Scene – Demon Wastes, Sanctuary Ruins
"They're too early…" Leo's voice echoed off the altar's jagged stone. "…but not unwelcome."
The portal beside him hissed and faded, leaving behind a silence thick with memory.
Around him, the constructs stirred. Bone creaked. Veins of cursed silver pulsed beneath armor that had never been forged by mortal hands.
Leo rose from the altar. The long, tattered coat of blackened weave swept behind him, edged in silver runes that twisted slightly when viewed too long.
He placed a hand on the cracked pillar beside him, where old names had once been carved. Names now scorched away by something worse than fire.
"They're coming here," he said softly.
His eyes burned.
"They'll find what I left behind… and what waits to wake."
He looked upward, where the stars did not shine, only watched.
Scene – Crimson Class, Entering the Outer Wastes
The air changed first.
It smelled like dust soaked in lightning. The winds howled without direction, and the land ahead cracked in ways the earth shouldn't know.
The Crimson Class stood at the edge of a ruined watchtower. Behind them, the last sign of structured land. Before them, twisted valleys, broken temples, and long-dead gods buried under ash.
Kira stepped forward.
The ground didn't welcome them—it tolerated their presence.
Chris muttered, "This place… it's breathing."
"No," Ard said, tightening his gloves. "It's remembering."
Yuujin lit a flare with his finger, but the flame bent unnaturally left, like the wind had no respect for logic.
They moved.
Each mile forward tightened the air. Voices whispered just outside hearing. Rhea's magic scanner pulsed red twice, then went still—burned out.
"Whatever's ahead," she said, "it's breaking our tools."
Kira didn't stop walking.
Scene – Council Chamber, Observation Circle
Reivana Seris stood with her back to the central crystal mirror. The human leaders argued behind her. But her eyes were on the red line moving across the map.
"They've crossed the line," said a voice.
The elven matriarch's tone was grim. "Then they're past where any retrieval spell can reach."
"The pact still holds," said the Spirit Queen. "The demons haven't moved."
"No," Reivana murmured. "But Leo has."
They all fell silent.
Scene – Demon Wastes, Midway Point
The ground cracked suddenly beneath the Crimson Class's feet—revealing an ancient pit where glyphs still shimmered with decayed light.
Yuujin slid down first, landing in ankle-deep black sand.
Symbols across the walls flickered to life.
"…This isn't demon magic," Rhea whispered. "It's older."
The sand shifted.
A skeletal figure rose—no face, just a mask of cracked ivory and a crown of rusted nails.
"Test," it hissed. "Judgment. Trial."
Kira stepped forward, his hand going to his blade.
"We've passed enough trials."
"No," it answered.
"This is the one that matters."
Scene – Leo's Sanctuary, Simultaneously
The constructs flinched.
Leo's eyes narrowed. He felt it. The seal breaking. The buried trial awakening.
"…They triggered it?" he murmured.
A beat.
Then—laughter.
Soft. Cold. Disbelieving.
"So that's what you're reaching for, Liora…"
He turned toward the altar again, placing a single rune on its base. The ruins shook, and far beneath the stone, something ancient stirred.
"You shouldn't have sent them here yet," Leo whispered to no one.
But his smile returned.
"They'll either die in the Wastes…"
He turned, walking toward the shadows.
"…or become exactly what I need."
Final Scene – Beneath the Trial Pit
The Crimson Class now stood in an inverted cathedral.
Stained glass hung upside down, reflecting scenes of wars never recorded. In the center, a dais pulsed with seven broken swords.
Each one called to a different member of the team.
Chris reached out. So did Ard. Kira stood frozen.
"They're bound to our fears," Rhea said slowly. "This is a forge."
Yuujin frowned. "A forge for what?"
Kira's voice was low.
"For kings."