The central platform of the Heartforge was emptier now. Only three of the seven doors remained closed—the ones of flame, shadow, and water. The others had opened, and their occupants had emerged, changed.
Valerius Goldwood stood taller, a circlet of solidified light resting on his brow. His aura was more focused, less showy. He was 4th Order, Rank 9 now, right at the peak, ready to break through to 5th. He didn't look at Arlan, his gaze fixed ahead, but the air around him crackled with restrained power.
Anya Frostweaver held a staff of living ice, delicate as crystal. She'd reached 4th Order, Rank 7. Her cold was deeper, more absolute.
Enya Swiftwind had a pair of short, curved blades that sang softly with wind. She looked more confident, her movements fluid. She'd broken through to 4th Order, Rank 2.
The other groups bore their own treasures—a shield of singing metal, a cloak of shifting moss, a pair of gauntlets that glowed with earth-energy.
Arlan and Selene stepped from the empty door, drawing all eyes. The Sky-Fracture Bracer on Arlan's wrist seemed to drink the forge-light. Selene's Blood-Sun Pendant glowed warmly at her throat. They looked tired, but their auras had settled, becoming more real, more them.
No one said "anomaly." But the stares were heavy.
The genderless voice spoke again.
The first forging is complete. You have proven your essence. But the Heartforge has more to offer. Deeper chambers await, where your new treasures can be tested against the Labyrinth's oldest guardians. Survive there, and you may earn not just power, but understanding.
The path splits. Choose: the Chamber of Echoes, to face reflections of your past. Or the Chamber of Beasts, to battle creatures of primordial design. Choose wisely. Not all who enter return.
Two new archways shimmered into existence. One showed shifting, ghostly images—echoes of people and places. The other showed glimpses of massive, bestial shapes moving in darkness.
The heirs exchanged looks. This was where alliances would form or break.
Valerius finally spoke, his voice cool. "The Chamber of Echoes is a test of mind and spirit. My path is one of clarity. I will go there." His team of four nodded, standing with him.
Anya Frostweaver considered. "Ice is clarity too. But it is also patient. The beasts hold no temptation for me. I will face echoes."
Enya looked at the beast-door, then at Arlan and Selene. A silent question hung in the air. She had helped them before, but here, with real treasure on the line, alliances were fluid.
Arlan made the decision easy. "We're taking the beasts," he said flatly. He wasn't interested in facing ghostly versions of his dead parents or Lyra's betrayal. He'd rather fight something he could cut.
Selene nodded. "Monsters I can understand."
Enya hesitated, then gave a small smile. "Wind is freedom. Beasts are wild. It fits. I'll come with you." Her two companions—a sturdy-looking earth-affinity boy named Rook (3rd Order, Rank 9) and a quiet water-affinity girl named Lia (4th Order, Rank 1)—looked nervous but stayed with her.
That left one other group, three heirs from a minor fire-affinity family. They huddled, arguing in low tones, then scurried after Valerius toward the Echoes door. The Chamber of Beasts would have only Arlan's group of five.
Before they entered, Selene checked her own progress. The Heartforge trial, the constant pressure, the blood-bond with Arlan—it had all pushed her.
Selene Vayne
Race: Half-Vampire, Half-Witch (Vampire/Witch)
Age: 17
Order: 4th
Rank: 7 (from Rank 5)
Class: Crimson Weave Mistress
Mana: 4200/4500
Bloodline Traits: Minor Vampiric Regeneration, Witch-Sight, Blood-Catalyst.
Notable Equipment: Blood-Sun Pendant, Twin Bone-Blade Daggers (taken from a fallen mercenary in the square, now cleaned and sharpened).
She felt stronger. The pendant hummed on her chest, a well of solar energy she was learning to tap. Her daggers felt right in her hands—close-quarters, personal, like her magic.
Arlan checked his own status.
