Snow Wastes of Tianran

Borderlands of the Eastern Spires, Tianran Wastes, Northern China

The sun had long vanished behind the black peaks of Tianran, and all that remained was a haunting glow of twilight that seemed to last forever. Snow fell in endless sheets, drifting sideways in the biting wind. It was the kind of cold that seeped past armor, past flesh, straight into bone.

Arjun adjusted the fur-lined mantle over his shoulders. His breath came in slow clouds, and the Phoenix sigil at his chest pulsed faintly beneath his robes, sensing something in the air. Danger, perhaps. Or something older.

Behind him, a caravan of elite riders made its way through the snow-laden path—Liu Meilin on her frost-white steed, Ayaka with her hood low, Tharaka seated atop a horned yak beast, and Miren bundled in enchanted cloths that hummed against the freezing winds. Kavi wasn't visible, but Arjun knew she was there—somewhere in the shadows, scouting ahead.

The mission was clear: find the exiled seer Rudraksha, uncover the truth of Arjun's soul-binding, and understand what ancient curse was entombed beneath Flamehold.

But the snow didn't just hinder vision—it seemed to whisper.

Three Days Earlier – Preparations Before Departure

Inside the royal stables, Liu Meilin cinched the straps on her mount while Ayaka stood nearby, examining a scroll of hand-drawn maps.

"This region is beyond any standard route. We'll be walking directly into a land that doesn't follow normal laws," Ayaka said quietly.

"You mean temporal distortion?" Liu asked.

"More than that," Ayaka replied. "I rode through Tianran during the Time Fracture War in my world… and when I returned, ten years had passed—though only a week had passed for me."

Liu narrowed her eyes. "You never told Arjun that."

Ayaka's silence was answer enough.

Miren entered, her brows furrowed. "The snow wastes weren't always dead. Tianran was once the resting place of the Jade Serpent, guardian of balance. But it was poisoned during the Abyssal Reign, thousands of years ago. Nothing natural remains there."

Liu glanced over. "You've grown fond of him, haven't you?"

Miren froze. Then looked away.

"I just don't want him to walk into something he can't come back from."

Now – Deep in the Wastes

Night fell quicker than expected. Arjun's group made camp within the hollow remains of an old monastery—its marble statues buried in ice, its monks long dead or forgotten. The fire they lit barely held against the cold. Still, they gathered around it, eating quietly.

Ayaka stirred a pot of snow-melted soup.

"We should reach the Shrine of Shards by tomorrow," she said.

"That's where Rudraksha was last seen?" Arjun asked.

Miren nodded. "According to the Abyssal scrolls—yes. But there's one problem."

Everyone looked up.

"He's no longer… human."

Arjun's gaze darkened. "What do you mean?"

"He performed a ritual of soul-fracturing," Miren explained. "To see across all futures, he broke his soul into seven pieces—each one placed in a different body scattered across the world. The one in Tianran… is the oldest fragment."

Ayaka frowned. "That kind of ritual… it's suicide."

"Not if he wanted to outlive time," Tharaka said quietly.

Kavi's voice spoke from the shadows behind a broken pillar. "Or if he was hiding from something."

Suddenly, a deep howling came from outside.

Liu stood immediately, hand on blade. "Wolves?"

"No," Tharaka said as he stepped forward, spear in hand. "That sound had purpose."

A second howl answered.

Then a third.

Miren paled. "Those are Frost Echoes. Spirits of those who died in the snow and never passed on. They guard this region from intruders."

"Guess they don't want guests," Kavi muttered.

Midnight – The Frost Echoes Attack

The wind howled like a banshee.

A white mist rolled into the monastery ruins, swallowing vision, swallowing sound. Arjun drew his blade, the Flame-Born Sword igniting in a slow flicker, as if reluctant to awaken fully.

Then they appeared—figures of ice and bone, hollow eyes glowing blue. Dozens of them, gliding forward soundlessly, weapons frozen to their skeletal arms.

"Protect the circle!" Arjun shouted.

Ayaka dashed forward with a flash, her cursed katana slicing through the first spirit—only for it to reform behind her.

"They can't be killed physically!" Miren yelled. "They're echoes of pain, bound by memory!"

"What the hell can kill them?" Kavi growled, hurling daggers that passed through harmlessly.

Tharaka planted his spear and began chanting in an ancient tongue. The air around him shimmered, then pulsed outward like a heartbeat.

The spirits reeled back—just slightly.

Arjun's hand moved instinctively to the scar on his chest. He could feel it burning. And then... a whisper.

"Burn not with fire—but with remembrance."

He stepped forward, raising the Flame-Born Sword, and then drove it deep into the earth.

The flame turned blue.

A wave of light rippled outward, and suddenly, memories surfaced in his mind—laughter in Flamehold as a child, his mother singing by candlelight, Liu's quiet fury, Tharaka's silent prayers.

The spirits halted.

Then, one by one, they bowed their heads and dissolved.

Silence fell again.

Arjun collapsed to one knee, gasping. The sword's light dimmed, but the whispers stopped.

Miren ran to him. "What did you do?"

"I remembered who I was," Arjun said hoarsely. "And they remembered, too."

Dawn – Arrival at the Shrine of Shards

The structure looked more like a wound in the mountain than a shrine. Obsidian pillars curved like ribs over a frozen stairway, and runes glowed faintly along the ice.

Rudraksha waited at the top.

Or what remained of him.

His form was wrapped in tattered crimson robes. His face was veiled in layers of frost, his voice like shattering glass.

"You seek truth," he said. "You seek salvation. But all you will find here is memory's judgment."

Arjun stepped forward. "What was sealed beneath Flamehold? What lives in my blood?"

Rudraksha's hands raised. His eyes ignited with purple flame.

"You were born not to wield the Flame—but to contain it. Your father… begged me to bind it to you. Because it was waking too early."

Arjun's heart dropped. "You mean…?"

"The Flame-Born Sword is not a gift. It is a prison key."

The group froze.

"You are the lock," Rudraksha said softly. "And the Abyss watches, always."

Arjun's knees gave way.

Liu caught him, eyes wide with shock. "This… can't be."

Tharaka whispered a prayer. Miren stared at the shrine's symbols, realization dawning.

Ayaka stepped forward. "Then tell us—how do we unbind it?"

Rudraksha's eyes turned skyward. "You don't. You can only choose… whether to be the vessel that contains it—or the spark that lets it loose."

Final Scene – That Night

Arjun sat alone at the edge of the cliff, staring at the stars. The wind was gentler here.

Liu approached quietly, kneeling beside him.

"You okay?"

"I don't know," he said truthfully. "Everything I thought I was… everything I fought for… now feels like it wasn't mine."

Liu placed a hand on his. "Maybe it wasn't. But what you've built—what we're building—is."

He looked at her, eyes clouded with guilt.

"Even if I'm a time bomb?"

She smiled faintly. "Then we'll defuse you. Together."

In the distance, the ice cracked. Something deep beneath the mountain stirred.