The morning broke silver and sharp over Arcvale City — a skyline carved of mana-etched steel and glowing glass, where floating transports glided on runes above cobbled avenues older than history remembered.
At the southern quarter, beneath the shadow of the Explorer Command's monolith tower, the underground levels of Silver Vow HQ pulsed with anticipation. The vast subterranean training complex echoed with muted alarms, mana diagnostics, and the rustle of restless explorers-in-training.
Inside one of the deeper chambers — reinforced by mythsteel pillars and bound with spatial dampening fields — a test was about to begin.
A test wrapped in simulated lava and illusionary death.
Kaela Noctira Valen stood in silent preparation, her hands resting lightly against the curve of her spirit-touched staff. Her silver cloak, embroidered with radiant aether-thread, shimmered faintly with her inner light affinity. Her long, snow-white hair had been tied into a braid that floated gently despite the still air. Her purple eyes — inherited from a father she never met — glowed with mana readings only the system could decipher.
Her brother, Kai Noctis Valen, stood beside her — taller by a head, his white hair a more untamed crown of frost-fire, his build lean but visibly honed. He wore no armor, only a sleeveless combat vest and reinforced mana pants. His arms were crossed. His eyes were half-lidded. He looked calm.
He always looked calm.
He also hadn't drawn a weapon.
"You're seriously going to fight barehanded?" Kaela asked quietly.
Kai rolled his shoulders. "Why not? This is just a warm-up."
"You're impossible."
"No. I'm efficient."
Their cousins arrived — Rei Valen first, twin-blade wielder and elder by two years, wearing a flame-scarred coat reinforced with dual elemental plates. He cracked his knuckles.
"I hope the boss simulation's worth it," he muttered. "They nerfed the last one."
His sister Mira, her hair braided in steel-thread rings, adjusted the blades at her hips — chakrams inscribed with wind-aether runes. She nodded briefly at Kaela before glancing to the side, jaw tightening.
The chamber's main gate opened with a low rumble.
And she entered.
Alya Valen strode in with the casual danger of someone who'd killed more dungeon bosses than she'd bothered to name. Her presence struck like a thunderclap in a church.
A long, dusksteel coat swept behind her, her boots echoing off the rune-lit floor. Her left eye glowed faintly blue — a mana-augmented implant from an old raid in the Frostbound Catacomb. She carried her signature weapon — a curved duskblade infused with a bonded flame-wyrm core — across her back, but she didn't need to draw it. Her aura did the talking.
"You've been training for over a year," she said, tone clipped. "You've cleared mockups, sealed three Pale-Class dungeons, and survived my patience. That ends today."
She tapped a command glyph. A floating projection appeared overhead.
Simulation Initiating: Ember Vault of the Hollow Flame
Type: Core-Tethered Dungeon Replica
Tier: Silver (Level 20–30)
Status: Combat Ready
Boss: Ember-Cursed Minotaur | LV 27
Objectives: Clear Dungeon | Stabilize Core | No Transformation Allowed
Fail Condition: Party Member Knockout / Core Collapse / Time Over (20:00)
Alya's gaze scanned the recruits — but settled on the twins.
"You two," she said coldly. "No ascensions. No godfire. No draconic flare. I've built this arena to withstand Class Gold detonations, but I'd rather not reset the walls again."
Kai smirked. "No promises."
Alya's voice dropped. "Kai."
His expression sobered.
Kaela bowed slightly. "We understand."
As they approached the gate, its etched symbols began to glow. Heat curled from beyond — simulated, yes, but rooted in real mana flow. The dungeon's internal energy came from a captured crystal matrix mimicking a collapsed volcanic realm lost in the Third Fracture.
This wasn't play.
It was war, safely wrapped in pretend flesh.
But the instincts? The fear? The blood memory?
All real.
Dungeon Simulation: Active
The group emerged in a scorched hallway — volcanic glass walls reflecting molten light. Magma pulsed below iron grates, and the air shimmered with residual heatwaves. Crystalline fungus clung to the walls, glowing a sickly crimson.
