I could feel the Aetherflame burn inside me, scorching every corner of my core as it spread. My consciousness flickered, unable to hold on. It was as if I was being consumed by the flame itself. I heard Shaureen's frantic voice, but it felt distant, like she was calling to me from the other side of a deep ravine. I couldn't respond.
The world faded.
When I came to, I wasn't in the tent anymore.
I found myself standing in a strange place. A shallow layer of water stretched endlessly around me, reflecting the sky above—a sky partly cloudy, with soft, drifting clouds. The sun wasn't in the sky, though. It was half-buried in the ground ahead of me, its reflection in the water making it seem whole. It was bright, radiating heat, yet staring directly at it didn't hurt my eyes.
Just being here made me feel calm, like nothing could touch me. A part of me wanted to stay forever, to lose myself in this peaceful world. The tension in my body began to melt away.
But something tugged at my thoughts. Something was wrong. Why was I here? The memory of the Ignition Ceremony rushed back—the last thing I remembered was Elder Korai using the Aetherflame on me. The battle outside. The monsters.
I frowned, taking a slow, deliberate breath. So this is what the Ignition Ceremony is like...
I turned in place, scanning my surroundings for any sign of an exit or some kind of clue, but there was nothing. Just endless water and clouds. I remembered Elder Korai's warning: Don't force yourself awake. Panic wouldn't help me now. I had to be patient.
I started walking, the water rippling beneath my feet. Time felt strange here—it could've been minutes or hours, I couldn't tell. All I knew was that something was drawing me forward, pulling me toward the half-buried sun in the distance.
The air grew warmer the closer I got. The Aetherflame inside me flared, alongside with the sun's heat. It felt... like the energy was stirring, slowly awakening.
Then, far ahead, I saw something —a throne.
It stood alone in the vast expanse of water, carved from a single, massive slab of stone. Simple and unadorned, yet imposing. Cracks spread out from its base, as if the very ground beneath it had shattered under the weight of its presence.
I moved closer, but with every step, the pressure in the air grew heavier. My legs felt heavy, the air itself pressing down on me like an invisible hand. It got worse and worse as I got closer, but I tried to continue. I was still over two hundred steps away when I stopped, unable to move further.
Above me, the sky shimmered, and I caught a glimpse of something—eyes, vertical slits in the fabric of the sky. Five of them, lined up horizontally, the center one the largest, with the others growing smaller towards the edges. They weren't exactly eyes, but portals, openings to another dimension. Behind each slit, an orb resembling an iris floated, giving the illusion of a gaze fixed on the throne.
The moment I looked up at them, their gaze locked onto me, crushing me with the weight of their attention. A suffocating pressure closed in around me, like my very existence was being unraveled by their sight.
My breath hitched, and my vision blurred. I was being devoured by their gaze, as if the eyes themselves were pulling me apart, piece by piece. A cold, primal fear surged through me—one that went far beyond anything I had ever known.
---
I woke with a sharp gasp, back in the tent, my body drenched in sweat. I blinked, disoriented, the last remnants of the vision still clinging to the edges of my mind.
"Ashborn!" Shaureen's voice was right next to me, filled with panic. She knelt beside me, eyes wide. "You're awake—how? It hasn't even been half the time it was supposed to take! Why are you already awake?"
I groaned, sitting up slowly. My limbs felt heavy, as if they were weighed down by more than just exhaustion. "I don't know," I muttered, rubbing my eyes. "It just... happened." My head throbbed, and the memory of the throne and the eyes sent a shiver down my spine. I wasn't sure if it was a dream or something more.
Shaureen eyed me skeptically. "You said you're fine. Fine by your standards or normal standards?"
I managed a weak smile. "Mine."
"That's what I thought," she sighed, shaking her head. "Then you're definitely not fine. You have no idea what 'fine' even means."
"Does it really matter right now?" I asked, my voice heavy with frustration. "What's going on outside? The battle—"
"Don't worry," Shaureen cut in, her tone softening. "The main warriors came just in time. The elders are out there, along with our best fighters. Even the knights couldn't stand against them. The battle's almost over."
I felt a rush of relief, the tension in my chest easing a little. Maybe everything would be okay after all. For a moment, the idea of becoming a warrior didn't seem as bad. At least we were alive.
But then the ground shook beneath us.
A heavy, earth-shattering thud reverberated through the tent, followed by another. The sound was distant at first but growing louder with each tremor. Something massive was approaching.
Shaureen's face went pale, and she slowly rose to her feet, her body rigid with tension. I didn't need her to say anything—we both knew it wasn't over. Not yet.
We rushed outside, and the moment we stepped out into the open air, I saw it.
The creature towered over the village, its monstrous form cutting through the sky. It was unlike anything I had ever seen. Its skin was fleshy, stretched tight over pieces of bones, shaking with each step. A single, enormous eye glowed in its face, oozing malevolence. Dark, twisted antlers rose from its head, spiraling like a crown of a king.
But it wasn't just its size—it was the sheer presence of it. The weight it carried in the air, the way the ground seemed to quake under its footsteps. The thing was over 180 meters tall, blotting out the sky as it moved. Hundreds of knight like monsters surrounded it, shadows that darted in and out of the battle, cutting down warriors like they were nothing more than grass.
The creature moved with a grace that shouldn't have been possible for something so massive. It swung its grotesque sword, a twisted weapon made of bone and flesh, cutting through our warriors with terrifying ease. Each swing sent shockwaves through the ground, cracking the earth beneath its feet.
