The rift-walkers advanced, blades humming with violet energy. Alex's palms burned, the memory of the void's whisper sharpening into focus. Burn.
He thrust his hands forward. White light erupted, searing the cavern. The lead hunter staggered, its armor cracking like glass. Lira lunged, dagger striking the fissure. The rift-walker shattered, dissolving into ash.
The remaining two hesitated. Alex gritted his teeth, channeling the light again, but it flickered. His knees buckled.
"Again!" Lira barked, parrying a blade aimed at his throat.
Alex roared, slamming his fists together. A shockwave tore through the cavern. The hunters disintegrated, their screams swallowed by the light. The glow faded, leaving Alex gasping, veins alight with fire.
Lira crouched beside him. "You're burning up."
"W-what's happening to me?"
"The embers aren't free." She pressed a hand to his forehead. "They're fighting to stay lit. Breathe."
He focused on the cold stone beneath him until the heat subsided. Above, the quartz veins pulsed faintly, illuminating the dead city.
"The Order built this," Lira said, helping him stand. "A refuge, maybe. Or a tomb."
They picked through the ruins. Statues depicted robed figures with featureless faces, hands clasped around staves. Alex brushed dust from an inscription. "Can you read this?"
Lira traced the angular script. "In light's shadow, we endure. The covenant must hold." She frowned. "They knew the Devourer would come."
At the city's center, the monolith hummed. Up close, its carvings spiraled into a labyrinth of symbols. Alex placed his palm on it. The stone warmed, and the ground trembled. A seam split the monolith, revealing a staircase descending into deeper blackness.
Lira lit a torch. "Stay close."
The stairs ended in a circular chamber. A pedestal held a single artifact: a gauntlet forged of gold and silver, its surface etched with stars. Lira inhaled sharply. "Sunsteel. The Order's smiths wore these to handle celestial flame."
Alex reached for it.
"Wait—"
The gauntlet snapped onto his arm, joints hissing as it tightened. Light flared in its palm, forming a shifting orb of white fire.
"It… chose you," Lira said, wary.
The fire cast no heat. Alex flexed his fingers; the gauntlet moved like a second skin. "Is this the celestial flame we need?"
"A fragment. The forge's heart will be stronger." She studied the chamber walls, where murals depicted robed figures forging a blazing orb. "The Order bound the sun's essence here. But the Devourer's rot spread too quickly. They sealed this place rather than let it be corrupted."
A rumble shook the chamber. Dust rained from the ceiling.
"The rift-walkers' presence destabilized the sanctum," Lira said. "We need to go."
They climbed back to the cavern. The quartz veins dimmed as the city groaned. Bridges cracked, towers collapsing into the abyss.
"This way!" Lira sprinted toward an archway choked by rubble. Alex blasted debris with the gauntlet's fire, clearing a path. They stumbled into a tunnel as the monolith shattered behind them.
The passage sloped upward for miles. When they emerged, dawn stained the sky. The Spine's peaks loomed closer, their snow-capped summits blazing orange.
Alex collapsed against a boulder, gauntlet retracting into a bracelet. "How much farther?"
Lira pointed to a smudge of smoke rising between two peaks. "The forge is there. Half a day's climb."
He groaned. "What's guarding it?"
"The Order's sentinels were mortal once. Now?" She shrugged. "Pray they're still loyal to their oath."
They scaled the foothills, the air thinning as they climbed. Alex's arm ached where the scavenger had clawed him, the skin still raw. By midday, they reached a narrow pass. The forge's smoke coiled above, reeking of sulfur and iron.
A figure blocked the path.
Eight feet tall, its body was stone fused with molten metal, eyes glowing like furnace coals. A sentinel. It raised a hammer, the head crackling with electricity.
"Halt." Its voice ground like boulders. "No flesh may enter."
Lira stepped forward. "By the covenant of the First Sanctum, we claim sanctuary."
The sentinel's gaze fell on Alex's gauntlet. "The Sunsteel… You bear the mark of the Forgemaster."
"We need the celestial flame," Alex said. "To reignite the wards."
The sentinel lowered its hammer. "The flame is dying. The rot has seeped even here." It turned, gesturing them onward. "Come. See the price of failure."
The forge was a cavernous pit, its walls lined with ancient machinery. At its center, a massive crucible glowed faintly, its fire choked by tendrils of black mist.
Alex approached. The gauntlet reactivated, its flame flaring as if in protest. "Can we purify it?"
The sentinel's shoulders sagged. "The flame's heart resists, but the rot is relentless. You must reignite it from within."
"Within the fire?"
Lira gripped his shoulder. "The gauntlet can protect you—if the flame recognizes your right."
"And if it doesn't?"
She met his gaze. "Then you burn."
The sentinel spoke. "The Forgemaster's heir may pass. The rest must wait."
Alex stared into the crucible. The void's whisper echoed. Child of embers.
He stepped onto the crucible's edge. Heat blistered his skin, the gauntlet's flame sputtering. Behind him, Lira said nothing.
He jumped.
Fire swallowed him.
To be continued....