Arlan Thorne
Race: Human
Age: 17
Order: 4th (Void Scion)
Rank: 4 (from Rank 3)
Mana: 5200/8500
Shadow Energy: 300/1000
Notable Equipment: Sky-Fracture Bracer, Aethelbrand (recovering), Oblivion Core Fragment (dormant).
Abilities: Spatial Sense, Umbral Shroud, Voidfire Ignition, Chilling Touch, Shadow-Slip, Spatial Rend (Basic), Void-Touch (Basic), Eyes of Finality (Limited Use).
His negation ability, the Void-Touch, had a severe limitation he'd discovered: it burned through his Shadow Energy at an insane rate and left him spiritually exhausted. He couldn't spam it. It was a last resort, not a common tool. Good. It forced him to be smarter.
"Ready?" he asked the group.
Enya nodded, her wind-blades held ready. Rook raised a stone-covered fist. Lia summoned a shimmering shield of water.
Together, they stepped through the beast-door.
The world became a jungle of stone and crystal. Giant, glowing mushrooms the size of trees pulsed with soft light. Vines of metallic ore hung from ceilings lost in gloom. The air was humid and smelled of ozone and wet earth. And it was loud with the calls of unseen creatures—chitters, roars, and deep, resonant hums.
Environmental Alert: Chamber of Beasts - Primordial Biome.
Fauna detected: Crystalback Lurkers (4th Order Equivalent), Ore-Maw Prowlers (3rd-4th Order), Mana-Thread Spiders (3rd Order, Swarm-type).
Objective: Survive for one cycle (approx. 6 hours). Locate and secure a Heartforge Crystal for enhanced forging.
"Stay close, watch the ceiling and the ground," Arlan said, his voice low. His Spatial Sense spread out, mapping the immediate area. He could feel vibrations through the stone, life signatures in the murk.
They moved cautiously along a path of spongy, moss-covered stone. Lia's water-shield shimmered around them, a faint barrier against surprise attacks.
The first attack came from above.
A creature the size of a panther dropped silently. It had six legs ending in crystal claws, and a carapace of interlocking amethyst plates. Its head was a nightmare of crystalline teeth—a Crystalback Lurker.
It landed right between Enya and Rook.
Enya was faster. She didn't scream. She moved. Her body blurred with wind-energy, and her singing blades cut twin arcs across the beast's flank. The crystal carapace screeched in protest, shedding shards, but didn't break.
The Lurker whirled, a crystal-tipped tail lashing out at Enya's head. Rook slammed forward, his stone-covered arm taking the blow. CRACK. The tail hit with the force of a hammer, and Rook grunted, his arm-covering fracturing, but he held.
"Now!" Enya yelled.
Selene was already there. She didn't use her pendant. She lunged, her bone-daggers held reverse-grip. As the Lurker was distracted by Rook, she slipped under its guard and drove both blades into the softer joint where its leg met its body.
Black blood, thick as tar, spurted. The Lurker shrieked, a sound like breaking glass.
Arlan finished it. He didn't use Aethelbrand. He focused, drawing on his space affinity. The air in front of the wounded beast's head folded violently.
Spatial Shear.
It wasn't a cut. It was like squeezing space itself until it sheared. With a wet, horrible sound, the Lurker's head was twisted clean off its body by the distorted space. It fell, twitching.
The fight had taken ten seconds.
Enya breathed hard, looking at the dead beast. "Well. That was... efficient."
Rook was inspecting his cracked stone-arm. "Tough shell."
Lia's water-shield had held. She looked pale but determined.
Arlan knelt by the corpse. His Eyes of Finality activated briefly. The creature's endpoint had been... violent, but quick. He saw no useful parts, just inert crystal and foul blood. "We keep moving. That noise will draw others."
They pressed deeper. They fought twice more—a pack of smaller, dog-like Ore-Maw Prowlers that tried to ambush them from a side tunnel (dispatched with a combination of Enya's wind-slows, Rook's stone-fists, and Selene's precise dagger-work), and a swarm of fist-sized Mana-Thread Spiders that Lia dissolved with a pressurized blast of acidic water.
