The Obsidian Scar lived up to its foreboding name. Jagged spires of black, glassy rock pierced the hazy, crimson sky, casting long, sharp shadows that writhed and shifted in the unnatural light.
The air hung heavy with the scent of burnt energy and a faint, persistent whisper that seemed to emanate from the very ground beneath their feet.
"The Void signature here is unlike anything we've encountered," Lyra projected, her white lightblade already at the ready. "It's… fractured, volatile."
As they navigated through a narrow chasm between two obsidian peaks, a tremor shook the ground.
Cracks of crimson energy snaked across the glassy rock, and from the depths of a shadowed crevice, a figure emerged. It was humanoid in shape but its form was composed of jagged shards of obsidian, held together by flickering crimson energy.
Its eyes glowed with an inner, malevolent red light, and it moved with a jerky, scraping gait.
"A Shard Walker," Lyra warned, her grip tightening on her lightblade.
"A manifestation unique to this region, born from the lingering Void energies and the very rock itself. They are drawn to sources of spiritual energy."
The Shard Walker let out a grating, metallic screech and lunged towards Zephyr, its sharp obsidian limbs flailing. Zephyr, reacting instantly, unleashed a blast of pure Radiant Flow.
The orange energy struck the creature, causing some of its obsidian shards to crack and crumble, but it pressed on, seemingly unaffected by the pain.
Einar felt a strange resonance with the Shard Walker, a flicker of the Void within its core, but twisted and corrupted in a different way than the Nullsworn.
As the creature focused its malevolent gaze on him, the whispering in the air seemed to intensify, coalescing into fragmented thoughts that echoed the creature's raw aggression and pain.
He instinctively reached out with his Void sense, not to attack, but to understand. He sensed a core of intense suffering, a spirit bound to the fractured landscape.
Suddenly, a new presence made itself known. A figure shimmered into existence at the top of a nearby obsidian spire.
They were cloaked in shadows that seemed to absorb the crimson light, making it difficult to discern their features, but their presence radiated a powerful, controlled energy that was distinct from both the Radiant Flow and the raw Void.
They held a staff of polished black stone that pulsed with a soft, internal luminescence.
The cloaked figure observed the fight below with an unnerving stillness.
As the Shard Walker continued its relentless assault on Zephyr, the cloaked figure raised their staff, and the whispers in the air around them seemed to obey their silent command, swirling and intensifying around the struggling Shard Walker.
The crimson energy holding its form together flickered more violently, and for a moment, the creature seemed to hesitate, its movements becoming less certain.
Lyra, noticing the newcomer, projected a warning.
"Einar, Zephyr, be cautious! A new entity has entered the Scar."
The Obsidian Scar was proving to be far more complex and dangerous than they had anticipated.