James took another step toward Ava, anticipation gleaming in his eyes—
CRACK.
He froze.
The sound echoed—bones snapping, shifting, reforming.
His head whipped around.
And then—
He saw it.
Alden's battered body, moments ago broken and bleeding on the forest floor, was now glowing with ominous black embers. His limbs twitched. His skin mended. Cracks along his arms stitched back together with burning red veins.
And then… the mark appeared.
A serpentine symbol, etched in pulsing black flame, wrapped around his neck—a serpent devouring its own tail.
James choked, stumbling a step back. "No… That's impossible!"
Alden's eyes opened.
No longer the familiar brown.
Now they were pitch-black, glowing with unfathomable rage—a swirling storm of chaotic fire.
A screen pulsed in front of his vision.
---
[You have awakened: Flames of Chaos]
[These flames will not extinguish until you will them to. They consume all—even the world itself.]
---
Another message followed:
