The sun rose with a burnished glow across Vastclaw's skyline, casting long shadows between stone watchtowers and earthen battlements. The jungle, thick and vibrant, sang with birdsong and insect trill. But something felt different that morning.
It was in the stillness of the wind.
In the scent of old things being disturbed.
And in the distant roar that wasn't born from any living beast.
Chu Fang stood atop the western ridge, his amber eyes narrowed as he surveyed the hazy horizon. The scouts had reported it two days ago—an ancient ruin unearthed by a landslide farther west. Half-buried stone pillars. Carvings. A lingering aura.
Old power.
Now, the entire camp moved with a different rhythm—quieter, cautious, waiting for his decision.
He didn't wait long.
The Expedition
"I'm going with you," Nyra said flatly, her tail flicking with irritation.
Raiya stood across the war tent, expression unreadable. "So am I. You'll need muscle."
Chu Fang placed the aged map down on the table, its edges fraying. "I expected both of you would say that."
The tent rustled as the wind outside shifted. Chu Fang met their eyes. "But this isn't a simple scouting mission. If the ruins really belonged to the Old Kings, we're walking into a place soaked in legacy and blood."
"Good," Raiya said. "I was beginning to miss danger."
Nyra smirked. "I never stopped missing it."
They prepared swiftly.
A lean team: Chu Fang, Nyra, Raiya, two hawk-eyed raptors for reconnaissance, and a tusked warthog named Borin who had a nose for hidden traps.
As they departed, the entire camp watched them leave. The silence behind their footsteps felt like a prayer.
The Forgotten Path
The journey took them deep into the western jungles, where the foliage grew darker and thicker, and even the birds fell silent. The ruins had not been seen for generations. The land remembered blood here.
Raiya walked beside Chu Fang, silent but steady. Her usual fire had dulled into a watchful flame. She was still wrestling with something—but she never spoke unless she had something to say.
Nyra, on the other side, moved like shadow between tree trunks, her ears constantly twitching at every rustle, every shift of leaves. When their eyes met, Chu Fang felt that same tension in her — not of jealousy, but of waiting.
He would need to give them both more than just his strength soon.
But for now, the mission came first.
Borin grunted and slammed a hoof into the ground. "We're close."
A ridge rose before them, narrow and jagged. At its crest, the trees parted — and the jungle ended.
Before them stretched a vast sunken valley.
And in the center of that valley, worn with time but unmistakably regal, stood the remains of a colossal stone city — statues of long-forgotten kings, animalistic and fierce, lined the perimeter. A palace of bones and stone loomed at the center, cracked open like a ribcage.
The ancient city of Ul'Zara.
Whispers of the Past
They entered cautiously.
The air changed immediately—colder, despite the sun. Every step echoed strangely, like the stone beneath them still remembered the roar of a thousand warriors.
Raiya paused before one of the statues. It depicted a lion—much like her—but bulkier, cruel-eyed, with obsidian fangs. She stared up at it.
"Do you think this is what we become?" she asked.
Chu Fang stopped. "We choose what we become."
Nyra's voice came from the shadows. "Power forgets kindness. Time forgets truth. These statues are warnings, not idols."
They pressed deeper.
Carvings lined the inner walls — battles between tribes, rituals around an ancient stone, beasts crowned in rings of fire and lightning. And beneath it all, always the same symbol: a spiral sun encased in a circle of teeth.
"The Crest of the Old Kings," Borin muttered. "I've heard stories. They ruled not by blood… but by devouring the power of their enemies. Their hearts."
Chu Fang's brow furrowed. "Cannibal kings?"
Nyra shook her head. "Not just cannibals. They stored what they consumed. Spirit. Will. Knowledge."
A cold realization settled over them all.
They reached the throne hall by midday. It stood open, columns crumbled, but the dais at the back was still whole. Upon it sat a great stone throne. And embedded above it—
—a crystal orb.
Dark.
Silent.
But humming with something ancient.
Chu Fang stepped forward, feeling it call to him. Not with words. With instinct.
He touched the base.
The orb lit.
The Memory Surge
A rush of visions hit him.
Screaming. Roaring. Blood. Kings crowned in war. A lioness roaring against a bear. A panther slitting the throat of a horned stag king. A tiger — massive, blazing with golden flame — sitting alone as the last city burned around him.
"You who claim the will of kings…"
"Beware the echo. It remembers. And it judges."
Chu Fang gasped and staggered back, the images still pulsing in his skull.
Nyra caught him. "What did you see?"
He didn't answer right away. Then—
"A warning. And a question."
He looked back at the orb, now dark again.
"We're not the first to try building something like this. A kingdom. A pride. A home."
Nyra stared. "Did they succeed?"
Raiya stepped forward, voice low. "If this is all that's left of them, I'd say no."
Chu Fang clenched his fists.
"Then we do better."
The Trap
It wasn't long after they began their descent from the palace that things went wrong.
The raptor scouts screeched—too late.
From the jungle behind them, movement.
Dozens.
Hyenas. Painted wolves. Crocodile beasts with jagged armor and bronze-tipped spears.
A warband.
Chu Fang spun, voice sharp. "Hold the ridge!"
The battle erupted like lightning on dry leaves. Borin charged headfirst into their ranks, tusks goring through hide and flesh. Nyra danced through shadows, cutting throats with fluid grace. Raiya's roar shook the stone as she slammed her enemies into broken walls with brutal strength.
Chu Fang fought at the center.
Every move was precise. Efficient. Regal.
They fought not for survival.
But for dominion.
And as the enemy scattered under their united front, fleeing into the dark with howls of rage and fear, Chu Fang stood bloodied but unbowed.
"This place is no longer forgotten," he said.
Nyra, panting, nodded. "They'll come back."
"Let them," Raiya growled.
Chu Fang looked back once more at the throne behind them.
Then turned to his allies.
"No more shadows. No more echoes. We forge something new."