---
The heat didn't just sting—it pressed. Every breath Oliver took seared his throat, every step felt like walking on a smoldering stove. He had spent ten years in this world, but nothing compared to Avernal.
Sorrel had been right: realms weren't like countries or continents. They were living environments, shaped and reshaped by rulers unseen. And this one burned with intent.
"Keep moving," Aether ordered, scanning the ridge ahead. His voice cut clean through the crackling of embers. "Standing still makes you a target."
The group climbed a jagged path of black stone. The trees glowed faintly to their left, molten sap dripping like candle wax from their trunks. Oliver kept close to Garrick, who was sweating bullets.
"Don't… look down," Garrick muttered.
Oliver looked down. Beneath the cliffside stretched a sea of lava, waves sloshing against the edges of stone. Bubbles the size of wagons burst, scattering glowing embers into the sky like fireworks.
"…Yeah," Oliver said quietly. "Not looking again."
---
Nico, meanwhile, strode ahead like a boy in a candy shop, tossing small bursts of flame from one hand to another. "Feel that? The Vita here is pure. Stronger than anything in our world. One deep breath and my veins feel like they're on fire—in a good way."
Fern, walking near the rear, wasn't smiling. She murmured to herself, brushing her fingers across the bark of a glowing tree. "…This place is sick. Even plants aren't meant to hold this much fire. It's eating them alive."
---
The first warning came as a sound.
A low, guttural growl that vibrated through the rocks beneath their boots. Then another.
Anne froze, her summon spirit flickering wildly. "Something's coming."
From the ridge above, shadows moved. Then they dropped.
Flame Hounds.
They were massive, their bodies built of molten stone and fire-veins that pulsed like beating hearts. Eyes glowing white, jaws dripping embers, claws sharp enough to cut obsidian. Four of them circled the group, heat rolling off them like furnaces.
"Positions!" Aether barked, swinging his broadsword forward.
---
The first lunged.
Oliver raised his sword instinctively, but the beast was faster, its jaws snapping toward his chest. Then—fwoosh—a jet of water blasted past him.
Sorrel, perched on Oliver's shoulder, his fur glowing faintly, had spat a surge of water Vita. The hound screeched as steam hissed from its chest, recoiling.
Oliver grinned. "Thanks, buddy."
"Don't mention it," Sorrel puffed, panting.
---
Nico was already laughing, flames curling up both his arms. "Finally, a fight worth having!" He launched a fireball straight into one of the hounds, but the beast absorbed it, body glowing hotter.
Nico's grin faltered. "…Okay. Maybe not like that."
---
Zack blurred into motion, his dark cloak making him a shadow among firelight. He slid under a snapping jaw, his dagger dragging across a hound's molten vein. It screeched, staggering as liquid fire splattered onto the ground.
---
Anne trembled but lifted her staff. Her summon spirit—the fox-shaped wisp—suddenly swelled, growing larger, flames of silver dancing along its body. It leapt at a hound, snapping its incorporeal jaws, distracting it long enough for Garrick to charge forward with his iron hammer.
"Gotcha!" Garrick yelled, slamming his weapon against the hound's leg. The creature stumbled, growling in fury.
---
Oliver swung his blade down, sparks flying as metal struck molten hide. The beast howled, staggered—and then Aether stepped in, his broadsword glowing faintly with reinforcement Vita.
One clean strike, and the hound split apart into embers that drifted into the sky.
The others faltered, sensing the shift. Then, one by one, they melted back into the shadows of Avernal, growls fading into the distance.
---
Silence followed, broken only by the crackle of molten sap dripping from trees. Everyone was breathing hard.
Anne collapsed onto her knees, clutching her staff. Garrick wiped sweat from his brow. Nico muttered something about "round two."
Oliver looked out at the horizon—at the endless firelit forest, the glowing rivers, the towers of obsidian rising in the distance.
"That," he said, still panting, "was just the welcome party."
And deep within Avernal, something much larger stirred.
---