Awakening
The trembling in his legs was the first sign. A sudden failure, an inevitable collapse.
Fenix collapsed to his knees, gasping, feeling his body give in under an invisible weight.
"Fenix!" Ron's voice sounded alarmed, and in an instant, both he and Rhen knelt beside him, holding him before he could fall completely to the ground.
"He's burning up," murmured Rhen, frowning, noticing the scorching heat emanating from Fenix's skin. It was as if his blood was on the verge of boiling.
But Fenix barely heard them.
His mind was elsewhere.
The torches' flames flickered violently. The inscriptions on the walls burst into an intense red glow, casting ghostly shadows over the ancient stone.
The ground shook.
Not enough to make them lose their balance, but enough for them all to know something was awakening.
Fenix instinctively closed his eyes… and then he saw it.
A shadow engulfed in flames.
Tall, imposing, its eyes two burning embers in a sea of darkness.
Broken chains falling into the void.
The sound of metal tearing through the silence, an echo of liberation… or something far worse.
And a voice.
At first, just a whisper in the distance.
But then, it became a roar inside his head.
"RISE, FENIX"
Fenix choked on a scream, feeling a searing pain in his chest.
"COME TO ME."
The fire in the room flared violently, as if responding to the command.
Fenix gasped. His body refused to move, but his mind did.
He knew what he had to do.
He knew where he needed to go.
And so, without thinking, he began to move.
Ron and Rhen tried to hold him back, but the force driving him was not physical.
It was something deeper. Something far greater.
Fenix crawled across the stone floor, each movement heavier than the last, yet unstoppable.
The inscriptions flashed with every inch he advanced.
The torches roared, their flames rising as if the fire itself had come to life.
Closer.
And closer.
His body shook. His breathing was erratic.
But the voice called him.
And he could not ignore it.
Not now.
Not when he was so close to the truth.
Fenix kept moving forward, his body at the limit, each step heavier and more painful, but incapable of stopping.
And then, the torches changed.
The flames, once burning in a reddish glow, turned black.
Liquid shadows danced between the fire, writhing as if reality itself was being consumed.
The air grew heavier, denser.
And then, the circles appeared.
From the depths of the stone, two enormous glowing runic circles emerged from the floor.
One near the altar, a ring of energy vibrating, pulsing, like a living heartbeat. The other, surrounding the entire room, engraved into the ruins themselves, encasing the group in its eerie glow.
The ground shook.
The walls began to crack, dust and debris falling from above.
The sound was deafening.
And then, the lightning struck.
From the ceiling of the chamber, a thunderous bolt tore through the darkness.
A gigantic lightning bolt crashed directly onto the altar, a pillar of pure energy illuminating the chamber with a light impossible to look at.
The impact sent tremors through the entire mountain, shaking it to its core.
The ground fractured in multiple places.
Dust and stone whirled into the air, engulfing everything in a storm of chaos.
And then… the ceiling collapsed.
When the dust settled, a massive hole remained above them, revealing the night sky.
Five stars gleamed intensely through the opening.
But this was no ordinary light.
They were reacting.
As if they were watching.
As if they had been waiting for this.
Ron was the first to move.
"This isn't right!" he exclaimed, his eyes scanning the destruction around them.
"We have to get him out of here before this place comes down!"
Rhen looked around, his expression grim.
"And how do you plan to do that?! Fenix isn't even listening!"
Vanya gritted her teeth, her brow furrowed.
"We don't have time to argue. We either leave now or die here."
Ron looked at Fenix, who continued forward, completely indifferent to the chaos around him.
"Fenix!" he shouted, desperate.
No response.
Not even a hesitation.
It was as if he was in another world.
The altar trembled again.
The runic circles intensified their glow.
Vanya cursed under her breath.
"Damn it. Time's up."
"We're leaving!" Ron commanded, making the final decision.
The three retreated quickly toward the exit, dodging the debris that continued to fall around them.
And then, something appeared in the sky.
From the hole left by the lightning, a silhouette emerged.
It didn't descend.
It didn't fly.
It materialized.
A blackened body, without features, without flesh.
Surrounded by dark flames that devoured the light around it.
