The Unbound Zones were hostile by design.
Here, the Spirit Realm had never been stabilized. Energy surged without patterns. Gravity shifted erratically. Entire civilizations existed only as ruins—evidence of experiments abandoned or catastrophes survived by no one.
Kael stood alone on a fractured platform drifting through a sea of warped light.
"No welcoming committee," he muttered.
Ryn stretched, flames flickering along his tail. "This is the welcome. If you survive, you're invited to stay."
The Spirit Core pulsed—warning.
Kael's instincts flared.
He dove forward just as space behind him imploded.
A creature emerged—six-limbed, plated in bone and void crystal, its head split vertically by a glowing violet eye.
"Void-Touched Ravager," Ryn said grimly. "Tier Three. You should not be fighting this yet."
"Good to know!" Kael shouted as the beast lunged.
Its claw tore through the platform, sending shards spiraling into nothingness. Kael barely kept his footing as gravity reversed, slamming him upward.
He tried to summon flame—nothing.
Panic flared.
"You're forcing it!" Ryn barked. "Move first—feel the flow!"
Kael stopped thinking.
He listened.
The realm breathed. Energy curved. Momentum shifted.
Fire answered naturally.
His fist ignited—not wildly, but sharply.
Kael struck.
The impact cracked the beast's armor. The Ravager howled, staggering.
Kael pressed forward, adapting instinctively—dodging, striking, channeling fire into precise bursts. With a final blow, the creature tumbled into the void, dissolving into ash and fractured light.
Kael collapsed to one knee, chest heaving.
"I almost died."
Ryn grinned ferally. "You almost lived."
A slow clap echoed across the ruins.
Kael spun.
Five figures emerged from the shadows, their bodies carved with black sigils pulsing faintly.
Void Cultists.
Their leader—a pale woman with hollow eyes—smiled serenely.
"Magnificent," she said. "The Sovereign feels your resonance clearly now."
Kael clenched his fists as the Spirit Core roared in response.
"Run," Ryn whispered urgently. "You can't fight five trained vessels."
Kael didn't argue.
He turned—and the hunt began.
They chased him across shattered platforms, through collapsing gravity wells, past dormant titans embedded in stone. Kael learned as he ran—how to bend momentum, how to disguise his aura, how to move with chaos rather than against it.
He barely escaped.
Hours later, hidden within the ribs of a dead colossus, Kael collapsed.
His hands trembled.
"This isn't training anymore," he whispered.
Ryn's expression was uncharacteristically serious. "No. This is survival."
Far away, within a throne of endless darkness, the Void Sovereign shifted.
The hunt had begun.