The ridge still glowed from the veins of molten light when Ren stepped back from the crumbling body of the beast. Its molten blood hissed against the rocks, cooling into blackened shards. The silence that followed was heavy, almost too still, as though the land itself had paused to watch.

Ren exhaled, letting the shadows coil closer to his skin again, tighter and sharper than before. He kept his gaze fixed on the remains until the last flicker of fire in its cracked shell died out.

"You hesitate," Nyxa murmured, her voice cutting through the quiet. "Even after victory. Do you fear another strike?"

"I do not fear it," Ren said, scanning the broken ridge below. "I expect it."

Nyxa's laugh was low, edged with approval. "Then you are learning. Expectation is the shield of the living. Fear is the coffin of the weak."

Ren began to move again, stepping carefully along the ridge. The molten rivers below glowed brighter than before, shifting as though drawn toward some unseen point. Shadows thickened at the edges of the basin. The rhythm of the land had changed.

Nyxa went silent, but Ren could feel her attention sharpening within him. The stillness carried weight. The veins of fire were converging into the circle he had glimpsed earlier, and the smoke that rose from its lines had darkened. The basin pulsed like a wound that refused to heal.

Ren stopped at the ridge's edge and stared down into it. The carvings in the stone were clearer now, their jagged arcs no natural formation. They stretched outward like claws frozen mid-swipe, etched into the land by something vast and violent. The black smoke drifting upward did not rise as normal smoke would. It clung to the air, coiling slowly in place, as if reluctant to leave.

Nyxa's voice was softer this time, but colder still. "Now you see it without my whisper. The calamity does not sleep quietly. It feeds. Even the death of that beast was enough to rouse it."

The ground beneath Ren's feet quivered. Not the sudden rumble of the beast's charge, but a deep vibration, steady and patient. Something ancient was moving far below the surface.

Ren clenched his fists, the shadows flickering around him in uneven pulses. The forbidden land had tested him with its rhythm, had thrown its guardians at him, but this was different. This was not trial or resistance. This was hunger.

"The calamity," Ren said quietly.

Nyxa's response carried no laughter this time. "Yes. The first of many."

Ren's eyes lingered on the black circle below, the smoke still coiling against the molten light. For the first time since entering, the land felt less alive and more haunted, as if every step forward would bring him closer not to survival, but to awakening something that should never have been touched.

And still, he stepped forward. Smoke rose lazily, dark and heavy, carrying no scent yet pressing on his chest with the weight of unseen fire.

His shadows shifted nervously around his arms, restless in the silence. Nyxa, for once, said nothing.

Then a sound cut through the quiet. A slow, deliberate clap.

Ren's head snapped up. On the opposite cliff, a man stood framed against the glowing horizon. He was broad-shouldered, his dark hair streaked faintly with silver, his presence commanding without effort. Muscles carved by years of battle showed beneath plain robes marked with faint sigils. His eyes glimmered with an ancient calm, the gaze of one who had witnessed too much to be startled.

"Well done," the man said, his voice carrying easily across the distance. "You did not falter, and the land has taken your measure. Few reach this point with their mind and body intact."

Ren narrowed his eyes. "Who are you?"

The man smiled faintly and leapt from the far cliff. He landed with ease upon the ridge before Ren, the stone beneath his feet groaning under the weight but not breaking. His steps were measured as he closed the distance, and the shadows around Ren tensed of their own accord.

"You have seen the sign," the man continued, ignoring the question. He gestured toward the basin where the smoke still rose. "That mark is the scar of a calamity. It is not awake. Not yet. What you see now is nothing more than its echo, leaking through the cracks. But when the month turns, the echo will not be enough to contain it."

Ren's gaze returned to the circle below. "One month," he repeated quietly.

"Yes. You will have that time to prepare. This land does not forgive, and when it stirs, there will be no hiding." The man's tone was calm, matter of fact, yet each word carried the weight of certainty.

He turned from the basin and started walking up the ridge, motioning for Ren to follow. "Come. You have done enough for now. The land has tested you. The real trial will come soon, and you must step into it with more than raw endurance."

Ren hesitated, then released the tension in his shadows. He followed, his steps steady, though his gaze lingered once more on the black circle below.

The man glanced at him once, as though measuring his resolve. "Do not mistake surviving today for victory. The calamity is patient. It has been patient for centuries. One month is nothing to it. The question is whether one month will be enough for you."

★★★

They walked upward, the glow of molten rivers falling behind them. The air grew cooler, the oppressive hum of the land less suffocating with each step, yet the weight of the basin's shadow followed Ren like a second presence.

At the edge of the cliffs, where the stone opened into a path that wound back toward distant plains, the man paused. He rested his hand lightly on the rock and looked out at the horizon.

"The city waits. You will learn what you must there. For now, remember what you have seen. That was only the whisper of what is to come."

Ren said nothing. His shadows coiled quietly at his side, subdued but alert.

The man's eyes narrowed on the horizon, as though he saw something far beyond the molten rivers and endless cliffs. His voice dropped, low enough that it almost blended with the hum of the land.

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.