Chapter 7: Echoes of the Void

Rael sat cross-legged atop the obsidian rock ledge that overlooked the vast Flameheart Valley. The wind whispered across the landscape, carrying with it the burnt scent of scorched steel and spiritual ash. The battle with the voidborn had ended yesterday, but the memory still burned in his blood.

His core pulsed steadily.

A golden flame spun gently within him—brighter, stronger, more compact than ever before. The advancement to Spiritual Warrior, Level 1 had opened new channels in his body. He could now sense energy pathways in the earth itself. Every step felt rooted. Every breath pulled more power than before.

But the victory was only the beginning.

Across from him, Instructor Vei stood, her cloak fluttering in the wind.

"You fought well, but you barely survived," she said flatly.

Rael opened his eyes, voice calm. "He was faster than anything I've ever seen."

"Because he wasn't from this world," Vei replied. "Voidborns are scouts, yes, but they are born from a realm outside natural order. Their energy is unstable, hungry. That one was weak. Imagine what a commander would be like."

Rael nodded slowly. "I need more speed."

Vei crouched and drew a symbol on the black stone with her finger. It glowed faintly.

"This is a movement rune. Memorize it. Then burn it into your lower back using focused flame."

Rael blinked. "A rune? On my body?"

"A temporary one," she answered. "It creates a burst-step when triggered. Not true teleportation, but enough to dodge or reposition in battle. We don't usually teach it to new Warriors. But you're no longer a typical case."

He leaned forward, studying the lines. The rune was shaped like a coiled arrow with lines pointing in four directions. It pulsed with a strange rhythm.

Vei stood. "You have one day. Tomorrow, you begin expedition duty."

Rael's eyes narrowed. "Expedition?"

She nodded.

"We're going to the Ruins of Skyfall."

---

The next morning, dawn arrived shrouded in ash-colored clouds. A squad of seven core members gathered at the sky-docks of Ember Sanctum. Wind howled over the cliff as spiritual transports floated nearby—sleek, blade-shaped vessels crafted from Spirit Iron and array stones.

Rael joined the group with quiet footsteps, his armor reinforced with fire-etched layers of defensive flamecloth. He had spent the entire night meditating and practicing the rune. Now, it was branded faintly along his spine, pulsing with fire energy.

Instructor Vei and Commander Aelric approached from behind.

"Listen well," Aelric said. "Skyfall was once a meteor impact site. Ten thousand years ago, it became one of the first flame-cultivator fortresses. It collapsed during the last purge and has been sealed for millennia."

"But three days ago," Vei continued, "energy readings spiked in that region. Forbidden fluctuations. Unstable rifts."

Rael's brows furrowed. "Voidborn?"

"We don't know yet," Aelric answered. "That's why you're going."

He pointed at Rael.

"You'll lead."

Some of the others flinched. Korin, the molten rock cultivator, stepped forward. "He's barely a Warrior."

"And the only one here who's resonated with the True Ember," Vei said sharply. "Do you question the flame?"

Korin took a step back. "No, Instructor."

Rael glanced at him, but said nothing.

The commander gestured. "Board."

The squad stepped onto the transport. The runes on its side flared, and the vessel rose into the air, leaving the platform behind as it sliced through the clouds like a silent flame.

---

Hours later, the sky had darkened. The clouds above the Skyfall Basin churned like a boiling sea. Streaks of red lightning crackled silently, and the ground below was a field of shattered stones and scorched pillars.

The transport hovered silently before lowering into the basin's edge.

Rael and his team disembarked.

The air was thick. Not just with spiritual pressure—but something else.

Wrongness.

Selene, the frost cultivator, shivered visibly. "The energy here is inverted…"

Rael crouched, touching the stone.

It was warm. But instead of heat flowing out—it seemed to flow inward.

Like the land itself was sucking in spiritual energy.

He stood. "We move in pairs. Narra and Selene on the left flank. Korin and I take point. The rest stay behind with long-range technique readiness."

They moved cautiously through the ruins.