Arlan conserved his energy. He used his Umbral Shroud to confuse beasts, his Spatial Sense to guide the group away from larger clusters of life-signatures, and the occasional Spatial Shear for clean kills. He was learning to use his abilities in concert, not just relying on one big trick.
After an hour of tense travel, they found a small, relatively clear cavern with a pool of glowing blue water. They decided to risk a short rest.
As they sat, Enya spoke up. "You two fight well together. Like you've been doing it for years."
Selene, cleaning black blood off her daggers, smiled faintly. "We've had a lot of practice recently."
Rook, the earth-boy, was quiet. He finally spoke, his voice deeper than expected. "You're the ones they talk about. The ones who stole from the Emberhearts. Who stood up to the Proctors."
Arlan looked at him. "And?"
Rook met his gaze. "My family are stonemasons. We work with earth and can build anything. We don't like bullies. The Big families... they're bullies with fancy magic." He shrugged. "I'm not saying I want to start a rebellion. But if you're giving them trouble, I don't mind being near it."
Lia nodded shyly. "The Swiftwinds have always been fair to my family. Enya says you're alright. That's enough for me."
It was a small thing, but it felt significant. A understanding these weren't enemies. These were potential allies.
As they rested, Arlan's Spatial Sense pinged. Something was approaching. Something big. And hot.
He stood up. "We have company. Big. From the east tunnel."
The group scrambled to their feet. The ground began to vibrate. A deep, grinding roar echoed down the tunnel, followed by a wave of intense heat.
From the darkness emerged a monster unlike any they'd seen.
It was a Magma-Shell Tortoise. Its body was the size of a small cart, covered in plates of black, volcanic rock that glowed with internal heat. Its head, on a long, serpentine neck, had eyes like molten pits. And in its open mouth, burning with violent purple fire, was a Heavenly Flame.
The flame wasn't huge, just a wisp, but its color was unmistakable—Amethyst Voidfire, the same type Arlan had bonded with in the Chained Deeps. It was ranked 17th among the 23 Heavenly Flames, known as "The Devourer's Spark."
The group froze. A Heavenly Flame was a legend. A treasure that could elevate an entire family's status. And here one was, inside a monster in a deadly labyrinth.
The tortoise's molten eyes fixed on them. It opened its mouth wider, and the purple flame within swelled.
"Scatter!" Arlan roared.
A jet of amethyst fire blasted from the beast's mouth. It didn't just burn. Where it touched, the stone didn't melt—it vanished, eaten away into nothingness.
The group dove in different directions. The fire-stream missed, carving a smoking trench in the stone floor.
Arlan's own Voidfire stirred in his core, resonating with the flame in the beast. He could feel its hunger, its desire to consume. This wasn't just a monster. It was a guardian, a creature that had somehow bonded with a fragment of a Heavenly Flame.
"Enya, wind to distract! Rook, try to crack its shell! Lia, keep us cool and shielded! Selene, with me!" Arlan barked orders, his mind cold and clear.
Enya complied, sending blades of cutting wind at the beast's eyes. The tortoise blinked, its rocky eyelids closing with a clack. Rook slammed his fists into the ground, causing a localized tremor that made the beast stumble. Lia summoned a mist of cool water that settled over them, fighting the oppressive heat.
The tortoise recovered, swinging its massive head. Arlan and Selene split. Arlan went left, drawing on his darkness. Umbral Chains. Tendrils of solid shadow shot from his hands, wrapping around the beast's neck, trying to hold its head still.
The beast roared, purple fire leaking from its mouth, burning through the shadows. But it was slowed.
