The heat pouring from the shattered library doors was a physical blow, a wave of superheated air that made their safety goggles fog up instantly. Inside, the grand entrance hall was a vision of hell. The air was a thick, swirling soup of black smoke and glowing red embers, so dense it was hard to see more than twenty feet ahead. The magnificent marble floors were carpeted in a thick layer of soot and burned paper, and the air rang with the cacophony of the inferno—the roar of flames, the groan of stressed stone, and the sharp crack of ancient wooden shelves giving way.
"Stay close! Cover your mouths!" Kai yelled, his voice sounding small against the overwhelming noise. He pulled the high collar of his lab coat up over his nose and mouth, the fire--retardant material already uncomfortably hot.
He took the first step inside, his new shield held high to deflect a shower of falling embers. The Wayfinder in his pocket was no longer just vibrating; it was practically buzzing, a frantic, insistent pull guiding him deeper into the chaos. It pointed not towards the relatively untouched west wing, but directly into the heart of the blaze in the east.
As their eyes adjusted to the hellish gloom, they saw they were not alone. Moving through the smoke were canine shapes, not made of flesh, but of compacted, glowing embers and superheated ash. Their forms were unstable, constantly shedding sparks, and their eyes were twin coals of burning hatred.
Kai's Observe skill cut through the haze.
[Ember Hound]
[Level: 5]
[A creature born of magical fire and intense emotion. Can inflict severe burns.]
Two of them had noticed their entry. They let out low growls that sounded like grinding stones and began to stalk towards them, their paws leaving scorching prints on the marble floor.
"Hostiles!" Ben choked out, pulling the fire extinguisher from his pack. "Thermovores! They're drawn to the heat!"
"I'll take the one on the left!" Kai shouted, bracing himself behind his shield.
The first Ember Hound lunged, a blur of red and black. It wasn't trying to bite; it opened its maw and vomited a cloud of searing hot ash directly at him. Kai caught the blast on his autoclave lid shield. The metal glowed cherry-red on impact, the heat so intense he could feel it through the thick steel, but it held. The Acid Resistance skill did nothing for heat, a fact he noted with a grimace.
While Kai was pinned, the second hound lunged at Elara. She reacted with surprising speed, swinging her magnesium-wrapped tire iron in a wide arc. The metal head scraped against the stone floor, sending up a shower of brilliant white sparks that ignited the magnesium ribbon. The club burst into a searing, white-hot flame.
She slammed the flaming mace into the side of the Ember Hound's head. The creature, made of fire itself, wasn't burned, but the sheer concussive force of the blow sent it tumbling. It yelped, a sound like cracking embers, and scrambled back, momentarily stunned.
Kai shoved forward with his shield, creating an opening, and thrust his saber into the chest of his attacker. The blade hissed as it sank into the creature's core of compacted ash. The Ember Hound convulsed, its form dissolving not into blue particles, but into a collapsing shower of dying, gray cinders.
[You have slain a Level 5 Ember Hound.]
[XP Gained: 80]
[XP: 700/800]
The second hound, recovered from Elara's blow, charged again. But this time, Ben was ready. He aimed the fire extinguisher and blasted the creature with a thick cloud of CO2 foam.
The effect was dramatic. The Ember Hound shrieked as the cold foam hit its superheated body. The sudden, extreme temperature change caused a thermal shock. Its ashen form cracked, fissured, and then violently exploded, showering the area in harmless, cool dust.
They stood panting in the momentary lull, the air thick with smoke, ash, and chemical foam.
"That was..." Elara started, her eyes wide behind her goggles.
"Remarkably effective," Ben finished, looking at the fire extinguisher with newfound respect. "A rapid application of a cryo-agent against a pyro-based entity. I should have anticipated that."
A deep, earth-shaking roar, louder than before, echoed from the east wing, shaking the very foundations of the building. It was a sound of ancient, primal rage.
Kai looked down at the Wayfinder. The needle was spinning frantically, pointing directly towards the source of the roar.
"That's where we need to go," he said, his voice grim.
They pushed deeper into the library, past burning barricades of bookshelves and through halls where the pages of priceless books rained down like black snow. The further they went, the hotter it became. The marble floors were cracked, and the air shimmered with heat.
Finally, they reached a massive, arched doorway that led into the Special Collections wing. The room beyond was an inferno, a vast, domed chamber where the fire had been born. In the center of the room, standing amidst a vortex of swirling flame and smoke, was a hulking, ten-foot-tall creature made of obsidian and magma. It was vaguely humanoid, with a great, horned head and fists like boulders. It was tearing apart the last of the bookshelves, roaring in fury.
And chained to a massive stone lectern directly in front of the creature, glowing with a soft, steady light that repelled the flames around it, was a single, ancient, leather-bound book.
The Echo.