The landscape changed long before they reached the Rift.
Emberdeep, once a region of dry stone and howling heat, had begun to decay into something older—twisted. What once burned bright now simmered in silence, like the world had held its breath for too long and forgotten how to exhale.
Kael stood at the precipice of the rift.
It wasn't just a crater. It was a scar. A wound in the world where flame had once risen like a sun and then—without warning—collapsed. The terrain spiraled downward in uneven circles, scorched obsidian platforms descending into a chasm that shimmered with an unnatural crimson glow.
Drayke stood beside him, tossing a stone down.
No echo.
"Nothing," he muttered. "That deep, or that dead."
Zera adjusted her cloak, her eyes glowing faintly under the hood. "Tier-A Dungeon. Rift type. Most hunters avoid it for a reason. The aura here doesn't circulate—it pools. Which means what's waiting inside is hoarding everything it can."
Lyra stepped forward, already drawing her light veil. "Any chance it's dormant?"
Kael's hand moved to the Graveblade.
"No. It's waiting."
The group began their descent.
Layer One – The Scorched Stairs
The first tier greeted them with silence—oppressive and absolute. The only sound was the low, rhythmic thrum of molten aura pulsing deep below.
Pillars of blackened bone towered around them, charred remains of long-dead creatures fused into the very rock. Glyphs flickered across the walls, written in a language older than any hunter's record.
Zera ran her fingers across the nearest one. "Flame-Eater. That's what they called it. Not just a beast—an Eternal's enforcer. It absorbed aura like breath. That's why this place collapsed. It consumed too much."
Kael's eyes narrowed.
"Is it still down there?"
Zera met his gaze. "No. But something it left behind is."
Then the ground shifted.
Not like a quake—like breathing.
From the darkness ahead came the sound of chains dragging.
Kael stepped forward. "Form up."
Enemy Detected – Relic Warden: Blazehusk
A creature of scorched metal and warped armor emerged, towering with a molten face split by jagged cracks. It dragged two enormous gauntlets chained to its wrists—each embedded with runes that pulsed as if alive.
Its aura hit like a wave. Tier-A, maybe higher.
"Go!" Kael called.
Drayke charged left, fists igniting with Beast Flame. Lyra spread golden light, casting a radiant shield over the team. Zera vanished into smoke, already flanking the creature's blind side.
Kael darted forward, low and fast. The Graveblade roared in his hand.
"Burnout Dash."
Ash exploded beneath his feet, propelling him into the Warden's blind spot just as Drayke landed a heavy blow to its plated chest.
The creature staggered—but didn't fall.
It turned toward Kael and swung. The chained gauntlet missed by a breath, slamming into the stone and shattering the floor.
Kael leapt, flipped midair, and drove the Graveblade down—right into the exposed crack in the Blazehusk's helm.
"Soul Scorch."
A blast of black fire surged from the impact, igniting the inside of the creature's frame.
It screamed—but no voice came, only the shriek of aura tearing apart.
Then—
Silence.
The Blazehusk collapsed, chains clattering.
Kael stood over it, breathing hard. The Graveblade hummed, drawing in the last of the creature's aura. Ash coiled around Kael's shoulders like a mantle.
Drayke wiped blood from his lip, grinning. "You know, you're getting faster."
Kael glanced back. "You're just getting slower."
Drayke snorted. "Haaah... what a strong aura. You gonna say it or what?"
Kael just kept walking.
Layer Two – The Ember Spine
Deeper now.
The stone walls dripped with residual heat. Lava veins pulsed through the walls, casting everything in a dim red glow.
Zera whispered, "This next part isn't just physical. The Eternal sealed a memory here—a trial meant for those who seek its power."
Kael stopped. "Memory trial?"
Lyra stepped forward. "Isn't that unstable?"
"Yes," Zera replied. "And it will affect you."
Drayke cracked his neck. "Bring it."
They entered the chamber.
Instantly, Kael felt it—the weight of someone else's thoughts crashing into his own. The world shifted.
He stood on a battlefield again.
But not his.
Smoke. Screams. Fire. A city burning under the sky.
And at its center, a girl—no older than fifteen—screaming as she held a sword too large for her arms, facing down a monstrous beast of ember and horns.
She didn't run.
She didn't cry.
She charged.
Kael moved before he could think. Not because she was real—she wasn't—but because something in her reminded him of himself.
He caught the beast's claw mid-swing and drove the Graveblade forward.
The memory shattered.
Kael fell to his knees again, gasping.
Lyra steadied him. "Are you alright?"
Kael's eyes were still glowing faintly. "Who was she?"
Zera hesitated.
"Vaelorn's daughter."
At the Rift's Heart – The Emberwell
The final chamber burned with silent rage.
A lake of molten aura stretched beneath them, and at its center rose a shrine—cracked, scorched, forgotten.
Floating above it was a crystal core, pulsing with a heart-like rhythm.
Kael stepped forward.
Then it spoke.
Not in words, but in pressure, memory, fire.
"Will you bear the sin of flame?"
The voice wasn't Vaelorn.
It was hers.
The girl from the vision.
The crystal shattered.
And from its remains rose a new relic—The Ember Sigil. A crest of flame inscribed with forgotten runes. A Fragment Relic.
Kael reached out.
The moment his fingers touched it, his aura surged.
New Skill Unlocked: Ashen Domain – Phase I
"Engulf a mid-range radius in adaptive ashfire. Amplifies Kael's strength by 2x for 20 seconds. Enemies suffer aura suppression while inside the domain."
Lyra shielded her eyes as Kael's form ignited with swirling ash and flame.
Zera whispered, "He's beginning to awaken the Domain Class."
Drayke just grinned.
"Well, finally. Time to see what happens when a monster starts acting like a god."