The path to the Obelisk was nothing like the wild jungles Ryan had crossed before. Here the land was scorched, the air heavy with heat and ash. Blackened trees jutted from the cracked ground like skeletal hands, and rivers of cooled lava wound their way through the valley. Even the wind seemed to hiss, carrying embers that glowed faintly in the twilight.
Kaelin's hand rested on her sword hilt as her eyes scanned the horizon. "This place reeks of old battles."
Lyra touched the ground, her amber aura flickering faintly. "Not battles. Trials. The earth remembers those who stood here… and those who fell."
Ryan's chest tightened. The shard burned hotter in his palm, guiding him forward as though it knew what awaited. He couldn't ignore the pull.
---
Elara's Fear
That night, as the group camped on the edge of the valley, Elara curled against Ryan, her small hands gripping his tunic tightly.
"You'll come back, right?" she whispered, eyes wide with worry.
Ryan brushed her hair back gently. "I promise, Elara. No matter what happens, I'll come back to you."
Her lip trembled. "That's what Mama said… before she didn't."
The words cut deeper than any blade. Ryan hugged her tightly, his heart heavy but resolute. "Then I'll prove your mama wrong. I'll fight, and I'll come back. For you."
From across the fire, Kaelin and Lyra watched in silence. For once, there was no rivalry in their eyes — only the quiet acknowledgment that Ryan wasn't just a fighter anymore. He was someone carrying the weight of lives, and that weight was shaping him.
---
The Guardian's Warning
At dawn, they reached the base of the Obelisk. The black stone pulsed with crimson veins, each beat sending tremors through the ground. As Ryan approached, a figure formed in the flames — not beast, not man, but a guardian of molten aura. Its voice was like grinding stone.
"Only those who would forge themselves anew may enter. Many seek strength. Few pay the cost."
Kaelin stepped forward instinctively, but the guardian's gaze locked onto Ryan.
"Not you, warrior. Not you, mage. The shard calls only him."
Ryan felt the weight of every gaze — Kaelin's firm, Lyra's worried, Elara's tearful. His heart pounded, but the shard's heat steadied him.
"I'll go," he said, voice steady despite the fear clawing at his chest.
The guardian's molten eyes narrowed. "Then prepare, shard-bearer. The forge awaits. What you enter as will burn away. What you leave as will be born anew."
The Obelisk's crimson veins blazed, and the air cracked with fire and light. Ryan stepped forward, the heat searing his skin, the weight of his promise to Elara heavy in his heart.
And with that step, the Obelisk swallowed him whole.