Selene went right. She didn't attack the shell. She focused on the beast's legs. Her bone-daggers glowed with a crimson light as she infused them with her blood-magic. Sanguine Edge. She struck, not to cut deep, but to leave behind a curse. Each cut sizzled, and the beast's stony flesh around the wounds began to crack and bleed sluggish, molten blood.
The tortoise was enraged. It stomped, causing the ground to heave. A wave of heat exploded from its body.
Magma Pulse.
The air became an oven. Lia's water-mist evaporated with a hiss. Rook cried out as his stone armor heated rapidly. Enya was thrown back by the concussive heat.
Arlan gritted his teeth, his Shadow Energy draining fast to maintain the Umbral Chains. They were losing.
Then he had an idea. A stupid, dangerous idea.
The beast's flame was the same as his. It was a piece of Amethyst Voidfire. And his Oblivion Core fragment... it was all about negation, consumption.
"Selene! I need an opening to its mouth!" he yelled over the roar.
"You're insane!" she yelled back, but she moved. She poured energy into her Blood-Sun Pendant. It flared, not with healing light, but with a searing, focused beam of concentrated sunlight.
Solar Lance.
A thin, brilliant beam of gold and crimson lanced out, striking the tortoise directly in one molten eye.
The beast SCREAMED, a sound of actual pain. It recoiled, its head jerking back, its mouth opening wide in a roar of agony.
There. An opening.
Arlan released the chains. He charged straight at the roaring maw of purple fire. He didn't use his sword. He reached into his own core, to the fragment of Oblivion, and to his own sliver of Voidfire.
He didn't try to negate the beast's flame. He tried to claim it.
As he neared the mouth, the heat was unbearable. His clothes smoked. But he pushed his hand, sheathed in his own amethyst Voidfire and a whisper of negation, into the stream of fire coming from the beast.
Voidfire Subjugation.
It was like trying to drink a waterfall. The beast's flame was wild, ancient, and hostile. It tore at his spirit, trying to consume him. But his own flame, guided by the cold authority of the Oblivion fragment, fought back. It wasn't a battle of power, but of will. Of which flame was the true devourer.
Arlan's vision went white with pain. He felt his own core cracking under the strain. But he held on, his will a spike of frozen iron. Mine.
With a sound like a universe sighing, the purple fire in the beast's mouth... wavered. Then it streamed away from the tortoise, flowing into Arlan's outstretched hand, merging with his own internal flame.
The Magma-Shell Tortoise gave one last, confused grunt. The light in its eyes died. Without its Heavenly Flame core, it was just a big, hot rock. It collapsed, its massive body going inert.
Arlan fell to his knees, gasping. His right arm was badly burned, the skin red and blistered. But inside, his Amethyst Voidfire burned brighter, stronger. He'd just doubled its size and potency. His cultivation speed would now be significantly faster.
The cavern was silent except for the hiss of cooling rock.
Selene rushed to his side. "You idiot! You could have been vaporized!"
"It worked," he croaked, a pained grin on his face.
Enya, Rook, and Lia approached, staring at the dead titan and then at Arlan with awe and a little fear.
"You... you took its Heavenly Flame," Enya whispered. "Do you have any idea how valuable that is? How many would kill for it?"
Arlan looked at his burned hand, where faint purple flames still flickered under his skin. "It's not just a treasure. It's a tool. And now it's mine."
As he spoke, a crystal the size of his fist detached from the cavern ceiling and floated down to him. It was a Heartforge Crystal, pulsing with pure forging energy. Their objective was complete.
But as he took it, his Spatial Sense screamed a warning.
More mana signatures. Dozens. And they were closing fast. Drawn by the battle, or the release of the Heavenly Flame's energy.
"Time's up," Arlan said, forcing himself to stand. "We have what we came for. Now we run."
The Chamber of Beasts was no longer a challenge. It was a hunting ground, and they were the prey. With the crystal in hand and a newly empowered flame in his core, Arlan led his battered, weary group into a desperate run for the exit, the sounds of hungry beasts echoing all around them.