The warriors stood their ground, refusing to give an inch. Flames erupted, lighting up the battlefield like a second sun. Their power surged in waves of golden fire, hurling molten blasts that exploded against the monster's thick skin. Some struck with cold, precise blows, their silver blades gleaming like the moonlight, freezing everything they touched.
But the creature barely flinched.
I could hear the shouts of commands, warriors calling to one another as they
struggled to maintain formation. "Hold the line!" someone yelled, but there was no line left, it was already a massacre.
A group of warriors charged forward, their bodies flickering with shadow, moving like phantoms across the battlefield. One of them, a woman with a gleaming silver glaive, moved faster than the others, her weapon slicing through the air in a deadly arc. She aimed for the creature's legs, striking with enough force to sever a tree, but the blade barely left a scratch on its flesh.
The creature turned its massive eye toward her, as if noticing her for the first time. Its arm swung down, faster than should have been possible, and she barely managed to leap back in time, the ground splintering where she had stood just seconds before. The others weren't so lucky. Three of them were caught in the swing, their bodies crushed under the weight of its sword. They fell without a sound, their silver light flickering out like candles snuffed by the wind.
Some Solunar warriors roared in response, their powers flaring. One of the elders, a man with skin like bronze and eyes glowing with the light of the sun, raised his hands to the sky. "Together!" he bellowed, his voice echoing across the battlefield. "We strike together!"
A beam of pure sunlight shot from his outstretched palms, and the other Solunars followed suit, their flames converging into a massive wave of heat and light. The beam slammed into the creature's chest, the firestorm engulfing it entirely, and for a moment, it was as if the sun itself had descended onto the battlefield. The air rippled with heat, the sky turning red from the sheer intensity of their combined attack.
I held my breath, waiting for the creature to fall, for it to crumble under the force of the attack.
But when the flames cleared, it was still standing.
Its skin had blackened where the beam had struck, but the burns were already healing, the charred flesh peeling away to reveal fresh, unscathed muscle beneath. It let out a low, rumbling growl, the sound vibrating through the ground, and then it retaliated.
The creature swung its sword again, faster this time, its arm a blur of motion. The blade cleaved through the air, aiming directly for the Solunars who had launched the attack. They scattered, but not all of them were fast enough. I watched in horror as two of the Solunars-young, barely initiated-were caught in the blade's path. Their bodies crumpled to the ground, lifeless.
I looked at Shaureen next to me, Her grip tightened on her weapon as she stared at the destruction unfolding before us. The battle was becoming a massacre.
"We can't win this," she whispered, her voice trembling.
I didn't want to believe it, but I couldn't deny the truth. The creature was unstoppable. No matter how many attacks our warriors threw at it, it kept coming, relentless and unyielding.
The ground beneath us trembled again, and I turned just in time to see another wave of the dark knights charging toward us. These twisted creatures moved like shadows, their bodies almost looked incorporeal as they darted between the warriors. Their weapons, jagged and crude, cut through flesh and bone with sickening ease.
A group of warriors formed a defensive wall in front of us, their silver shields raised to block the oncoming assault. They stood firm as the knights crashed into them, the sound of metal clashing against metal ringing out across the battlefield. For a moment, they held.
Then, one by one, they began to fall.
The knights moved like a swarm, overwhelming the defenders with sheer numbers. Their attacks were brutal, their strikes landing with deadly precision. One Lunaris warrior dropped to her knees, her shield shattering under the weight of a knight's blow, and before she could recover, a blade pierced her chest. She gasped, blood spilling from her lips, and then crumpled to the ground, her silver glow fading.
Another one, a man wielding dual blades, managed to slice through one of the knights, severing its head from its body. But before he could even celebrate his victory, another knight appeared behind him, driving a sword through his back. He fell forward, his blood staining the ground beneath him.
The creature roared again, louder this time, as if feeding off the chaos and destruction around it. It raised its massive sword high into the air, and I realized, with a sinking feeling, that it was preparing for a final strike.
The remaining warriors gathered what strength they had left, their golden auras dimming from exhaustion, but still they raised their hands, preparing one last desperate attack. A Solunar elder, his body already bloodied from the earlier assault, staggered forward, summoning the last of his power. His eyes burned with the light of the sun, and he thrust his hands forward, sending a concentrated beam of sunlight directly at the creature's eye.
The beam hit its mark.
The creature let out an ear-piercing scream, its massive body reeling back as the beam bored into its eye, burning through its flesh. I felt a surge of hope, a flicker of belief that maybe, just maybe, we could turn the tide of this battle.
But the hope was short-lived.
The creature swiped its hand across its face, crushing the elder's beam as if it were nothing more than an irritating insect. Its eye, though injured, began to heal almost immediately, the charred flesh regenerating with terrifying speed. It turned its gaze toward the elder, and in a single motion, swung its sword. The elder didn't even have time to scream.
The blade sliced through him, his body collapsing into two broken halves, his golden light extinguished forever. The other warriors stared in horror, their last hope shattered before their eyes.
I could hear the panic spreading through the ranks, the murmurs of disbelief and fear. This monster wasn't just powerful-it was invincible. Nothing we did mattered. Nothing could stop it.
Shaureen's hand gripped mine, pulling me out of my daze. "Ashborn," she whispered, her voice shaking. "We have to get out of here. Now."
I wanted to move, to run, but my legs felt like they were made of stone. I couldn't tear my eyes away from the battlefield, from the blood-soaked ground, from the fallen warriors who had given everything- and for what? To die in vain?
I looked at the creature again, its singular eye glowing with malevolent power, its grotesque form towering over the village, and I knew.
We had lost.