The deeper they went into the ruins, the colder the corridors became, despite the lingering heat of the molten veins. Terry’s sword hummed faintly, a soft violet pulse syncing with the subtle thrum of the Ember network beneath the city. Shadows stretched unnaturally along the walls, flickering as if whispering secrets.Jalen’s voice was low, tense. “Terry… something’s off. I can feel it. These corridors… they’re alive… but differently than before.”Terry’s violet eyes scanned the darkness. “The Circle’s influence runs deeper than even they realize. Ember feels it, corruption buried beneath corruption. They’ve made traps within traps, waiting for those who come seeking them.”A whisper echoed through the corridors, distorted and mocking. “So bold… so foolish…”Terry tightened his grip on the sword. “Show yourself. I don’t fear shadows.”From the darkness, multiple figures emerged, clad in the black-and-red uniforms of the Circle’s elite. Their movements were precise, coordinated, and e

The deeper they pushed into the Ember ruins, the more the air changed. It grew heavy, thick with old magic and something else. Memory.The walls shimmered with faint embossings, ancient sigils pulsing like buried heartbeats. Every step echoed as if the stone remembered who walked it.Jalen swallowed hard. “This place feels… wrong. Like it’s older than Valoria itself.”“It is,” Terry murmured. “Ember wasn’t found by the Circle. It was awakened.”“And your mother was… part of this awakening?”“I don’t know,” Terry said quietly. “Not yet.”The tunnel widened. A massive archway opened into a circular chamber that hummed with living heat.Molten veins flowed like rivers through crevices, illuminating the room in gold and crimson. At the center rose a stone platform, and above it, a suspended sphere of condensed Ember.Pure. Radiant. Alive.Jalen froze. “That’s… the Core?”Terry nodded slowly. “The heart of everything.”As they approached, shadows peeled away from the far end of the chamber

The night air hit Terry like a slap, cold, sharp, almost cleansing. Almost.Because the moment his boots sank into the ash-soft soil of the Ember Ruins, the ground pulsed again, once, twice, like a colossal heartbeat echoing beneath the earth.The rebels halted behind him, breathing hard, still shaken from the construct fight.No one spoke.No one had to.The ruins… reacted to Terry.Crimson veins flickered along the broken spires. Wind hissed through the skeletal remains of ancient towers, structures once proud, now twisted like melted metal.Jalen limped up beside him, clutching his ribs. “Terry… these ruins weren’t like this before. I’ve been here. They were dead.”“They woke up,” Terry whispered.He didn’t say for me.But everyone knew.A low rumble rolled through the valley.The rebels tensed instantly.Terry felt something different.A pull. A calling.Corvin shivered with pleasure in his mind. Your cradle… your origin… your altar. We are home.Terry grit his teeth. “Get out of

The descent began in silence. Not because anyone agreed to be quiet, but because the air itself seemed to swallow sound.Terry followed the winding staircase carved directly into the obsidian cliffs, each step slick with condensation that smelled faintly metallic, like blood left too long on steel.Mira walked just behind him, her hand never straying far from her knife. Jasper took the rear, muttering every few minutes that this entire place felt like a bureaucratic nightmare engineered by ghosts.Behind them all, like a shadow coiling around the group, moved Corvin.As the temperature dropped, their breaths misted. Runes on the walls, old, fractal, jagged, glimmered faintly with a sickly green glow. They pulsed like a heartbeat.Terry felt the same pulse in his veins.It was responding to him.And that terrified him more than he wanted to admit.The Hall of Still EchoesThe staircase emptied into a vast chamber.A dome stretched overhead, so high that their light crystals barely graz

The chamber trembled beneath them. Dust and shards of shattered memory swirled around the trio as Terry struggled to catch his breath. The relic pulsed faintly in his hands, its green runes dimmed, but a deep warmth radiated from it, threading into his veins.Corvin’s voice, sharp as ever, broke the silence. You did well, boy. But this… this is only the beginning.Terry swallowed hard, forcing himself upright. “I don’t feel like myself.”“You’re closer than you’ve ever been,” Corvin replied, stepping around him like a predator circling prey. “The fracture inside you, it’s ready. The other relic… it’s waiting.”Jalen rubbed the back of his neck, wide-eyed. “Did we just survive your… I don’t even know what that was. And now you want to go deeper? Seriously?”Mira’s hand hovered near her blade. “Deep is the understatement here. Heartforge? That sounds like a torture chamber.”Terry ignored them both, eyes fixed on the spiraling shaft at the end of the chamber. Obsidian steps coiled downw