Terry stepped into the newly opened passage, and the heat hit him like a living thing, breathing, pulsing, aware.Mira frowned. “This place feels wrong.”“Everything down here feels wrong,” Jalen muttered. “But this? This is… watching us.”Terry didn’t answer.The guardian behind them, still kneeling, rumbled, “Proceed. The relic awaits the bearer of the fractured path.”Mira whispered, “I hate when molten giants talk.”“Just keep your weapons ready,” Terry said.His voice came out sharper than intended. Mira glanced at him, catching the tension in his jaw.“You okay?” she asked softly.“No,” he said honestly. “But we don’t stop.”They moved deeper. The tunnel shifted from stone to glowing metal veins, like nerves under skin. Each step made the floor vibrate as if the forge-heart below was breathing back at them.Corvin’s voice echoed faintly in Terry’s skull.Closer… closer. The heart remembers what you are.Terry clenched his fist. “Not now,” he muttered.Mira raised a brow. “Corvin

The air inside the Ember ruins was different. Cooler, almost eerily still, but tinged with a faint metallic tang, like blood long dried but never gone. The forge’s glow receded behind them, leaving only faint streaks of molten light reflecting off fractured stone.Mira moved beside Terry, scanning the ruins with sharp eyes. “This place… it feels alive.”“Alive,” Terry echoed. His voice was low, almost reverent. “Or haunted.”Jalen rubbed his temples. “I vote for haunted. No, scratch that. I demand haunted. It’s safer for my sanity.”Terry ignored him. Every step deeper into the ruins made his skin prickle. Shadows shifted unnaturally, crawling along walls and columns. He could feel the relic pulsing faintly in his hand, like a heartbeat mismatched to his own.Corvin’s voice whispered, soft, eager, and dangerously close in his mind. They sense it, boy. The second heir. Step carefully, or step on your own destruction.Terry clenched the Truth Blade. “Not here. Not now.”A soft hissing s

The Ember ruins shifted beneath them, as if aware of every step Terry, Mira, and Jalen took. Molten streams ran like veins along cracked stone, glowing faintly red and gold, their heat pressing against the skin like a living weight.Terry’s grip on the Truth Blade was tight, the relic pulsing in his other hand. Each beat was a heartbeat, each flicker a whisper of the Hunger, tempered but present.Mira glanced at him. “Every step we take feels like walking into the mouth of something alive.”“It is alive,” Terry said, voice low. “And it’s testing me. Watching us. Waiting for the first misstep.”Jalen groaned. “Fantastic. I always wanted to feel like the main course in a lava soup.”Terry didn’t answer. Every sense was attuned to the ruins, to the pulse of the relic, to the faint shimmer of shadows that twisted unnaturally around corners.Corvin’s voice echoed inside his skull, eager and sharp. The Heartblood lies ahead. Claim it… and you ascend further. Fail… and all that you protect w

The air deep within the Ember ruins thrummed with energy. Every step Terry took sent tremors across jagged stone floors, molten rivers splitting and converging like veins.The relic pulsed calmly now, synchronized with his heartbeat, yet he could feel the Hunger still lurking in the shadows, patient, waiting.Mira glanced around, dagger raised. “This place… it’s alive. I’ve never felt heat and intent like this.”Terry nodded, eyes scanning the cavern. “It’s not just alive. It’s aware. Watching every move we make. The Heartblood… it guided us here. It’s showing us something.”Jalen muttered from behind, voice tight with tension. “Yeah, sure. Something. Probably death or molten death. Or death flavored with fire.”Terry ignored him, stepping forward. The molten rivers grew wider, their edges shimmering with energy. Shadows coiled along the walls, writhing like serpents, the air itself seeming to pulse with anticipation.Corvin hissed in Terry’s mind, sharp and excited. The heart lies ah

The deeper they descended, the air grew thicker, almost solid with heat and suppressed power. Shadows stretched unnaturally, clinging to every jagged edge of obsidian, and the faint pulse of molten rivers beneath their feet seemed to echo Terry’s own heartbeat.Mira whispered, “We’re close… I can feel it. Whatever’s down here, it’s waiting for you.”Terry’s violet eyes glimmered with determination. “I know. The Hunger, the Heartblood… it led us here for a reason. This is the source of the Circle’s corruption.”Jalen groaned from behind. “I have a bad feeling about this. And yes, that feeling is worse than the last hundred times.”The chamber ahead opened into a massive abyss. At its center, suspended in molten light, was a figure, a Vessel. Bound in chains of obsidian and molten gold, its body twisted unnaturally, glowing veins of corrupted energy pulsating through its form.Terry’s chest tightened. “The final experiment… the Circle’s greatest creation. That’s… that’s what started all