The grand hall of Arkate Castle was a study in contrasts - the polished obsidian floors gleamed like still bck water under the flickering torchlight, while the vaulted ceilings disappeared into shadowed heights where ancient banners hung limp in the stale air. Three years ago, Guann's furious footsteps had echoed like hammer blows against the marble as he confronted Elder Nan. The scent of extinguished candle wax mixed with the acrid tang of activated defensive runes that pulsed along the walls in jagged golden lines.
"Elder Nan!" Guann's voice cracked through the cavernous space, bouncing off the carved stone pilrs that stood like silent sentinels. His breath came in visible puffs in the suddenly chilled air. "The Vennos transit conduit - why seal it when their distress calls keep coming?" The words tore at his throat, raw with urgency.
Nan's white silk robes whispered against the floor as he turned, the intricate silver embroidery catching the light like frozen lightning. His beard, more silver than white now, trembled with barely contained rage. "Impudent whelp!" The elder's voice was a whip-crack of authority that made the younger attendants flinch. His gnarled hands, mottled with age spots, clenched around the jade staff until the knuckles stood out like pale stones beneath parchment-thin skin. "Since when do our decisions require your approval?"
Guann took a step forward, his boots leaving damp prints on the cold stone. The metallic taste of fear and anger coated his tongue. "But Vennos only has Polos and a handful of students!" His voice dropped to a raw whisper that somehow carried further than his shout. "Against Illiya's forces, they'll be sughtered like-"
Nan's dismissive snort sent droplets of spittle flying to glisten in his beard. The heavy scent of sandalwood and medicinal herbs clung to him as he turned away. "Xiajilu!" he barked to the iron-skinned guardian by the door, whose metallic flesh reflected the torchlight in dull crimson highlights. The guardian's joints hissed with steam as he snapped to attention. "Mobilize the barrier teams! Fortify Arkate's defenses - no one enters or leaves!" The finality in his voice left no room for argument, the words hanging in the air like a death sentence.
The memory dissolved like smoke as Guann stood by the keside years ter, his cigarette burning down to the filter between his fingers. The glowing ember reflected in his dark eyes like a distant wildfire, casting flickering shadows across the sharp pnes of his face. The crisp mountain air carried the scent of pine and cold water, a stark contrast to the remembered staleness of that hall.
"I'll reopen the Arkate-Vennos link," he murmured at st, grinding the cigarette beneath his heel with unnecessary force. The acrid smell of crushed tobacco mixed with the damp earth. "I've still got missions to complete." As he walked away, Youhang watched his retreating back, the unspoken grief between them heavier than the mountain mist that curled around their ankles like ghostly fingers.
---
On Hedel Isnd, the crimson sunset painted the training grounds in bloody hues, turning the sweat-slicked bodies of the recruits into living sculptures of amber and shadow. Jack's enraged shout shattered the evening calm as he threw down the three polished logs he'd been carrying. The heavy wood thudded against the packed earth, sending up puffs of orange dust that hung glittering in the angled light.
"Damn it! A whole month of this shit?" Jack's muscles trembled with exhaustion beneath skin rubbed raw by the rough bark, sweat carving clean trails through the grime coating his face. His breath came in ragged gasps that fogged the cooling air. The other recruits paused, their own burdens forgotten as the confrontation unfolded, their shadows stretching long and distorted across the clearing.
Ilen's delicate features twisted in outrage, her usually perfect hair clinging in damp strands to her flushed cheeks. "Pick those up!" she snapped, pointing at the discarded logs with a finger that still bore the faint scar from their thornweed encounter. The faint scent of ozone still clung to the wood where precise energy bsts had smoothed the surfaces, mixing with the earthy aroma of sap and scorched bark.
Qin Hong regarded Jack calmly, though his fingers twitched at his sides - a barely perceptible tell of his frustration. The fading light caught in the lenses of his sungsses, turning them into opaque mirrors that reflected Jack's heaving form. "Don't want to continue training?" His voice was deceptively mild, belying the tension in his jaw.
