[Location: Somewhere deep in the Wounded Wastes — a dead land warped by Hollowborn corruption.]
The sky was bruised purple and torn black, clouds scuttling like insects across the heavens.
The wind shrieked over broken hills and valleys littered with the bones of a lost world.
Kaela pulled her coat tighter around her as the Genesis Core — cradled in a metal cradle at her side — pulsed faintly against her.
Arin scouted ahead, gun raised, sharp eyes wary.
Riven, quiet as a shadow, hovered beside them, her red eyes flickering with unease.
Even the air here tasted wrong, like spoiled meat and old copper.
They were all silent, walking until the ground changed.
The soil shifted from gray ash to obsidian stone, marked with ancient lines that glowed faintly blue, like dying veins.
They stopped at the threshold of a forgotten ruin: a vast crater where once something mighty had been buried — or born.
At its heart stood a broken spire of black rock, half-sunken, but thrumming with an energy that made the Genesis Core pulse harder, as if reaching out.
Kaela took a step forward.
And the whispering began.
It was not a voice.
It was many.
Soft, like silk brushing against her mind.
Urgent, terrified, mournful.
"The Spark..."
"Choose... choose... choose..."
"The Heart bleeds..."
Kaela staggered, clutching her head.
"Kaela!" Arin shouted, reaching for her.
But as he did — the ruins responded.
The broken spire shuddered and from the ground around it, shards of floating stone rose, circling the tower slowly like orbiting moons.
On each shard, ancient glyphs ignited, spilling phantom images into the air.
Scenes older than memory.
The Visions:
First Vision:
An earth untouched, lush and wild, a shining Genesis Core the size of a mountain pulsing at its heart.
A voice whispered:
"The First Breath — pure, unbound."
Second Vision:
Humanity building cities around it. Wars over it. Sacrifices offered. Technologies made and lost.
"The Heart, caged and bled."
Third Vision:
The coming of something alien.
A presence — dark beyond dark — slithering into the cracks of reality. The Genesis Core fracturing.
The birth of N'yrrhath.
"The Dreamer, stirred from the hollow between stars..."
Fourth Vision:
Three possible futures.
A chained world — bound by sacrifice.
A burning world — swallowed by nightmare.
A reborn world — alien, terrifying, and new.
The voices chanted in a crescendo:
"Chains, Ash, Stars! Chains, Ash, Stars! CHOOSE!"
Kaela gasped and fell to her knees, the Genesis Core in her pack vibrating like it might burst.
Riven knelt beside her, grabbing her shoulder. "Kaela! Stay with me!"
Arin stood protectively over both of them, weapon ready, scanning the swirling visions.
Kaela's mind swam. She could feel the weight of the decision pressing against her very soul.
It wasn't just about surviving anymore.
Not just about fighting monsters.
It was about deciding what the entire future would be.
The Physical Mark
Before the visions faded, a last miracle happened.
The hovering shards rained down around Kaela — but instead of shattering, they arranged themselves into a perfect circle around her.
One shard drifted lower than the rest, its surface rippling.
It branded her palm with a burning sigil — a spiral containing three paths.
Chains. Ash. Stars.
Kaela screamed — then it was over.
She collapsed, panting, as the ruins finally fell still.
The sky above still wept ash and darkness.
But Kaela knew:
From now on, everything she did would pull her closer to one of the three destinies.
And the world itself would bleed or be reborn by her hand.