The night sky above Eldoria was painted with streaks of violet clouds, swirling as if stirred by an unseen hand. A strange tension filled the atmosphere, one that made even the beasts of the forest grow restless. Collins Lutherchris felt it long before he reached the top of the ridge overlooking the city.His Flame Core pulsed softly in his chest, reacting to something distant… something powerful.Lyra arrived beside him in silence, her silver hair fluttering like a ghostly banner. She glanced at his clenched fists.“You feel it too,” she murmured.Collins nodded. “Something is calling… and it’s not friendly.”Behind them, Argo tore through the underbrush, armor clinking as he skidded to a halt.“The scouts returned,” he said, catching his breath. “There’s movement near the Obsidian Pass. A group of masked attackers… and they’re carrying something. Something huge.”Lyra’s eyes narrowed. “Do they carry the same energy we sensed?”Argo nodded once. “Yes. Whatever they’re transporting—it

The night in Eldergloom Crater was unusually still.Too still.Collins Lutherchris felt it before the others did—the faint vibration in the earth, almost like something buried deep below was waking up. His Earth affinity stirred on its own, responding instinctively.Beside him, Aurora tightened her grip on her crystal staff.“I don't like this silence,” she whispered. “The Crater is never quiet.”Raviel, the half-fae swordsman, scanned the fog-filled ravines. “We should keep moving. The relic we’re searching for is buried in the lower crevasse. The longer we stay here, the more exposed we are.”Collins nodded, but his attention was fixed on something else.A whisper.Soft. Almost too soft to catch.But it carried his name.“…Collins…”His heart thumped. He swallowed and tried to steady himself. “Did anyone hear that?”Aurora frowned. “Hear what?”“That voice… Someone called me.”Raviel raised a brow. “There’s no one here except us.”But the whisper came again—stronger this time, echoi

The forest fell into a stillness so deep it felt unnatural.Collins Luther Chris froze mid-step, every sense in his body tightening like a drawn bowstring. The rustling behind him stopped instantly—too instantly. No creature halted movement with such precision.He slowly turned, flames faintly shimmering beneath his skin, ready to burst free.Nothing.Only darkness and the towering silhouettes of ancient trees.But he felt it.A presence. Heavy. Focused. Intelligent.The kind that didn’t simply watch…It measured.Collins didn’t move. The silence pressed against him like a weight.“I know you’re there,” he said calmly, though a shiver crawled beneath his skin.His voice echoed faintly between the trees.For a moment, nothing changed.Then—A low, almost inaudible hum rippled through the air, like a breath exhaled from the forest itself.The shadows between two trees thickened, gathering like a pool of ink.Collins instinctively stepped back, flames flickering along his forearm.A figu

The forest went completely still.Even the wind, which moments ago brushed gently through the branches, now felt trapped—held back by a presence that did not belong to the living world.Collins Lutherchris lowered his stance, fingers tightening around the faint ember of power resting within him. His heartbeat steadied, but every instinct screamed at him:Something was here. Something ancient. Something wrong.“Show yourself,” he murmured.The shadows didn’t move.But the silence did.A cold, crawling hush slipped through the forest, coiling around his ankles like mist. The leaves above trembled again—slow, deliberate, mocking. Collins’ eyes narrowed.Not an animal.Not a beast.Not a Spirit Walker either.This was something older.A presence brushed against his mind, not speaking, but probing—testing the boundaries of his consciousness, as though searching for cracks in his mental defenses.Collins snapped his will forward, forcing a spark of fire through his veins. The mental pressur

The moment Collins Lutherchris stepped forward, the world shifted.Not violently.Not with the roar of collapsing earth or the blaze of uncontrolled flames.But with a quiet, deliberate certainty—as though the forest itself had been waiting for this single decision.A soft thrum vibrated under his boots. The air thickened, pressing against his skin like warm breath. The dim green glow that had guided him through the woods brightened, swirling into a faint spiraling path beneath the canopy.Collins inhaled.The scent of wet bark and old earth was suddenly overpowered by something stranger—burning embers, faint but unmistakable.His flame.Or… something like it.He clenched his fists.“Show yourself,” he murmured, voice low, controlled.A whisper swept through the branches.Not the wind.Not an animal.Not a monster.A presence.Then—A figure stepped out from between two towering trees, emerging with an unnatural grace.A cloaked silhouette, tall, draped in layers of dark fabric that