Jack barked a ugh that held no humor, the sound startling a flock of crimson-winged birds from the nearby trees. "You call this training?" He spread his arms wide, the fading light catching on the fresh scars crisscrossing his forearms like a roadmap of pain. "Hauling logs like some common borer? The great 'Skywalker' trained you like this? Bullshit!" Spittle flew from his cracked lips, glistening in the dying light.
The insult hung in the humid air, thick with the scent of crushed grass and the metallic tang of old blood from their various scrapes and cuts. Qin Hong exhaled slowly through his nose, catching the mingled scents of sweat, iron-rich soil, and the distant salt tang from Hedel's unseen shores. "It's the same training I received," he said simply, adjusting his gsses with deliberate calm. "Leave if you want."
As Jack stormed toward the treeline, his shadow stretching grotesquely long across the clearing, Qin Hong watched the sun's st rays dip below the canopy, painting the undersides of the leaves in fiery hues. The evening chorus of insects began to rise around them, a rhythmic chirping that underscored his words. "That's enough for today," he announced to the remaining recruits, their faces painted gold and violet by twilight, their expressions a mix of relief and lingering tension.
The forest swallowed Qin Hong whole as he pursued Jack's trail, the temperature dropping noticeably beneath the dense canopy. The air here was cooler, thick with the cloying perfume of night-blooming vines and something muskier - the primal scent of Hedel's predators that set his nerves on edge. His boots sank slightly into the loam with each step, leaving temporary impressions that would vanish by morning, the rich smell of decaying leaves rising with each footfall.
"You're going after him?" Hill's voice materialized from the shadows as soft as wind through leaves, though her sudden appearance would have startled a lesser man. When Qin Hong didn't stop, she fell into step beside him, her movements eerily silent compared to his purposeful strides, her pale skin almost glowing in the dim light.
"Don't want to expin a dead recruit," Qin Hong muttered, his eyes scanning the darkening undergrowth where strange fungi pulsed with faint bioluminescence. Somewhere nearby, the distinctive chittering of carrion mantises set his teeth on edge, their clicking mandibles audible even over the forest sounds.
Hill tilted her head, moonlight catching in her pale eyes and turning them to liquid silver. "Why only physical training?" she asked, her voice barely above a whisper. "When do we learn to use our abilities?" Her fingers flexed unconsciously, as if already imagining the power she might wield.
Qin Hong opened his mouth to expin - how absolute domains demanded ironcd stamina, how the body was the crucible that contained power - when a thunderous crash echoed through the trees, sending a flock of startled birds exploding into the sky. The sharp scent of splintered wood and something coppery flooded his nostrils, overriding all other smells.
They burst into a clearing to find Jack locked in mortal combat with a frenzied titan ape. The beast stood three meters tall, its matted fur stiff with dried blood and sap that gave it the appearance of some primitive war idol. Each of its ragged breaths came with a wet, rattling sound that spoke of damaged lungs, its yellowed tusks gleaming dully in the moonlight. Jack moved like a cornered animal, his own blood painting abstract patterns across the trampled grass with each desperate dodge, his bored breathing audible even over the ape's roars.
Hill tensed to intervene, her muscles coiling like springs, but Qin Hong's hand shot out to stop her, his grip firm but not painful. His mind raced back to his own awakening - the white-hot moment when death's breath had forced his domain into being, the way his blood had sung in his veins as power flooded through him. Sometimes the forge of battle yielded what peaceful training could not.
The titan ape reared back, its stench of rotting meat and infected wounds overwhelming as it prepared for a crushing leap. The ground trembled beneath its massive feet, sending small pebbles dancing across the forest floor. Jack stood frozen, his chest heaving, eyes wide with primal terror that made his pupils dite until they nearly swallowed the irises whole. Qin Hong's fingers twitched at his sides, blue sparks dancing between them, ready to strike if the moment turned truly fatal.
But in that suspended second before impact, something in Jack's posture shifted. His breathing steadied into a measured rhythm. His bleeding fists clenched until the knuckles stood out like white isnds in a sea of bruises and dirt. And the air around him began to shimmer with the first faint whispers of awakening power, distorting the moonlight like heat rising from desert sands.
