They moved toward the rift as a tight group. Draven’s bubble of stable Qi was their only protection. The rainbow-colored energy ahead shimmered and warped the air, making the ground underfoot feel soft and unreliable, like walking on rotten wood.“Energy signatures are spiking,” Selene said, her voice tight as she scanned her slate. “Something’s moving at the edge of the distortion field. Multiple somethings. Life signs are jumbled. The rift’s energy is mutating them.”A low, chittering growl came from their left. From behind a jagged outcropping of blackened rock, a creature appeared. It looked like a Sand-Stalker, the lean six-legged predators common to the Expanse, but now patches of its carapace glowed with unstable violet light. One of its front claws had turned into a twisted crystalline spike that hummed with chaotic energy.“Contact left!” Goran shouted, shifting his stance. The creature shimmered, and a slightly transparent copy of itself lunged from the right.An illusion or

The night was on his side. Draven slipped out of the Verdant Spring Enclave like a shadow. The new power in his body made his movements almost unnatural. He did not take a skiff or the main gates. He simply walked to the edge of the courtyard, looked down at the dizzying drop into the Wastes, and stepped off.He fell for a hundred feet before sending his Qi downward. His flight felt different now, smoother, faster, requiring almost no conscious effort. The Chaos Avatar passive made the turbulent night air feel like a welcoming current instead of resistance. He flew low and fast, a dark streak against darker earth, following the mental map Selene had placed in his mind.The journey to the Shattered Cloud Peaks took most of the night. As dawn's grey light touched the jagged summits, he saw why the place was feared.These were not mountains. They were the shattered teeth of a dead god. Stone spires leaned at impossible angles. Chasms vented plumes of fog that crackled with static electri

The voice was not sound.It did not echo. It did not vibrate the air.It pressed.It felt like the weight of an endless sky folding inward, squeezing itself into a single thought and pushing straight into Draven’s soul.WHO WAKES MEDraven could not pull his hands away from the Storm Heart. The shock from the impact still locked his palms against the crystal surface. Power flooded into him in heavy waves, wild and vast. It was not attacking. It was searching.Judging.Testing.Every breath felt slow. Every thought felt small.Across the cavern, Zephyr staggered back on the stone dais. His earlier arrogance shattered like glass. Fear burned in his glowing eyes, tangled with raw rage.“No,” Zephyr shouted, his voice cracking. “This is wrong. It was mine. I was chosen. I was its master.”The Storm Heart shifted its attention.A thin strand of mist flowed out from the crystal, smooth and effortless. It wrapped around Zephyr’s chest, arms, and legs. He barely had time to gasp before it lif

The Corrupted Silhouette stood on the stone outcrop across from Draven, silent and unmoving.It did not feel like an enemy made of flesh or energy. It felt like a hole torn into the world. From ten feet away, Draven could feel it pulling at him, not with force, but with absence. A quiet numbness crept into his thoughts, whispering that nothing mattered. That effort was pointless. That it would be easier to stop.Behind him, Scout Mara’s ragged breathing broke through that pull.Draven clenched his fists and held his ground.The Silhouette glided forward without a sound. It did not hurry. It did not hesitate. Wherever its feet touched the stone, the rock gave up, crumbling into fine grey sand as if it had never truly existed.Draven knew waiting would only make things worse.He stepped forward and struck first.Power surged through the Ascendant Cycle as he unleashed a Blossoming Strike. Five colors of chaotic energy wrapped around his fist as he drove it straight into the creature’s c

The Rot reacted at once, and it was violent.The entire trench of sick energy did not just move. It boiled. The corruption stopped focusing on Draven and turned downward instead. It dove into the ground, attacking the bedrock itself, trying to smother the tiny golden spark of the land’s spirit he had awakened.It was desperate. Furious.Violet green tendrils drilled into the stone like living things, digging deeper and deeper.Draven knew he could not fight it head on. He could only protect the spark.He pressed his hands harder against the ground and poured everything he had into it. Chaotic Life energy. Earth energy. Will. He turned himself into a shield, standing between the Rot and the land’s memory.Behind him, Mara cried out. “It is working,” she said, her voice shaking with awe and pain. “The ley line is fighting itself.”She was right.Where the Rot drilled down, patches of clean golden light flared up from below, pushing back. The valley floor began to crack and rumble. Stone