Kai stood in silence as the last echo of the flame faded into his chest.
His breath slowed. His senses sharpened.
The world — for the first time — felt... connected.
He could hear the trees. The wind. Even the grief of the earth below his feet.
---
Ayaka stepped beside him. "You okay?"
Kai's eyes opened — glowing with crimson and gold.
> "I can feel everything... even the stars whisper."
Ren blinked. "That sounds like a good thing. Right?"
Kai didn't answer.
Because he heard something else, too.
A scream.
But not of pain — of warning.
---
Outside the temple, the sky had turned black.
Clouds didn't roll in. They snapped into place like broken glass.
From above, cracks formed — not lightning, but tears in the sky.
Ayaka gasped. "What… is that?"
From the largest crack, a figure slowly descended — cloaked in flowing white and gray, no feet, no face, just a mask made of bark and bone.
> "The Rootless," Kai whispered.
> "The ones the First One feared… the ones he banished beyond the sky."
---
The figure spoke without a mouth.
> "You have awoken the flame... and now, you must be pruned."
Ren raised his hand. "Yeah, we're so not letting that happen."
But Kai was frozen.
He'd seen this being before — in his visions. This wasn't a cultivator. This was a god-killer.
---
Kai stepped forward, fire pulsing around him.
> "I didn't come this far to bow."
The Rootless tilted its head.
> "Then burn."
With a shriek, it launched forward — faster than light.
And the battle began.