toward the Crimson Wastes?
Me. That's who.
Now, six hours later, I was starting to understand why everyone called this place a death trap.
The wasteland stretched out before me like a nightmare painting. Everything was the wrong color—the ground looked rust-red instead of brown, the twisted dead trees were black as charcoal, and that horrible red mist hung over everything like a poisonous blanket. Even the sky looked sick here, more grey than blue.
My water flask was already half empty. My throat felt like I'd swallowed sand. And I'd only been walking since sunrise.
Two days. The drunk soldiers had said the shrine was two days' walk into the wastes.
I could do this. I had to do this.
For Finn.
I pushed forward, trying not to think about how my little brother's breathing had sounded when I left. Trying not to imagine Uncle Castor dragging him to the death house right now. Trying not to—
A growl froze me in place.
It came from somewhere to my left, low and wet, like nothing I'd ever heard before. My hand flew to the small knife at my belt.
"Please be a regular wolf," I whispered. "Please, please, please—"
The creature that stepped out from behind a dead tree was definitely not a regular wolf.
It stood as tall as a man at the shoulder. Its fur looked like it had been burned off in patches, showing grey-black skin underneath. But worst of all were its eyes—they glowed sickly green, like someone had stuffed dying fireflies into its skull.
A corrupted beast. The stories were true.
The thing's lips pulled back, showing teeth as long as my fingers. Drool dripped from its mouth and sizzled when it hit the ground.
My brain screamed at me to run. But I'd grown up on the streets—I knew better. You never run from a predator. Running makes you prey.
"Nice doggy," I said, my voice shaking. "Good... horrible nightmare doggy..."
It lunged.
I threw myself sideways, rolling across the rough ground. Pain shot through my shoulder where I hit, but I didn't stop moving. The beast's jaws snapped shut right where my head had been a second ago.
I scrambled behind a boulder, my heart trying to pound its way out of my chest. Think, Serina, think! I couldn't fight this thing. My knife was meant for cutting bread, not monster wolves.
The beast circled around the boulder, those green eyes locked on me. It was toying with me. Taking its time.
"I'm sorry," I gasped, backing away step by step. "I'm just trying to save my brother. I don't want to be here either!"
The creature didn't care about my sob story. It crouched, ready to pounce—
A horrible shriek split the air from somewhere behind it.
The beast's head whipped around, and for the first time, I saw fear in those glowing eyes. It turned and bolted back into the mist so fast it was just a blur.
What could scare a monster like that?
I didn't wait to find out. I ran.
My legs burned. My lungs screamed. The red mist made everything look the same—dead trees, red ground, more dead trees. I had no idea if I was even going the right direction anymore. I just knew I had to keep moving.
Behind me, something else roared. Something bigger.
I ran faster.
I don't know how long I ran. Could have been minutes. Could have been hours. Time felt weird in the wastes, like the red mist swallowed it up along with everything else.
When I finally collapsed behind a pile of black rocks, I was shaking so hard my teeth chattered. I took a tiny sip from my water flask—only a quarter left now—and tried not to cry.
"You can do this," I told myself, even though I didn't believe it. "You're Serina Ashvale. You survived nineteen years in the slums. You survived Uncle Castor. You can survive this."
But I'd never felt so alone in my entire life.
The shrine appeared on the morning of the second day.
I'd spent the night wedged into a crack between two boulders, jumping at every sound. Something with too many legs had crawled over my foot in the darkness. I'd nearly screamed but caught it in my throat just in time.
Now, exhausted and dizzy from lack of food, I stood at the top of a ridge and stared.
The Shrine of Calamity was massive. It rose out of the wasteland like a black mountain, all sharp angles and strange architecture. Red symbols glowed across its surface, pulsing like heartbeats. And everywhere—on the walls, the pillars, the massive doors—were carvings of dragons.
Dragons fighting. Dragons flying. Dragons breathing fire.
And in the center, above the main entrance, one dragon bigger than all the rest. Its carved eyes seemed to stare right at me, and I felt something in my chest flutter. Fear? Recognition? I didn't know.
"Just get the crystal and go," I whispered. "Get it and save Finn. That's all that matters."
My hands wouldn't stop shaking as I climbed down the ridge. Up close, the shrine was even more terrifying. Each dragon carving looked so real, I half expected them to move. The doors stood three times my height, covered in more of those pulsing red symbols.
I put my hands against the cold black stone and pushed.
The doors swung open silently.
The inside took my breath away.
Gold everywhere. Weapons with jeweled handles lay scattered across the floor like someone's toy collection. Crowns sat on pedestals, their gems catching the red light filtering in. Ancient armor stood in corners, looking like metal ghosts.
This was treasure beyond imagination. Enough to buy medicine for a thousand Finns. Enough to never be hungry again.
But I didn't care about any of it.
In the very center of the shrine, sitting on a simple stone pedestal, was a crystal that glowed soft blue. It looked like someone had captured a piece of the sky and trapped it in glass.
The Tear of Life.
"I found it," I breathed. "I actually found it!"
My legs felt like water as I walked forward. Past the gold. Past the jewels. Past everything. The crystal seemed to get brighter as I got closer, like it knew I was coming.
Like it was waiting for me.
I reached out with trembling fingers. The blue light felt warm, welcoming. Safe.
My fingertips touched the crystal's smooth surface.
Everything exploded.
Light—pure, blinding, impossible light—erupted from the crystal and blasted through the entire shrine. I tried to scream, but no sound came out.
Something wrapped around my wrists. I looked down and saw chains made of red light, burning but not quite painful, solid but not quite real. They yanked my arms out to my sides, holding me in place.
"No! No, no, no!" I thrashed, trying to break free. The chains tightened.
Then the worst part happened.
Heat blossomed in the center of my chest, right over my heart. Not the heat of fire—something deeper. Something that felt like it was rewriting every cell in my body. I looked down and watched in horror as red light burned through my shirt, carving a mark directly into my skin.
A dragon mark. Glowing crimson against my pale chest.
The pain was incredible. I screamed and screamed, but the shrine seemed to swallow the sound.
Power flooded into me. Foreign. Ancient. Massive. It felt like trying to hold an ocean in a cup—too much, too strong, tearing me apart from the inside.
The crystal shattered into a thousand pieces.
The chains blazed brighter.
And then—
A voice. Deep as thunder. Old as mountains. It shook the air itself, rattled my bones, and seemed to come from everywhere and nowhere all at once.
"Who DARES wake me?"
The floor beneath my feet cracked. The walls trembled. And somewhere in the darkness at the back of the shrine, something HUGE stirred.
I felt its consciousness slam into mine like a hammer. Powerful. Furious. And completely, utterly terrifying.
Red eyes opened in the shadows. Eyes the size of my head, glowing like burning coals.
"A... a human child?" The voice dripped with contempt. "After one thousand years of imprisonment, THIS is who breaks my seal?"
The creature stepped forward into the light, and my mind nearly broke trying to understand what I was seeing.
Scales like rubies. Teeth like swords. A body so massive the shrine suddenly felt tiny.
A dragon.
The World-End Dragon.
And I'd just woken it up.
The chains jerked me forward, dragging me toward those burning eyes. Toward certain death.
I managed one word before my voice failed completely:
"Finn..."
Then the dragon's massive head lowered until its eye filled my entire vision, and everything I'd ever known about the world shattered like glass.