The terrain shifted as she approached the northern elevation.
Velmiren's corrupted jungle thinned into fractured stone ridges. The air temperature dropped rapidly, toxin particles crystallizing mid-air before shattering into shimmering dust. Icy formations pierced upward like frozen antennae transmitting silent distress signals to the sky.
Her boots adjusted automatically.
Surface Mode: Cryo-Stability Engaged.
Frost crackled beneath her steps.
Ahead, suspended within a spiraling cryo-storm, something pulsed in cold cyan light.
Artifact Signature Confirmed:Frostspire Fruit.
It hung from a lone frozen tree rooted into a jagged cliff face. The tree wasn't natural—it looked sculpted from compressed ice and metallic mineral veins, as if grown by design rather than by nature.
Around it—
Movement.
Three shapes emerged from the storm.
Frost wolves.
Their bodies were semi-translucent, internal skeletal structures glowing with blue energy channels. Vapor escaped their jaws in slow, controlled bursts. Their eyes locked onto her, scanning, calculating.
Guardians.
Not mindless beasts.
One stepped forward, claws scraping against ice.
Her HUD flickered.
Hostile Intent Probability: 82%
"Of course," she muttered.
The first wolf lunged.
Elaris reacted instantly—wings flaring wide as she vaulted backward, frost shards exploding where she'd stood seconds earlier. She launched upward, but the cryo-storm intensified, wind currents destabilizing her flight.
The wolves adapted.
One leapt mid-air, claws grazing her shoulder guard. Ice energy spread instantly across the metal plating, freezing part of her wing stabilizer.
Warning alarms flashed.
Mobility Compromised.
She twisted sharply and crashed onto a lower ridge, sliding across the frozen surface. Pain flared through her side as she slammed into a jagged ice formation.
For a second—
Her breath left her lungs.
The wolves circled.
The storm thickened.
She felt it again.
That faint distortion.
Like someone adjusting variables.
Nyvrix.
Testing environmental resistance.
"Not today," she growled.
She reached for the Bloodmoon core at her waist.
"Regenerative surge."
Crimson energy flared outward, melting the ice locking her stabilizer. The wound in her side sealed halfway—enough.
The wolves lunged together this time.
She didn't dodge.
She stepped forward.
Her wings snapped inward and then blasted outward with a concentrated pulse of blue kinetic energy. The shockwave disrupted the cryo-storm momentarily, throwing the wolves off balance.
One regained footing faster than expected and snapped at her arm—
She caught its jaw mid-air.
The contact sent a freezing surge up her limb—but she redirected power from her neural core, channeling controlled heat into her palm.
Ice cracked.
The wolf dissolved into vapor.
The remaining two hesitated.
Not fear.
Recalculation.
She launched forward through the thinning storm, using the ridge angles to propel herself upward. Snowbirds—small white-winged creatures hidden within the blizzard—darted around her, absorbing unstable frost currents and clearing a narrow path.
Even here.
The ecosystem resisted corruption.
She reached the frozen tree.
The Frostspire Fruit hovered just beyond reach, suspended in a rotating cryo-field barrier.
Her HUD scanned it rapidly.
Barrier Frequency: Oscillating.Weak Point: Core Pulse Delay – 1.7 seconds.
She timed her breath.
Waited.
Pulse.
She thrust her hand through the barrier exactly at the frequency dip.
Pain exploded across her fingers as ice energy attempted to lock her entire arm in place.
She clenched harder.
"Override!"
Her neural core surged. Blue and crimson energy collided along her veins, stabilizing her structure long enough—
She ripped the fruit free.
The storm collapsed instantly.
The remaining wolves dissolved into mist.
Silence fell over the ridge.
The Frostspire Fruit didn't feel alive like the Blossom.
It felt precise.
Engineered.
The moment she absorbed it, icy energy threaded through her internal systems.
Cryo-Field Generation: Unlocked.Defensive Barrier Protocol: Activated.
Her breathing steadied.
Two artifacts secured.
But something was wrong.
Too smooth.
Too structured.
She turned slowly.
The ridge behind her shimmered.
Not with frost.
With shadow.
Reality distorted—like a corrupted projection buffering into existence.
Dark fragments assembled in mid-air, forming a humanoid outline made of glitching black data-streams.
Not solid.
Not fully here.
Nyvrix.
His voice did not echo.
It layered in broken signals.
"Adaptive subject… exceeding baseline projections."
The air grew heavier.
Even the frost seemed to hesitate.
"You gather relics… believing they are weapons."
His fractured silhouette tilted its head.
"Have you considered… you are unlocking doors?"
Her wings tensed automatically.
"I don't fear doors," she said quietly.
The shadow flickered closer.
Just within striking range.
"Fear is inefficient," Nyvrix replied.
"Understanding… is fatal."
Suddenly—
The Frostspire energy inside her destabilized, reacting to his presence. Ice spread rapidly across the ridge again, cracking the ground beneath her feet.
He was influencing the artifact.
Not directly.
But remotely.
Testing control pathways.
"You are not the only one who can evolve, Starwing."
The shadow extended a fractured hand toward her wings.
For half a second—
Her systems froze.
Complete neural lag.
Her body refused to respond.
And in that frozen moment—
She felt it.
A glimpse.
Not words.
Not images.
A future probability.
Velmiren burning.
Lysira fallen.
Kael—
Bleeding.
The vision shattered.
Her neural core violently rebooted.
She staggered back, gasping.
Nyvrix's silhouette fractured.
"Continue your collection," he whispered."It will accelerate the inevitable."
Then—
He vanished.
The ridge returned to stillness.
Only the crimson moon remained above.
Elaris stood unmoving for several seconds.
Her pulse unsteady.
That wasn't intimidation.
That was calculation.
He wanted her to gather them.
Which meant—
The artifacts were more than tools.
They were keys.
To what?
Her HUD flickered again.
Final Artifact Signature: Deep Jungle Labyrinth.
Runestone energy.
Ancient.
Pre-corruption.
She closed her eyes briefly.
Kael's face flashed in her mind—the tension in his jaw when Lysira had spoken.
He wasn't cold.
He was preparing.
So was she.
She opened her eyes.
"Then let's see what door you're afraid of," she whispered.
And she leapt from the ridge—
Back toward the jungle.
Toward the final trial.