Chapter 75 – Trial by Fire
The air above the dunes shimmered like molten glass.
Wind slithered over the sand, dry as bone. Every grain seemed to hum under the weight of the thing buried beneath.
John stood at the valley's rim, coat snapping behind him, heat distorting his outline. The Desert Tyr-Tortuga stirred far below—a living fortress half buried in gold dust, its pyramid-shaped shell crusted with ancient runes. Each rune pulsed like a heartbeat, slow and heavy.
Tamara's voice came from behind him. "John, you don't have to prove anything."
He didn't turn. "I do."
"Then at least let us—"
He lifted one hand. "Stay back. I want to test my limits."
Blake barked a short laugh. "Your limits? That's a step 5 monster. You'll melt before you find them."
John glanced over his shoulder, a faint smirk cutting across his face. "Then we'll see which of us melts first."
Tamara opened her mouth again, but he was already walking down the slope—calm, unhurried, each step leaving a thin trail of glass where his boots touched the sand.
The Tortuga's eye cracked open, gold fire burning in its depths.
The wind stopped.
Then the desert roared.
The creature erupted from the dunes, sand cascading off its shell in waves. Its head rose like a moving cliff, jaws lined with teeth as long as swords. When it bellowed, the sound split the air; the dunes trembled like water.
John stopped ten paces from it. Ember crouched on his shoulder, flames flickering faintly.
"Let's see where your limits are," Alaric murmured inside his mind.
"Agreed."
The Tortuga lunged.
The ground cracked. A claw larger than a carriage came down where John stood. He leapt backward, boots igniting with controlled bursts of Light. The impact cratered the sand, hurling molten shards through the air.
John landed, one knee digging into the dune. A grin tugged at his mouth. "Slow."
He snapped his fingers. A spear of flame condensed from the air, swirling with streaks of white and crimson. He hurled it forward.
The spear struck the creature's neck and detonated. Fire rippled across the scales, briefly lighting the valley in amber. When the smoke cleared, a shallow burn scar glowed on its hide—but the Tortuga was still moving.
It turned its head toward him, eyes narrowing.
Then the shell began to glow.
Runes ignited in a pattern, spreading from the base upward like veins filling with magma.
Alaric's tone sharpened.
"It's channeling core essence. Careful, its shell reflects energy."
"Guess it's time to have some fun."
John dashed forward, heat streaming from his hands. He struck low, aiming for the legs where stone met flesh. Fire wrapped his fists—each blow leaving streaks of light across the creature's armored joints.
The Tortuga swatted at him. The claw's shadow swallowed him whole.
He dove sideways, rolled, and threw up a palm. A dome of Light expanded just as the claw slammed down. The shield cracked but held, sand exploding outward.
John slid across the dunes, panting. The shield shattered with a sound like glass breaking underwater.
He rolled, came up on one knee, blood on his lip—and laughed softly.
Tamara's voice carried faintly from afar. "He's laughing?"
Blake muttered, "Yeah. That's never a good sign."
"Still too slow," John muttered.
High above on the ridge, Blake shielded his eyes from the glare. "He's insane."
Tamara didn't answer. She watched every movement—jaw tight, blades half-drawn in case she had to move.
Vulgrat adjusted his monocle, eyes wide. "The beast's internal temperature is rising. It's storing energy—"
Below them, the creature's shell flared white.
"—for that," Vulgrat finished weakly.
The air turned blinding.
The Tortuga opened its mouth and released a beam of compressed heat. The blast vaporized everything in its path, fusing sand into rivers of glass.
John threw himself flat. The beam screamed overhead, missing by inches, the shockwave lifting him from the ground. He landed hard, rolling across the dune until he came to a stop beside a jagged ridge of obsidian.
He coughed, spitting grit. "Okay. That one counted."
"You're bleeding light faster than you think," Alaric warned.
"Then I better step it up a notch and finish this quickly."
Alaric sighed inside his mind. "Mortals and their poetry."
The creature came again.
John inhaled, closing his eyes for half a heartbeat. His aura compressed—light folding inward, focusing. When he opened his eyes, the world had slowed.
He sprinted forward, each step exploding into flame. The Tortuga's tail whipped toward him; he vaulted over it, the air bending around his momentum.
