Chapter Title: Echoes in the Mountain Wind
THE FORBIDDEN ASCENT
The wind howled softly around the edge of the twilight mountain, its breath carrying a strange, rhythmic chant only the earth could understand. Mist slithered across the rocky steps, and above them, birds scattered like omens from a forgotten prayer.
At the edge of a high cliff, Sakamoto and Sir Varion stood beneath the fading blue sky.
Sir Varion held a talisman—a circular wooden disk carved with angular markings, a small skull symbol etched at its center. The wood was old, sacred. Threads of bone twine held it together.
Sakamoto furrowed his brow.
"So… tell me," he asked. "What do you mean by Shaman Hunters?"
Varion exhaled, eyes steady.
"They're an ancient tribe, my prince. Powerful. Isolated. Untouched by modern ideologies. They dwell in a concealed space removed from the known world—a spiritual plane between life and myth. The Anumari Clan."
Sakamoto blinked.
"Seriously?"
"Deadly serious," Varion replied. "They live in peace, but their power is rooted in sealing, communion with spirits, and ancestral dominion. With this talisman… we gain passage towards there locked space, we share a history haha ."
He knelt, placing the skull-marked wood on the ground. His hands glowed faintly as he channeled his Shen into it. The talisman pulsed, its runes lighting up in rhythmic flickers.
Vrrrmmmmm—SHRRRAAK!
The air tore open into a vertical portal, a glowing slit of golden mist and ancient symbols.
Varion stood and nodded.
"Come. We're not expected, but we have to go ."
Together, they stepped forward,only for gravity to vanish.
WHOOSH!
Darkness. Then freefall.
They plummeted not through air, but through a spiritual plane, tumbling through black voids sprinkled with glimmers of white light, like drifting through stars.
Suddenly—
BOOM!
Light broke through, and beneath them appeared an immense canyon, carved by time and legacy.
THE CITY OF SHAMANS
Sakamoto's breath caught in his throat.
They were descending into a breathtaking ancient city, carved directly into the cliffs. Golden terraces and stone steps spiraled upward in natural harmony with the mountain walls. Lush greenery grew between the structures—palms, vines, spirit trees.
At the heart of the canyon stood a massive, gleaming pyramid temple, its peak crowned by an enormous ceremonial bell, casting a long shadow over the land like a guardian spirit.
The temple's outer walls were lined with carvings of animals lions, eagles, wolves, serpents all with glowing stone eyes. The air itself felt alive, as though whispers from the dead lingered in the wind.
Sakamoto's eyes widened.
"What… is this place?"
Varion smiled.
"Welcome to the sacred grounds of the Anumari Clan."
They landed softly, feet brushing the mossy stone.
But before they could take another step, a shadow appeared in front of them.
THE MYSTIC SENTINEL
A man stood in their path casually, yet with impossible presence.
His face was painted red, geometric lines traced across his cheeks and forehead. His eyes glowed faintly beneath the markings, and ceremonial tattoos spiraled down his arms.
He wore a layered cloak of stitched hides and geometric patterns, draped with feathers, fur, and bones, and a long-stemmed pipe hung lazily from his mouth, emitting a trail of ghostly, wisp-like smoke. Runes glowed faintly on his belts and rings.
Every detail from the beads around his neck to the silent confidence in his posture spoke of a man who could speak to the dead and command the living.
"What the hell are you doing here, Varion?" he asked, not moving.
Varion chuckled.
"Cain. Been a long time, huh?"
Sakamoto blinked.
"You two know each other?"
"Oh, yeah," Varion replied. "We go way back. He almost killed me once."
Cain smirked but didn't laugh.
"What brings you into our sacred canyon, Varion?"
"War," Varion replied, eyes darkening. "And I need to see your Chief."
Cain's pipe shifted slightly. His spiritual aura thickened like fog before rain.
GREENLAND – FAINT EMBERS
Elsewhere far from the mystic sanctuaries of the Anumari Rajesh lay in a freezing hospital bed at the SUHA facility in Greenland.
Machines beeped. Oxygen hissed through a plastic mask. The once-proud Phoenix Bearer now looked fragile his skin dry and cracking, his flesh greying and shrinking.
Two SUHA doctors stood at his bedside.
"His vitals are collapsing," one whispered.
"His body's aging rapidly," the other said. "A side effect of losing his Phoenix Power. His spirit is dying with it."
In the silence, a nurse wiped the sweat from Rajesh's brow, unaware of the tear slowly slipping from his eye.
"…Blue flames… still burn in dreams," he whispered faintly.
UNKNOWN LOCATION – THE SLEEPING DEAD
In a cold, cavernous room carved of bone and black stone, Lord Arcade housed in the body of Draven stood at the center of a ceremonial platform surrounded by arcane symbols.
Beside him, Huey waited, hands behind his back.
Arcade's voice echoed.
"Huey. Is my body ready?"
"Yes, my lord," Huey replied. "Fully restored."
Arcade rose from the stone seat.
"Then it's time to bring my last piece back."
He clapped his hands once—a deafening, holy sound.
KRK-KRRRAAAKK!!
The ground cracked open.
Six wooden coffins rose violently from the stone, each engraved with seals and bound by chains of red talismans. Ancient energy leaked from their edges.
Arcade stepped forward.
"Before my death, I preserved you all… gave my word you would walk this world again although one coffin is missing sadly."
"My precious warlords… rulers of slaughter, champions of ruin."
The coffins burst with a surge of black Shen energy, the seals evaporating into dust as the lids flew off slamming to the floor with bone-rattling thuds.
The room trembled as shadows stirred from within.
Arcade smiled.
"Today… you return to me."