But its head…
It did not exist.
In its place, a black sun burned, radiating an impossible glow, a star of fire that gave no warmth—only an unbearable, terrifying cold.
The runes flared brighter, as if acknowledging its arrival.
The group stood frozen, staring at the scene in absolute horror.
But the figure did not look at them.
It did not acknowledge them.
It only walked toward Fenix.
Without effort, the figure extended a hand, and Fenix rose into the air.
Ron took a step forward, but Vanya stopped him.
"Don't do anything. We can't stop this."
Fenix's body slowly floated, hovering above the altar.
And then, with an almost ritualistic softness.
The figure placed him upon the black stone.
The altar accepted him.
And with that…
The entire temple roared in response.
Fenix lay motionless.
The chamber fell into complete silence.
The black sun, still suspended above him, raised both hands toward the sky.
With that single motion, the dark flames spread.
It was not a slow expansion.
It was not a calm fire.
The liquid shadows erupted like an uncontrollable flood, consuming everything in their path.
The runes on the ground extinguished one by one, suffocated by the absolute darkness.
The last remnants of light were torn away without mercy.
And then…
The fire reached them.
The flames moved faster than any of them could anticipate.
Ron, the closest to the altar, never even had the chance to react.
The shadows swallowed him whole.
In a single instant.
A single second.
His body disintegrated into ashes.
Without a scream.
Without resistance.
Without time to comprehend his death.
Ron ceased to exist.
The sound of burning flesh turning to dust.
The stench of ashes filling the air.
The weight of the inevitable.
Vanya and Rhen stood frozen, unable to comprehend what had just happened.
Ron was gone.
No body.
No bones.
Only… emptiness.
Terror gripped them like an unbreakable chain.
They couldn't fight.
There was no revenge to take.
There was no way to stop this.
There was only one option: escape.
Rhen was the first to move.
"Vanya, we have to go!" he shouted, but his voice felt distant, distorted, drowned out by the growing black fire.
The flames moved like starving beasts, seeking to consume them next.
Vanya trembled.
Her legs refused to move.
Fear.
Guilt.
Helplessness.
It all crushed her.
But she had to live.
Ron had been reduced to nothing in an instant.
If they hesitated…
They would share the same fate.
Finally, they turned and ran.
Without looking back.
Without saying goodbye.
Because if they did…
They wouldn't escape.
Their bodies moved on instinct, driven by raw survival.
Each step felt like running from death itself.
They burst out of the ruins, their lungs burning, their bodies trembling.
And that's when they noticed it.
The mist was gone.
The sky, once veiled by an unnatural fog, was now clear.
But the most unsettling thing…
The stars.
The five stars that had once formed a perfect pentagonal pattern... were now spinning.
Moving in circles, slowly, as if alive.
It was an impossible, unnatural sight.
Something had changed.
Something irreversible.
The world would never be the same again.
Vanya, still gasping for breath, lifted her gaze, trying to comprehend what she was seeing.
But Rhen never got the chance.
SHHK.
A sound too sharp.
Too precise.
And suddenly…
His head rolled across the ground.
A clean cut.
The blood erupted in a dark crimson arc, staining the mountain's black stone.
Rhen's head tumbled down the mountain, disappearing into the abyss.
Vanya froze.
Terror rooted her to the spot, paralyzing her completely.
Her breathing became erratic.
And then, she saw it.
There.
Standing before her.
A tall, slender silhouette, cloaked in darkness.
The fabric of its robes bled into the surrounding shadows.
In its hands—two curved scythes gleamed, reflecting the death they had just delivered.
The air grew heavier.
Vanya couldn't move.
She couldn't think.
She couldn't breathe.
The creature's unseen eyes locked onto her.
Cold.
Unfeeling.
Inevitable.
Death had come for her.
Her mind refused to process.
Her body refused to move.
She collapsed to her knees, powerless, empty.
And then…
She blinked.
And in that instant, she saw her own body… from a different perspective.
A headless corpse.
Her head had been severed—clean, effortless, perfect.
Vanya felt nothing.
Only emptiness.
Only darkness.
Her consciousness faded into the silent abyss of the mountain.