The Silent Expanse loomed above them, a monolithic temple suspended atop an inverted mountain, its spires piercing the heavens like spears of frozen starlight. Bridges of shimmering qi arced between its tiers, glowing faintly against the ash-gray sky. Li Tian's group stood at the base of the floating behemoth, their faces etched with exhaustion and awe. The air thrummed with ancient power, the Primal Core in Li Tian's chest pulsing in dissonant harmony with the temple's energy.
"How do we reach it?" Xia asked, her voice barely audible over the wind whipping across the barren plateau. Her healing qi flickered weakly around a gash on Goran's arm—a parting gift from the forest's illusions.
Li Tian's corrupted hand clenched, obsidian veins spiderwebbing up his forearm. "The Shrikes."
The Sky Shrikes circled overhead, their feathers glinting with residual Voidsteel reinforcement. Yan Mei whistled sharply, and the largest descended, its talons scraping the rocky ground.
"They'll never carry us all the way," Goran grunted, eyeing the temple's distant base. "That thing's leagues up. And look—" He pointed to flickering runes along the temple's underbelly. "Warding glyphs. Get too close, and we're ash."
Li Tian traced the glyphs with his star-flecked eye, the Primal Core translating their ancient script. *"Only the worthy may ascend."* "We'll need to trigger the ascent mechanism. There." He nodded to a crumbling stone altar half-buried in the plateau, its surface etched with the Magic Emperor's serpent-and-tower sigil.
---
**The Altar's Trial**
The altar radiated cold malice. Xia's qi recoiled as she approached. "It's… alive. Or was, once."
Li Tian pressed his corrupted palm to the sigil. Instantly, the ground trembled, and spectral chains erupted from the altar, binding his wrist. Visions flooded his mind—the Magic Emperor's final moments, his body dissolving into the Hollow Star's maw, the temple sealing itself with a scream of qi.
*"Prove your worth,"* a voice boomed, echoing the Emperor's despair.
"How?" Li Tian demanded.
*"Sacrifice."*
Yan Mei's dagger was at the chains in a heartbeat. "Let him go, or I carve this rock to gravel."
The altar's chains tightened, drawing blood. "Not him," the voice hissed. *"Her."*
A phantom blade materialized, aimed at Xia's heart.
---
**The Hollow Star's Whisper**
Li Tian's corruption flared, tendrils of shadow lashing at the chains. "No one dies today."
*"You cannot cheat fate, Little King,"* the Hollow Star crooned, its voice threading through the altar's command. *"She is weak. Her death buys passage."*
Xia stepped forward, her gaze steady. "Do it."
"*No.*" Li Tian's roar shattered the vision. Primal energy erupted from the Core, searing the chains to slag. The altar cracked, its sigil dimming as a bridge of light solidified between the plateau and the temple's lowest tier.
Goran whistled. "Guess we're worthy."
---
**The Ascent**
The bridge thrummed beneath their feet, its qi-imbued stones humming a discordant melody. Halfway up, the Shrikes screeched a warning—a flock of crystalline raptors dove from the temple's spires, their wings slicing the air like blades.
"Voidspawn!" Yan Mei hurled a dagger, shattering the lead raptor. "Eyes sharp!"
Goran's staff spun, deflecting talons, while Xia's qi shield repelled debris. Li Tian fought at the center, his corrupted arm absorbing raptor strikes, each impact deepening the cracks in his skin.
"They're herding us!" Goran shouted as the bridge narrowed, forcing them into single file. Ahead, the temple's gates yawned open, revealing a chamber bathed in sickly green light.
The raptors broke off abruptly, as if barred by an unseen force. The group staggered into the temple's antechamber, the gates slamming shut behind them.
---
**The Chamber of Echoes**
The chamber walls were lined with murals depicting the Magic Emperor's reign—his rise, his alliance with the Primal Core, and his eventual corruption. At the room's center stood a pedestal holding a fractured crystal, its shards hovering in a delicate balance.
Lira's voice echoed from the past, a memory triggered by the sight: *"Voidsteel's price is equilibrium. Break it, and you break yourself."*
Xia approached the crystal, her healer's instincts overriding caution. "It's a lock. The temple's heart is sealed."
Li Tian's corrupted hand reached out, drawn by the crystal's resonance with the Core. The shards realigned, forming a key. The floor shuddered, and a staircase spiraled upward, deeper into the temple.
"Stay close," Li Tian ordered, but his voice faltered. The Hollow Star's presence thickened here, its whispers a vise around his mind.
---
**The Guardian's Gambit**
The staircase opened into a vast observatory, its domed ceiling a map of constellations. Below, suspended in a cage of celestial energy, hovered a figure—a guardian clad in armor fused with Primal Core fragments. Its eyes snapped open, glowing void-black.
*"Turn back,"* it intoned, raising a blade of frozen starlight. *"This is a tomb, not a treasury."*
Goran lunged first, his staff meeting the guardian's blade in a shower of sparks. "We didn't come to loot!"
Yan Mei flanked, daggers probing for weaknesses. "We came to end this!"
The guardian's armor shifted, absorbing strikes. Xia's qi barriers deflected retaliatory blasts, but each impact drained her.
Li Tian stepped forward, the Core's light clashing with the guardian's. "Stand. Down."
The guardian hesitated, its hollow eyes reflecting Li Tian's corruption. *"You… are already lost."*
"Not yet." Li Tian's corrupted hand seized the guardian's blade. Primal energy surged, overloading the armor. The guardian dissolved, its essence absorbed by the Core.
The observatory's ceiling parted, revealing the temple's pinnacle—a throne of frozen flames, its apex pulsing with the Hollow Star's heartbeat.
---
**The Edge of Destiny**
The group stood at the threshold, the Hollow Star's voice a roar.
*"Kneel,"* it commanded, the throne's flames twisting into a skeletal hand. *"And I will spare them."*
Li Tian's corruption surged, his vision blurring. Xia gripped his arm, her qi a lifeline. "Remember the Bastion. Remember *us*."
He anchored himself to her voice, to Goran's grudging loyalty, to Yan Mei's sharp laughter. The Core's light flared, pushing back the void.
"We enter together," Li Tian said.
The throne's flames dimmed, a path materializing.
---