The assignment should have been routine.
Escort a supply caravan through the Ashline Pass. Low-grade threat zone. Minimal Astra usage authorized.
That alone made Raien uneasy.
He walked at the rear of the group, boots crunching over volcanic gravel, eyes scanning the jagged cliffs that rose like broken teeth on either side of the path. The air smelled wrong—sulfur mixed with something coppery.
Ahead, Mira moved with crisp precision, issuing quiet hand signals to the caravan guards. She hadn't looked back at Raien once since they set out.
To her right walked the third member of their unit.
Kael Thorn.
He was taller than Raien, darker-haired, his expression unreadable. He hadn't spoken a word since introductions—if the silent nod he'd given even counted as one.
"You always this chatty?" Raien muttered.
Kael didn't respond.
Mira shot Raien a warning glance. Focus.
They reached the narrowest stretch of the pass just as the wind died.
Silence pressed in.
Raien's chest tightened.
There, the voice murmured. Something's hunting.
Raien froze. Now you decide to help?
I decide when I'm amused, the presence replied. This will be… entertaining.
A scream tore through the air.
The lead guard vanished in a spray of blood as the ground erupted beneath him. A massive shape burst forth—obsidian-scaled, many-limbed, its jaw splitting wider than nature allowed.
"Astra beast!" Mira shouted. "Defensive formation!"
Too late.
The creature slammed into the caravan, shattering wood and stone alike. Guards scattered. One was flung screaming into the cliffside.
Raien's heart pounded.
Move, the voice urged. Let me stretch.
"No," Raien hissed aloud.
He ran forward anyway.
Mira struck first, Astra flaring blue-white as she formed a binding seal mid-motion. Bands of light wrapped around one of the beast's limbs—only to snap like thread.
"It's feeding on the ground's residual Astra!" she yelled. "We need to sever its core!"
Kael was already moving.
He slipped beneath the creature's reach, blades flashing, carving precise lines along its underbelly. Dark fluid spilled—but the beast only roared louder.
Raien skidded to a stop, heat flooding his veins.
They'll die, the voice said softly. Unless you stop pretending.
Raien looked at Mira—cornered, her Astra reserves already thinning.
He looked at Kael—one misstep from being crushed.
His hands shook.
"Fine," he whispered. "But not all of you."
The mark on his chest ignited.
Fire exploded outward—not wild this time, but coiled, shaped. A massive spectral form rose behind him: a serpentine silhouette wreathed in ash and flame, eyes like molten suns.
The Cinder Wyrm.
The beast froze.
So did everyone else.
Raien screamed as power tore through him, bones screaming in protest. He thrust his hands forward, and the Wyrm mirrored the motion—jaws snapping shut around the Astra beast's core.
The explosion lit the pass like dawn.
When the light faded, the creature was gone. Reduced to slag.
Raien collapsed to his knees, smoke curling from his skin.
Mira stared, breathless. "That… was forbidden."
Kael wiped his blades slowly, eyes never leaving Raien. "That wasn't Astra."
Raien laughed weakly. "Yeah. I was hoping you wouldn't notice."
Inside him, the presence sighed in satisfaction.
You always notice me eventually, it said. And next time… I won't wait to be invited.
Far above the Ashline Pass, unseen seals flared to life.
Someone was watching.