Broken flame towers jutted from the ground. Old statues of fire deities lay crumbled. Spiritual formation circles glowed faintly beneath moss and ash.

And then they found it.

A massive crater at the center of the ruins.

Cracked glass spread from its edges—sign of a recent spatial impact.

Inside the crater hovered a sphere.

Black. Silent. Pulsing faintly.

Rael froze.

"Formation!" he shouted.

But it was too late.

The sphere cracked—

—and from within, three voidborn burst out, screeching with voices like shattering mirrors.

Rael activated his rune instantly.

Flash-Step!

He vanished from his position, reappearing above the first creature and striking downward with a blazing fist.

"Radiant Embers—Pierce!"

The blow cracked the voidborn's shoulder, but it spun mid-air and slashed across his ribs.

Rael grunted and fell back.

Meanwhile, Korin slammed into the second voidborn with molten fists, forcing it into the ground. But the third one—slimmer, faster—vanished in a blink and appeared beside Selene.

It slashed down with claws, but Narra intercepted with twin-bloom petals that wrapped around Selene's body like a shield.

The fight erupted into chaos.

Rael rolled to his feet and wiped blood from his side. His body burned, but he focused.

He called on the deeper flame in his core.

Not just golden.

But ashen.

The color changed in his hands.

His flames turned darker. He raised both arms.

"Heart of Ash—Cinder Chain!"

Two long whips of flame exploded outward, coiling around the first voidborn. The creature screeched and tried to escape—but the chains burned deeper, anchoring it to the ground.

Rael jumped, landing on its back, and plunged a flame-coated palm into its core.

The creature convulsed and exploded into dust.

He turned.

Korin was struggling. The second voidborn had wrapped around him like a shadow serpent, draining energy.

Rael leapt again, slamming his fist into the creature's side. "Get clear!"

Korin burst free, barely breathing.

Rael faced the beast.

"Radiant Embers—Scatterfall."

Dozens of motes exploded from his hand and struck the creature from every angle.

It shrieked, limbs flailing, before collapsing.

Rael's body shook.

He had burned nearly half his energy reserve.

But only one remained.

The fast one.

He turned just in time to see Selene fall, blood spraying.

Narra screamed.

Rael's vision narrowed.

He activated the rune again—Flash-Step!—and reappeared between the voidborn and Narra.

Too slow.

The creature slashed him across the shoulder, sending him flying.

He hit the ground hard.

For a moment, everything blurred.

Then—

A whisper in his mind.

"Let it burn deeper."

He growled and forced himself up.

His core pulsed wildly. Unstable. Burning too fast.

But he didn't care.

He raised both hands.

"Heart of Ash—Pulse Two!"

A wave of dark fire shot in all directions.

The voidborn staggered, caught in the blast.

Rael rushed forward and drove both fists into its chest.

It shrieked—

—and exploded.

Silence fell.

Rael collapsed to his knees.

Breathing hard.

But alive.

Korin limped over, wide-eyed. "That… was insane."

Rael looked up, his chest heaving.

"We're not done."

He pointed at the crater.

Inside, where the sphere had been, now floated a mark.

The same triangle-within-a-circle symbol seen on the first voidborn.

It pulsed once—and a shockwave exploded outward, knocking them all back.

Then it vanished.

Rael clenched his fists.

"The voidborn aren't just scouting."

"They're leaving beacons."

The squad lay scattered around the edge of the impact crater, the aftershock of the beacon still reverberating through the stone and spiritual mist. Dust clouded the air. Cracked pillars groaned and collapsed. The energy of the voidborn beacon had not only been violent—it had left something behind.

Rael's ears rang. His bones ached. But more than pain, what surged in his chest was urgency.

"We have to seal the crater," he shouted, dragging himself to his feet.

Selene groaned nearby, holding her ribs. "That thing… it carved a hole into the spirit veins. It wasn't just a battle—it was an anchor."

Narra nodded grimly. "They're not here to fight. They're here to prepare."

