Roughly fifteen minutes after their departure, the valley fell into a hush so deep even ashes feared to stir. The air above the gorge twisted like heated glass, and three figures clad in pitch-black soul armor slipped from the distortion without a whisper.
At their head hovered a middle-aged man whose face was carved in perpetual malice. He scanned the empty ravine, tasted the lingering shockwaves in the wind, and his brow knotted in cold displeasure.
Such savage ripples of vengeful spirits, and beneath them, something else entirely, a strange breath of power that makes my heart seize…
The man lifted his hand and pinched the empty air. A ribbon of grey mist peeled away from the atmosphere and hovered above his palm, innocuous at first glance yet humming with an appetite for annihilation. He probed it with a thread of soul energy, but the mist bucked like a wild beast and swallowed half the strand in a heartbeat, turning his own strength against him.
A wet cough burst from his throat. Color drained from his face as he flung the haze away, scattering it before it could gnaw deeper into his essence. Two Soul Hunters rushed forward, armor clinking, and shouted, “Sir!”
He waved them back, eyes flickering between alarm and fascination. “This force devours soul energy as naturally as breathing. Report it to Mr. Puppet General at once, and scour a thousand-mile radius for anyone suspicious.”
The hunters answered in unison, “Yes, Sir!” With that, the three silhouettes melted into the dusk, gone as swiftly as they had appeared.
After a six-hour journey, Jared and his companions stood before a ruin smothered by ancient vines and towering trees. Jared parted weeds as tall as a man, revealing the shattered remnants of a stone array hidden beneath.
The platform had been laid with blue-grey spiritual stones, every surface etched in archaic beast runes now blurred by time. At its center, the core stone was veined with cracks, a faint glow pulsing like a dying heartbeat.
“It is an ancient teleportation array,” Winslow said, voice reverent. He knelt for a closer look. “The script differs from ours, yet the principle matches. Restore the missing glyphs, heal the core, feed it power, and it should awaken.”
Jared nodded and glanced at his small fire unicorn. “Your turn, buddy.”
Lucky leapt from his shoulder, trotting a quick circle around the array, snout pressed to broken sigils while it hummed soft, curious notes. Moments later, it raised a forepaw. A head of crimson-gold light blossomed at the claw tip and touched a ruined line.
Buzz!
The platform quivered beneath their feet. The fractured rune flared to life, the tiny light stitching its gap with trembling radiance.
“It works!” Selina exclaimed, delight sparkling in her eyes.
Jared crouched, letting chaotic celestial energy stream from his palm as he traced the array’s inner currents. The primal energy could mimic any law, giving him far keener insight than ordinary spiritual energy. He soon located three key nodes that lay barren and five rune channels that had snapped like dry twigs.
“Leopold, Selina, stabilize the outer lattice,” he said. “Mr. Vermilion, when I work on the core, burn the cracks with your demonic flame so the stone can fuse anew.”
Without further ado, the group jumped into action.
Leopold and Selina took opposite sides, sword light and rippling bell-tones weaving a net that cocooned the platform, holding every stray spark in check. Jared pressed both hands to the heartstone, threads of chaotic celestial energy seeping inside like silver needles.
Although the core seemed ready to shatter, its inner lattice was tenacious. His energy became a surgeon’s scalpel, excising grit from each fissure and coaxing the stone’s spirituality to knit itself whole. At the same time, Vermilion Demon Lord’s dark flame licked across the cracks, perfectly timed, melting the stone’s edges so Jared’s guiding power could seal them shut.
Crimson-tinged flames roared beneath the array platform, so hot the air itself seemed to ripple and warp. Yet every tongue of fire obeyed an unseen will, never once exceeding the precise temperature at which spiritual stones would melt. Under that masterful control, the cracked stones along the platform’s fissures began to liquefy, then fuse like molten gold poured back into a mold.
At the perimeter, Gerald and Winslow took up silent guard. Their auras pressed outward like overlapping shields, each man alert for any ripple that might disturb the delicate work at the center.
Two hours crawled past, measured only by the deep, steady breathing of those who watched.
Buzz!
A sudden, resonant thrum, so loud it rattled teeth, burst from the stone. Instantly, the entire platform flared with brilliant aquamarine light, bright enough to chase every shadow from the surroundings. Where runes had once been scarred and broken, fresh sigils now blazed, their strokes seamless and whole. In the glare, an ancient bestial carving seemed to wake, rising out of the stone until a chorus of phantom roars echoed across the chamber.
At the very heart of the platform, space twisted open. A whirlpool of turquoise energy widened, breath by breath, until it spanned nearly ten feet from rim to shimmering rim.
“It’s done!” Jared’s voice cracked through the roar of power. He lowered his hands, shoulders sagging. The color drained from his face, and sweat dampened the collar of his robe, but a fierce light still burned behind his eyes, exhaustion eclipsed by triumph.
Winslow paced a slow circle around the formation. “The array is holding, though age will limit it. From the looks of it, it can only teleport five travelers at most, and you should expect a slight drift in the landing point,” he said, fingertips brushing glowing sigils as though feeling their heartbeat.
“Five is all we need,” Jared replied. “Great Elder Earthfire, Mr. Vermilion, Mr. Walden, Leopold, and I will go first. Selina, you and Lucky stay to guard the array. If we have not returned in three days, or if the platform shows the least instability, you destroy it and withdraw. No hesitations, understood?”
Selina’s lips tightened with reluctance, yet she bowed in swift agreement, silver bells at her waist chiming a soft, forlorn note. The small fire unicorn yipped once, pressed its warm nose to Jared’s hand, and fixed him with molten-gold eyes that promised utter loyalty.
The chosen five stepped into the turquoise vortex, and light swallowed them whole.
Inside the tunnel between worlds, everything became motion—up, down, and every direction at once. Space pulled like an ocean riptide, far stronger than any ordinary teleportation array. Jared flooded his meridians with chaotic celestial energy, weaving a shield of rainbow aura around his limbs. Even so, he felt organs shift within his chest as though dragged toward some invisible horizon.
Time lost meaning—perhaps a heartbeat, perhaps a lifetime—before the wrenching pressure vanished.
