The wind faded behind them, and silence took over.Collins landed hard on uneven ground — damp soil that pulsed faintly like a heartbeat. Around him stretched an endless forest, the trees blackened and twisted, their roots crawling across the surface like veins. The air was thick with dust and whispers that had no source.Lyra steadied herself beside him, gripping her staff. “This… isn’t how the Earth Realm is supposed to look.”Collins crouched, brushing his fingers against the soil. The moment his skin touched it, a faint tremor ran through the ground — as though something alive beneath had sensed him.“It’s corrupted,” he murmured. “The Leviathan was right. The shadow’s already spread this far.”A faint laugh rippled through the forest.Soft at first. Then louder. Then hundreds of voices laughing together.Lyra raised her hand, and her staff glowed faintly. “We’re not alone.”Figures began to emerge between the trees — shadowy silhouettes with glowing red eyes. Some moved like beas

The world had changed.When Collins emerged from the heart of the Earth Realm, the air above was no longer bright or peaceful. The sky hung low and gray, veined with streaks of black light that pulsed like living veins across the clouds. The wind smelled of ash.He stumbled forward, dirt and moss clinging to his cloak. The mark of the Fifth Flame on his chest glowed faintly beneath the fabric, pulsing with a slow, heavy rhythm — like the heartbeat of something ancient buried beneath his skin.He looked around. The once-green valley outside the Zephyr Range was now dead — the grass brittle, the trees colorless. He had been gone only a few days in the Earth Realm, but it looked like years had passed in the mortal world.“Lyra…” he whispered. His voice cracked. “Please tell me it wasn’t for nothing.”The wind carried no answer. Only silence — the kind that settles after loss.Then — footsteps.Collins spun around, flame flickering across his palm. A figure approached through the drifting

The silence that followed the Keeper’s words was suffocating.Collins stood motionless, the wind dying around him, his body trembling as though the air itself refused to touch him. The night’s fire had dimmed; the ground still hissed from where molten veins once flowed.The Keeper’s cloak rippled without breeze, darkness clinging to him like a living thing.> “You carry two bloodlines, Collins Lutherchris,” he said, voice deep as thunder. “One born of mortal flame… and the other, born of the void that hungers for light.”Collins’s voice cracked. “That’s not true. My father—he was human. I saw him bleed, I saw him cry!”“Did you?” the Keeper asked quietly. “Or did you only see what he wanted you to believe?”The words dug deep, cutting through the anger and touching something colder—doubt.Collins clenched his fists, trying to summon his power again, but the flame refused to appear. Only a faint glow pulsed at the mark on his chest, fading weaker with each beat of his heart.> “What di

The blizzard raged behind him as Collins descended from the shattered peaks.Each breath he took burned with frost, every heartbeat echoing with the memory of the Guardian’s final roar. The Fifth Flame inside his chest pulsed weakly, flickering like a candle on the verge of dying.Snow and ash fell together — white and gray — mingling like fire and shadow.He reached the edge of a frozen valley where the storm suddenly broke, revealing a stretch of still air. In the distance, faint golden light shimmered through the mist, forming what looked like ancient pillars buried beneath the ice.The Guardian’s voice echoed faintly in his mind:> “Follow the song of your mother’s flame…”He closed his eyes and listened. For a moment, he heard nothing but the whisper of the wind. Then — faintly — the hum of that same gentle melody he’d heard before. The one that sounded like her voice.He began walking toward the light.The ice cracked beneath his boots, but he didn’t stop. With every step, the s

The staircase spiraled downward into darkness.Each step Collins took felt heavier, as though the shadows themselves were clinging to him. The air grew colder. The scent of smoke and metal faded, replaced by something faint — salt water and old stone.He tightened his grip on the edge of the wall. “The path of reflection,” he murmured. “Let’s see what kind of truth you’re hiding.”At the base of the stairs, the air shimmered — and the world opened into a vast, moonlit cavern.The ground was smooth as glass, perfectly reflecting the ceiling above, where thousands of silver lights flickered like distant stars.In the center of the cavern stood a lake — so still, it looked like a mirror.Collins stepped closer, his reflection rippling across the surface. His heart thudded as a faint whisper echoed across the water:> “Welcome, bearer of the Fifth Flame…”The voice was not unfamiliar. It carried warmth and sorrow — a tone he hadn’t heard since childhood.He froze. “No,” he breathed. “It c