The storm swallowed them whole.
Eldrin stumbled after Liora through the howling winds, Rivenn's warped helmet clutched to his chest like a talisman. Snowflakes hissed against his skin, evaporating where the sigils glowed faintly beneath his tattered sleeves. Ahead, the scholar moved with unnatural grace, her robes untouched by the tempest.
She glanced back once, her emerald eyes glinting like shards of cursed glass. Keep up, *Chaos Child*,"she called, her voice slicing through the gale. The Blackthorns dont appreciate tardiness."
They crested a ridge, and Eldrin froze.
Below, nestled in a valley shielded by jagged rock formations, hovered a bronze-hulled airship. Its bloated silhouette loomed against the blizzard, propellers whirring silently despite the storm. Glyphs etched into its hull pulsed with a sickly green light*titanic runes*, Eldrin realized, though their meaning eluded him. Liora smirked at his awe.
The *Eclipse Chaser*.A relic from an age when Titans still walked this land. Now, it serves a higher purpose."
Yours?"Eldrin rasped, his throat raw from silence-powder residue,
Ours,"she corrected, descending the slope.
The airship's medical bay reeked of antiseptic herbs and ozone. Eldrin lay strapped to a steel gurney, his wrists bound by glowingrestraints. Above him, Liora hummed an eerie tune as she worked, her fingers dancing over surgical tools forged from crystallized energy. A blade of pure source-shard light hovered above his chest; its edge humming inches from his flesh.
Relax,"she said without looking up. If I wanted you dead, I'd have let the Blackthorns turn you into a pincushion."
Eldrin flinched as the blade plunged into his sternum. But there was no painonly a cold, invasive pressure as it peeled back layers of skin and muscle, revealing the lattice of sigils writhing beneath. Liora leaned closer, her breath fogging the air. Fascinating.
Your chaos veins align perfectly with the Titan core's resonance. A curse, yesbut also a *key*."
To what?"Eldrin growled, straining against the restraints.
She ignored him, prodding the sigils with a needle-thin instrument. Tell me, boywhen the power surges, do you hear them? The whispers from the*Nexus*?"
He stiffened. *Voices in the storm. A chorus of hunger and rage..
Liora's smile sharpened. Ah. You do."
Suddenly, the sigils flared. Eldrin arched off the gurney as fire scorched his veinsnot the cleansing burn of flame, but the oily, suffocating heat of*chaos*. The restraints shattered. Liora stumbled back, her dagger clattering to the floor as Eldrin's hands ignited with liquid shadow.
*Control it!*"she snapped, her composure cracking. Unless you want to sink this ship into the Void!"
Eldrin gritted his teeth, clawing at the torrent raging inside him. The flames receded, leaving his skin blistered and smoking. Liora exhaled sharply, adjusting her cracked spectacles. Adequate. For a novice."
What-*am* I?"he whispered, staring at his trembling hands.
She tilted her head. The question is *what will you become?*"
Liora led him to the ship's observation deck, where a holographic map of Sylvania flickered above a central console. Seven pulsating nodes marked the continentseach a shardof the shattered Titan core. Two glowed crimsons, their light seeping like infected wounds.
Ophira holds two,"Liora said, tracing the corrupted nodes. The third lies buried in the Sunken Spire. The fourth" She paused as Eldrin's sigils flared in response to the map. Ah. It seems the shards *recognize* you."
Eldrin gripped the consoles edge. Why? What does Ophira want with them?"
To become a god," Liora replied flatly. The core's power could reshape realityerase the scars of the Titan War, or drown this world in eternal chaos. Your dear sister isnt picky."
*Sister. * The word struck him like a physical blow. Youre lying,"
"Am I?"Liora flicked her wrist, and the hologram shifted to show a woman with raven hair and eyes like smoldering coals. Ophira stood atop a mountain of rubble; her armor fused with source-shard crystals. At her feet knelt a figure*Riven*, his face bloodied but defiant.
No"Eldrin lunged at the image, but it dissolved into static.
A memory,"Liora said softly. One of many she's stolen."
Before Eldrin could respond, alarms blared. The hologram flickered, revealing a village under siegeBlackthornsoldiers torching homes, their source-shard weapons carving through fleeing civilians.
Eldrin's sigils ignited, mirroring the carnage.
Theyre close,"Liora muttered, her own wrist glowing with a twisted sigil. An d theyve brought friends."
The *Eclipse Chaser* shuddered as projectiles slammed into its hull. Eldrin staggered to a viewport, his breath fogging the glass. Below, the storm had cleared enough to reveal a burning hamletand the Blackthorn battalion surrounding it.
We can help them,"he said, turning to Liora.
She laughedasound like breaking ice. With what? Your *parlor tricks*? You couldt even save your village."
The words are cut deeper than any blade. Eldrin's fists clenched. Then teach me. If Im this key,' show me how to *use* it!"
Liora studied him, then sighed. Very well."In one fluid motion, she seized his wrist and slashed it with her crystalline dagger. Blood welled, blackened by chaos energy. Before Eldrin could react, she pressed her lips to the wound.
Fire eruptednot in his veins, but in his *mind*. Visions assailed him: A labyrinth of Titan ruins. A spire drowning in molten gold. A throne of source-shards, waiting.
When the vision faded, Liora stood before him, her lips-stained crimson. A blood pact. Every time you draw from the chaos, Ill know. Every shard you claim, I'l *own* a piece of."
Eldrin recoiled. Youte no scholar. Youte a *vulture*."
And youre a weapon," she retorted. One I intend to wield before Ophira does."
The ship lurched violently. Through the viewport, Eldrin saw the Sunken Spire's jagged peak piercing the cloudsand descending toward it, a mechanical monstrosity: A spider-like war machine, its eight legs clawing through the storm. At its helm sat a figure in a grease-stained coat, their goggles flashing as they launched a grappling hook toward the *Eclipse Chaser*,
Right on schedule,"Liora murmured. Meet Nimour resident genius. Try not to let her blow us all to ashes."
As the spider-mech latched onto the airship, Eldrin's sigils pulsed in tandem with the spire's distant glow. Somewhere in that ancient tomb, a shard whispered his nameand the chaos in his blood sang back.
Outside, the storm raged on. But deeper forces stirred, their hunger boundless, their design unfathomable.
The game had truly begun.