The return to Oakhaven felt different than their first arrival. They were no longer three starving strays; they were a unit. Korg walked at the rear, his massive presence providing a physical anchor for the group, while Ria and Elara navigated the crowded streets with the weary confidence of veterans who had seen the bottom of the world and climbed back up.
Kaelen, however, was a storm held in a bottle. The purple ley-lines from the Shard-Stalker had faded into the iron-grey scales of his arm, but the cold lingered. He kept his limb wrapped, yet the oil-cloth now frosted over at the edges.
"Don't look at the Wardens," Ria muttered as they approached the Guild Hall's massive obsidian arches. "Keep your eyes on the counter. We turn in the Iron-Mine vouchers, take the gold, and fade into the shadows."
The Guild Hall was unusually quiet for midday. The usual roar of bickering mercenaries had been replaced by a tense, expectant hum. As the Ember Spark crossed the threshold, the sea of adventurers parted, but not out of respect. They were clearing a path for someone already standing at the center of the hall.
Lysa of the Gilded Lilies stood there, her indigo cloak pinned with a silver brooch in the shape of a blooming flower. Behind her stood the warrior Kaelen had blasted in the ravine, his shield now reinforced with gleaming mithril. Beside them was a new face: a man in gold-trimmed robes holding a scepter that pulsed with a rhythmic, scanning light.
"Back so soon?" Lysa asked, her voice carrying easily through the silent hall. "I must say, for a group of 'scavengers,' you certainly move with purpose."
"We're here for our bounty, Lysa," Ria said, stepping forward. She slammed the Iron-Mine vouchers onto the mahogany counter. "The Deep Pits are clear. The Union is back to work. Now, tell the Clerk to pay out so we can leave."
The Clerk behind the counter didn't reach for the gold. She looked at the man in the gold-trimmed robes.
"I'm afraid there's a discrepancy," the robed man said, his voice as dry as parchment. "I am High-Inquisitor Vane. The Gilded Lilies reported a Class-B anomaly in the Whisper Forest. An 'Unauthorized Channeler' using magic that does not register on the standard Echo-scales."
He turned his scepter toward Kaelen. The crystal atop the staff turned a violent, screaming violet.
"That arm, boy," Vane commanded. "Unwrap it."
"He took a curse from a Void-Leech saving a mine," Korg growled, stepping forward, his hand resting on the hilt of his heavy cleaver. "Since when does the Guild arrest people for being injured on the job?"
"Curse or not, the law is absolute," Vane countered. "If he harbors a Calamity-bond, he is property of the State for study and containment. Uncover the limb, or we will assist you."
Kaelen felt the dragon stir. Ignis wasn't growling this time; he was laughing. "THEY WANT TO SEE THE CINDER, ECHO. SHOW THEM HOW BRIGHT IT BURNS."
"Kaelen, don't," Elara whispered, reaching for his left hand.
"It's okay, El," Kaelen said, his voice sounding hollow. He looked at Lysa. She wasn't looking at him with the law in her eyes; she was looking at him with greed. She didn't want him arrested; she wanted him claimed.
Kaelen reached for the knots of the oil-cloth. With a slow, deliberate motion, he unwound the freezing fabric. As the cloth fell away, a collective gasp rippled through the hall.
The arm was no longer human. From shoulder to clawed fingertip, it was a masterpiece of gunmetal-grey scales, etched with glowing purple veins that seemed to draw the very light out of the room. The air around Kaelen began to shimmer—not with heat, but with a distortion that made the floor tiles look like they were underwater.
"Void-taint," Vane breathed, his eyes wide with horror. "Guards! Seize him!"
"Wait!" Lysa shouted, but the Guild Wardens were already moving, their Sun-Staves leveled.
Kaelen didn't wait for them to reach him. He remembered Korg's lesson on Momentum. He didn't try to cast fire. He didn't try to push. He pivoted on his heel, using the incredible mass of his iron-arm to swing his body in a tight circle.
"Vacuum... Collapse!"
He slammed his clawed hand into the stone floor at his feet. Instead of an explosion, there was a silent implosion. The "Iron-Echo" in the floor was sucked into his palm, creating a localized gravity well. The Wardens were jerked off their feet, pulled toward Kaelen by an invisible force.
At the same time, the scepter in Vane's hand shattered, its mana-crystal unable to withstand the sudden drain.
"Go!" Kaelen roared.
Ria didn't need to be told. She grabbed the bag of gold from the stunned Clerk's hand, while Korg used his shield like a snowplow to clear a path through the crowd. Elara cast a quick Blinding Flash, turning the room into a white void for a heartbeat.
They burst out of the Guild Hall and into the chaotic streets of Oakhaven.
"They'll shut the gates!" Ria yelled over the din of the market.
"Then we won't use the gates," Kaelen said, his violet-veined arm smoking as the air hit it.
They sprinted toward the industrial sector, where the massive mana-foundries bordered the city's western wall. Behind them, the bells of the Guild Hall began to toll—the signal for a "Calamity Pursuit."
"Korg! The wall!" Kaelen pointed toward a section of the masonry weakened by the heat of the foundries.
"I'm the tank, not a siege engine!" Korg bellowed, but he lowered his shoulder anyway.
Kaelen grabbed Korg's shoulder. He poured the "Expansion" heat he had stored from the mines into Korg's shield. For a second, the shield glowed like a fallen sun. When Korg hit the wall, the stone didn't just break; it detonated outward.
They tumbled through the hole, landing in the muddy moat outside Oakhaven. They didn't stop to look back at the burning city. They ran for the treeline, the sound of pursuit fading into the roar of the forest wind.
As they reached the safety of the shadows, Kaelen looked at his hand. The purple veins were pulsing faster now. He could feel the dragon's hunger returning, but it was sharper, more focused.
"We're fugitives now," Elara said, her voice trembling as she looked at the smoke rising from the city.
"Good," Kaelen said, his gold-and-violet eyes fixing on the road ahead. "I was getting tired of following their rules anyway. Ria, where's the next artifact?"
The Ember Spark was no longer a Company. They were an outlaw band, and the world was finally starting to realize that the dragon was awake.