He landed on its foreleg and ran upward, gripping scales as thick as shields. The creature roared and twisted, trying to throw him off.
"Not this time," John growled.
He slammed his palm against the leg joint. A rune flared beneath his hand—his personal mark, carved of pure Light.
"Flameflow Burst!"
The rune detonated inward. The blast blew through the joint in a fountain of molten rock. The leg buckled, the Tortuga collapsing to one side.
Sand geysered outward.
John hit the ground in a crouch, skidding backward as debris rained around him. His aura dimmed, the edges of his vision hazing red.
Tamara's voice echoed faintly through the dust. "John! Enough! You proved your point!"
He didn't hear her. Or maybe he did, and just didn't care.
The Tortuga screamed again, but now the sound carried strain. Its movements were slower, uneven.
"It's weakening," Alaric noted.
"Good."
"Time to finish this."
John raised both hands.
"Looks like it's time to use our new move we worked on over the last few months." John looked at ember and muttered
The air around him warped, heat condensing until even the sunlight seemed to bend away. Flames spiraled upward, golden at the core and edged with violet. Ember leapt from his shoulder, circling above him like a comet.
Together, they moved.
The creature lifted its head to strike again—too late.
John charged straight through the haze, fire streaking behind him. He jumped, twisting midair, and drove both hands forward.
"Solar Fall!"
The attack landed square against the creature's forehead.
A shockwave of pure energy erupted, rippling across the valley. For a moment, the sky turned white. The runes on the shell flared one last time before dimming completely.
When the light faded, the Tortuga lay still.
The only sound was the hiss of cooling stone.
John stumbled forward, chest heaving. He stopped beside the beast's head. The skin there was cracked, still smoking, but not disintegrated.
He rested a hand on its shell. "Looks like this guys out of commission."
Alaric's voice was calm again.
"You held your core steady through the surge. No corruption. Impressive."
John exhaled, letting the flame withdraw into his chest. His aura dimmed to a faint shimmer. "Step Five feels good. There's so much power in my light now."
"That's because you are growing stronger."
He laughed quietly. "Barely."
Ember landed beside him, tail flicking, fur singed. John scratched the creature's chin. "Good work, partner."
The others finally descended from the ridge. Tamara reached him first, eyes scanning his burns. "You're lucky you didn't roast alive."
"I was careful."
Blake snorted. "Sure. You nearly boiled the desert. But yeah—'careful.'"
Vulgrat knelt beside the Tortuga's shell, running a hand over the dead runes. "These markings… they're ancient. The energy isn't dispersing—it's feeding back into the pyramid."
John frowned. "Back into—?"
The rune beneath his boots flickered.
The sand began to hum.
All around them, the valley's dunes started to sink, pulled toward the pyramid like water into a drain.
"Everybody back!" John shouted.
They turned to run, but the air warped—light bending, colors bleeding together. The pyramid pulsed once, twice, and then released a wave of gravity so strong it knocked them all to their knees.
Ember yowled, claws digging into John's shoulder.
"John!" Tamara reached for him, but her hand passed through him as if he were smoke.
Light swallowed the sky.
The world shattered into fragments.
John felt himself falling—not through air, but through essence, through raw energy that dragged at his bones and blurred the edges of his soul. Ember clung tighter, his warmth the only solid thing left.
Then everything stopped.
Silence.
He was lying on cold stone.
The scent of sand was gone, replaced by something older—dust, incense, and rot. Faint light leaked through carved cracks in the ceiling, illuminating symbols that crawled across the walls like veins of gold.
He sat up slowly. Ember jumped to the floor beside him, fur standing on end.
The runes on the walls blinked in sequence, like eyes opening.
"Welcome," Alaric whispered. "You've entered the pyramid."
John rose, every muscle aching. "Where are the others?"
"Scattered. The realm separated you. Each of them faces their own path now."
John clenched his jaw. "So it's a realm."
"Yes and no it's not a very big realm." A pause. "It's a a tomb. And you're not alone in here."
From deep within the corridor ahead came a sound—a slow dragging scrape, like bone over stone.
Ember growled low.
John flexed his hands. Light flickered to life across his knuckles. "Then let's start the next test."
He stepped forward into the dark.