Even here, Kaela could hear the System whispering:
Mana Saturation: 73% Fire-Dominant
Ambient Harmonic Flow: Unstable
Light Affinity Suppression: Moderate
She adjusted her casting parameters silently.
Rei and Mira took point, their movement crisp and professional.
Then, as if on cue, the dungeon responded.
[Monsters Detected: Ember-Wrought Knights]
Four of them rose from the floor — humanoid constructs of molten steel and ash, powered by corrupted core energy. Each bore a rusted blade twice the height of a man.
They attacked immediately.
Mira danced into motion, chakrams slicing in arcs of compressed wind. Rei engaged the largest knight with his saber, the blade glowing with heat.
Kai simply walked forward.
The closest knight swung its blade.
Kai caught the sword barehanded.
Sparks flew. The knight's arm trembled.
Then Kai slammed his elbow into its head, sending the molten construct flying.
He moved like fire incarnate — unarmed, unrelenting.
Kaela raised her staff.
A glowing sigil formed — Radiant Bind, a light-affinity control spell.
Chains of searing white light wrapped around the remaining knights, slowing them just long enough for Rei and Mira to finish the job.
[Wave 1 Cleared. Proceed to Core Chamber.]
Flashback: Seralyth's Flight
Elsewhere — in another time, another realm — her wings were breaking.
Seralyth of the Azure Veil, daughter of the Winter Flame Throne, matriarch of the White Flame brood, fled through crimson skies torn by divine wrath.
The stars above the Mythical Realm had turned black.
And the gods were hunting her.
She bore twin souls within her — not yet born, but already pulsing with divine conflict.
Her mate, Vael'Aros the Starbound Flame, had been imprisoned — chained in the Aether Vault for crimes the gods refused to name. His power, said the Pantheon, was corrupting the cycle.
But Seralyth knew better.
She had seen the future in her dreams. A world reborn in flame and light — not destroyed by it.
Her flight was relentless. Through ash storms, across dragon-guarded mountains. Until she found a crack — a Gate never meant to be used.
She passed through.
Her mana shattered. Her wings failed.
But she arrived.
And she gave birth to the twins under a broken sky, in the arms of a kind human family — before her breath faded into mist, and she returned to stardust.
Back to the Present: Core Chamber
They reached the final room at 17:36 on the timer.
A massive bridge of obsidian arched over a sea of lava. At its center stood the Ember-Cursed Minotaur, a beast of stone, fire, and rage. It towered over them, its molten axe sparking against the stone floor.
[Boss Engaged: HP – 22,000 | Heat Stress Active]
Abilities: Magma Slam | Eruption Roar | Core Fury (Locked)
Rei lunged first — distracting.
Mira hit it with a wind-blade to the eye.
Kaela formed Aetheric Halo, shielding the team.
Then Kai moved.
He ducked under the axe, slid across the floor, and uppercut the beast hard enough to stagger its left leg.
The Minotaur roared, slammed the ground, and cast Eruption Roar.
Fire exploded.
Kaela's barrier cracked.
Kai was knocked back — hard. He slid across the floor, coughing blood.
Then…
[Draconic Sovereign Form: 94% Threshold Reached]
Activate?
The pressure rose in his chest. His veins burned.
He saw white scales forming under his skin.
He was close.
Too close.
Kaela looked at him.
"No."
He breathed.
Then grinned through blood. "Fine."
Kai pushed himself up and charged again — no transformation, no magic.
Just fists.
And fire.
Simulation Ends[Boss HP: 29%. Objective Met.]
[Simulation Concluded.]
The dungeon dissolved.
Reality returned.
Kai was breathing hard, bleeding from the lip. Kaela leaned on her staff, sweat dripping down her collarbone. Mira's chakrams flickered offline. Rei grinned like a madman.
Alya stood at the edge of the platform.
She didn't smile. Didn't speak.
She just nodded.
Far beyond them, in the sealed halls of the Mythical Realm, beneath the tomb of gods, a chained deity lifted his head.
He felt it.
The fire of his bloodline roaring back to life.
And he wept molten tears in the dark.
End of Chapter 2