Only then did he notice the heap of once-luminous celestial gems at his feet. Their surfaces had dulled to dead gray, spent entirely by the ferocious appetite of their training.
Flaxseed’s eyelids fluttered open. A faint sigh slipped out as he brushed sandstone dust from his robe. “Looks as though we drank every last drop of power those stones could give…”
Jared nodded, the grin already curling on his mouth. “True, but what we gained is worth ten piles of gems. We’re worlds stronger than when we walked in.”
Flaxseed’s laugh was quiet and full. “No doubt. Without these stones, and Pentacarna Tower, we would have needed years of sweat to reach this height.”
Jared rose, bones cracking like sparklers in the night. He rolled his shoulders, feeling energy roar beneath his skin like a contained storm. A smile tugged at his lips, subtle yet irrepressible. Power, living and eager, thrummed inside him.
“Enough basking,” he said, voice firm yet light. “Time to head outside. I’d like to know what’s been happening while we were buried in cultivation.”
Flaxseed stood as well, stretching until his spine popped. “Right! I’m wondering how the little fire unicorn and Celestial Devourer have fared without us.”
With no further hesitation, the two men strode toward the stone archway, their footfalls crisp in the hush of Pentacarna Tower.
Sunlight greeted them. On the grass beyond the doorway, the young fire unicorn and the Celestial Devourer lay curled together, fast asleep, scales and fur rising with each slow breath.
Jared and Flaxseed exchanged a soft laugh at the innocent scene, tension easing from their shoulders.
“Seems peaceful enough out here,” Flaxseed murmured. Jared did not answer. A faint crease formed between his brows as he swept his gaze across the clearing.
Lingering in the air was a metallic taste, spent fury and disrupted earth, the unmistakable after-scent of recent combat.
Flaxseed tilted his head. “Something bother you?”
“Someone came while we were cultivating,” Jared replied, voice low but certain. “They didn’t leave of their own accord.”
At that moment, the two beasts stirred awake. The fire unicorn whinnied, bounding to Jared’s side, while Celestial Devourer yawned and waddled after.
The fire unicorn’s throaty roar and the contented lick on Jared’s hand told him enough, trespassers had indeed arrived, only to be routed and, judging by the cub’s satisfied burp, devoured.
Jared opened his storage ring. In twin flashes of light, the small guardians vanished safely inside.
“Flaxseed, it’s time we tracked down Stebarin of Malevolent Path Hall. If anyone can confirm whether your clan’s souls still linger, it’s him.”
Flaxseed drew a long breath and nodded once. “Let’s move!”
Above them, the sky arced vast and deep, level eight beckoning with new trials yet to come.
***
Inside the vast, torch-lit audience chamber of the Third Hall, Cormac knelt on the polished obsidian tiles. His brocade armor was shredded, streaked with blood, and his shoulders quaked beneath the weight of humiliation.
He, the lord of Fifth Hall, once feared throughout Celestial Palace, had been routed by a young upstart named Jared. The taste of defeat burned like iron on his tongue.
“Enaricus, I was incompetent. Jared bested me.” Cormac’s voice broke as he spoke.
The words tumbled out in a raw, shaking cascade while he recounted every exchange of blades and every crushing moment of their duel, his eyes glazing with unshed tears.
Enaricus, draped in a mantle of gold silk, sat statue-still upon his jeweled throne. At first, his face remained unreadable, yet as Cormac’s tale unfolded, his brows tightened, and a flicker of disbelief cut through his normally placid gaze.
“So Jared wields power even you could not match,” Enaricus murmured, each syllable cool and deliberate.
He rose, hands clasped behind his back, and began to pace across the marble dais. Every measured step echoed, as though the hall itself were holding its breath while he devised his next move.
Cormac pressed on, desperation creeping into his tone. “Jared’s strength grows by the hour. If we do not erase him now, he will become a calamity. Remember, Onneas of the Fourth Hall stands at his side. She even led the Celestial Guards to level six to aid him… Should Jared reach level eight hand-in-hand with Onneas, there may be no place left in the Celestial Palace for you, Enaricus.”
Enaricus halted, a razor-bright glint cutting across his eyes. Resolve, cold and merciless, hardened within him.
“Then we will ensure he never arrives at level eight,” Enaricus said, his voice as calm as falling snow and twice as chilling.
Cormac blinked, bewildered. “But how can we possibly stop him?”
A thin smile curled across Enaricus’ lips. “He must tear open the void to get here. I will strike inside that passage, shatter the corridor and consign him to the chaotic void currents. He will drift forever in the cosmos, forgotten by creation itself.”
Cormac’s shoulders convulsed. “Enaricus… You mean to invoke the celestials?”
“Precisely,” Enaricus answered with a single, almost leisurely nod, as though ordering a cup of coffee, not a man’s annihilation.
