The moment Jacob stepped through the vortex, a sensation like plunging into molten glass surged through his being. Yet he was not burned. Instead, the heat transformed into an ethereal pressure—weightless, yet all-consuming.
Then, the world changed. His feet touched solid ground, but not any stone he recognized. The floor beneath him was formed of pure flame—liquid fire hardened into glowing sigils that pulsed with terrifying rhythm.
Surrounding him was a coliseum of fire, vast and circular, its walls made of dancing pillars of eternal flame, rising so high they licked a sky of molten crimson.
In the sky above, blazing constellations shimmered, forming the Zodiac of Aries in perfect clarity.
Jacob's eyes compressed into two beams. He sensed danger for the first time after coming into the Ashen Mirage Desert. The fiery arena was too still, too precise.
At this moment, the silence was shattered by an ethereal voice.
"The Temple of the Blazing Flames has been opened!