Rael's eyes flicked toward the floating mark that had since disappeared—but its energy still lingered like a stink in the air. The spiritual density in the area had dropped drastically. It was as if a leak had formed in the spiritual realm itself, like a wound in the planet.

He reached into his storage pouch and pulled out a sealing talisman: a Grade-2 Flame Lock.

"Korin," he said, his voice low but firm. "Lend me your fire."

Korin stepped forward, sweat trailing down his jaw. "You want to reinforce the seal?"

"Yes. My energy's burned low. But with both our cores, we can trap whatever crack they've opened before something worse comes through."

Korin nodded, extending his arm.

Their palms met.

Flame met flame—Rael's golden-ashen fire intertwining with Korin's molten magma aura. Together, they pressed their palms onto the talisman and activated it.

The talisman burst into the air, glowing bright red before descending slowly into the crater. As it reached the base, Rael and Korin chanted in sync.

"By will of flame and oath of earth, we bind the fracture, seal the source!"

BOOM!

A pillar of flame shot upward, forming a dome around the crater. Runes etched themselves into the ground, glowing as they locked the energy in place. The earth trembled for a moment… then stilled.

The rupture was sealed.

But the wound would not heal so easily.

---

Hours later, the squad sat beside the transport. Vei's voice echoed through a crystal orb in Rael's hand.

"A beacon?" she asked, voice tight.

Rael nodded. "Confirmed. Same symbol. Same resonance. They're trying to map the ley lines."

Vei cursed under her breath. "That explains the recent fluctuations across the Lunar Continent. You've done well. We'll send a reinforcement team to cleanse the entire basin, but your mission is complete."

Rael looked around at the injured faces of his team. "What now?"

"You return. And prepare."

"Prepare for what?" Narra asked from behind.

The voice from the orb was colder now. "If they're marking Earth's ley lines, they're preparing an invasion corridor. That was not a random scout mission. It was the first step of a siege."

Rael felt a chill crawl down his spine. "How long do we have?"

"We don't know," Vei said. "But the last time they did this… Earth lost seven continents."

Rael clenched his jaw. "Then we can't wait for them to strike again."

---

Back at Ember Sanctum, the team was welcomed as survivors. The news of the beacon was shared only with the high command, but whispers spread quickly. The Sanctum had seen countless battles over the centuries—but few could remember a time when the voidborn had marked territory.

Rael sat again on his stone platform, this time not in meditation, but in calculation.

He took out a map.

Not of the planet—but of the Moonlight Sector, one of the twelve planetary orbits surrounding Earth.

He circled the Skyfall Basin, then marked two other recent energy fluctuation zones.

A pattern was forming.

"Three points," he muttered. "Equidistant… forming a triangle."

He drew lines between them.

At the center… was Verdant Hollow—a long-forgotten spiritual canyon rumored to be where ancient gods once trained.

"That's where they'll come through."

He stood up.

He had no authority. He wasn't even an officer. But he had the fire.

And the vision.

If the voidborn were setting up an invasion, they'd open the corridor in the Hollow.

He would go there.

And he would close it before it opened.

---

Later that night, while most of the sanctum slept, Rael packed quietly. He slipped out of the central tower, cloaked his spiritual signature, and moved like a whisper down the hidden path behind the Ember Library.

Only one figure stood in his way.

Aelric.

"You're leaving," the commander said. It wasn't a question.

Rael nodded. "They'll come through Verdant Hollow. No one else has seen the pattern yet."

"I have," Aelric said simply.

Rael paused. "Then…?"

"I wanted to see if you'd go anyway." Aelric stepped aside. "Consider this your first unofficial assignment as a Flame Warden."

Rael's breath caught. That title—Warden—was given only to those who took flame beyond the Sanctum, acting as guardians of the world's outer territories.

"Thank you," he said quietly.

Aelric didn't smile. "If you die, no one will remember your name. If you succeed, you might just earn a seat at the War Table. Either way, don't fail."

Rael nodded once, then vanished into the night.

Toward Verdant Hollow.

Toward whatever waited in the dark.