As Xian Shun stood on the edge of Dragon Heart Soul City, gazing into the vast, untamed wilderness beyond, a strange and unnerving sensation began to ripple through him. His connection to the Wind and Water elements, usually calm and steady like a silent companion, flared to life with startling intensity. The air around him shifted, and Xian Shun felt a sudden rush, as if the wind itself had begun to breathe—quickly, urgently, violently. At the same time, a pulse, rhythmic and heavy, pounded through his body, surging with the force of a mighty river. His bond with Water trembled, unstable, and a deep, ancient instinct warned him: something was not right.
The feeling wasn't just unnatural—it was otherworldly, like a shadow looming beyond his perception, bending the elements to its will. Xian Shun's instincts roared in alarm, and he braced himself, but the world around him gave no answers, no explanation for the upheaval in the elements. Then, as he tried to steady his breaths, a massive gust of wind erupted from nowhere. It was not a breeze or even a storm. It was a force, raw and unrelenting, slamming into him with the fury of a thunderclap. The wind howled with a strange voice, a primal scream, carrying a warning or a summons that Xian Shun could neither understand nor resist.
The force hit him like a hammer, and Xian Shun stumbled back, his feet skidding over the ground. He barely had time to react before he felt himself being shoved toward the city's protective boundary, an invisible barrier that hummed with energy, sheltering Dragon Heart Soul City from the wilds beyond. His heart thundered in his chest. He tried to fight against the wind, pushing back with every ounce of strength he could muster, but it was a losing battle. The wind was relentless, pressing against him, testing his strength and will, threatening to cast him out into the unknown where ferocious, untamed beasts roamed and the law of survival was unforgiving.
Desperate to hold his ground, he reached out, fingers grasping for anything solid, and his hand found the thick trunk of a nearby tree. He clung to it, the bark rough against his palms, grounding him amidst the chaos. But the wind was merciless, a torrent determined to tear him away. His robes whipped violently around him, and his fingers dug into the bark, his arms straining under the immense force that sought to push him past the edge of safety.
Inside, the Water element surged, crashing like waves, pounding with the force of a river breaking free. His connection to Wind and Water, his rare and precious gifts, were being shaken, rattling as though they were alive and resisting an unknown enemy. The power in him trembled, spiraling out of control, but he fought to hold his ground, his breaths coming in short, harsh bursts.
"What… what is this?" he gasped, gritting his teeth as he clung to the tree with all his might. He had faced difficult training before, his body and mind tested to their limits, but this was different. This was raw, untamed fury, and he could feel it not only in the air but within himself, as though his own elements were conspiring to push him over the edge.
For a moment, he felt his grip weaken, his fingers slipping. The world tilted, and he was nearly torn free. Panic flared within him, but he forced himself to stay focused, to hold on. He tightened his grip, his fingers digging deeper into the bark, his arms burning as he strained against the relentless gale. The wind screamed in his ears, and the chaos inside him surged higher, the elements he wielded rebelling, as though he were merely a vessel for their fury.
A sudden roar echoed through the wind, distant but unmistakable—a sound ancient and powerful, like the call of something that had slumbered for centuries but was now fully awake. The sound reverberated through him, and he knew, deep down, that this was no ordinary beast. This was something else, something primal, with strength and malice far beyond anything he had ever encountered.
And then, the wind intensified, slamming into him with renewed force. For the first time in his life, Xian Shun felt small, powerless against the onslaught. His grip on the tree faltered, and as he desperately tried to regain it, he realized the truth: he couldn't resist this force. It was too strong, too relentless.
With a final, devastating surge, the wind tore him free from his hold. Xian Shun's fingers slipped from the tree, and before he could brace himself, he was flung through the air, hurtling toward the edge of the city's barrier. Time seemed to slow as he tumbled through space, the world a blur of motion and chaos. His heart raced, panic rising as he saw the ground rushing toward him, but he was utterly powerless to stop it. The wind was a force of its own, and he was at its mercy.
He barely had time to realize he was crossing the barrier, and then, the wind around him shifted again, growing sharper, more intense. He felt as though he were being pulled toward something—something that defied understanding. And then, as he watched, the impossible happened.
The sky itself cracked.
Before him, reality splintered, a jagged tear slicing through the air like shattered glass. Xian Shun's eyes widened in shock, his heart freezing in his chest. The crack seemed to pulse with a darkness that was not just an absence of light but an abyss, a void that swallowed all sense of space and time. He didn't know what he was seeing—he hadn't thought it was possible for space itself to break. And yet, there it was, a tear in the very fabric of the world, widening as he was drawn toward it.
The air around him trembled, the edges of the crack vibrating with a strange, terrifying energy. And in an instant, Xian Shun was pulled forward, drawn into the darkness by a force he couldn't hope to resist. His body felt weightless, his senses twisting as he was dragged into the void. He tried to scream, but his voice was lost, drowned in the silence of the darkness that surrounded him.
The world warped, colors blending and shifting into shadows, until only blackness remained. Xian Shun's thoughts spiraled, and he struggled to understand, to grasp anything that would make sense of this surreal descent. But the more he tried, the more he felt his consciousness slipping, fading into the endless dark.
Then, just as he felt himself completely consumed by the void, he heard it—a whisper, faint but powerful, resonating from deep within the abyss. It was a sound that stirred something ancient within him, a sound that filled him with both fear and an indescribable thrill. It was a voice, calling to him from the depths of the darkness, as though reaching out across space and time.
And then, everything went silent.
Xian Shun floated in the emptiness, his senses fading, his thoughts slipping away like sand through his fingers. He was falling, deeper and deeper, into a darkness that felt as though it had no end.