The wind howled through the Frost Rift like blades slicing against the stone walls. Leon tucked the Heart of the Flame Dragon securely into his coat—its surface still radiated a strange duality of heat and cold whenever he brushed it. Elara pointed toward the deep blue glows flickering within the fractured glacier ahead.
"That's *Frostshard Vein*," she said grimly, "the Shadow Covenant is mining its energy to forge dark artifacts."
Tom suddenly grabbed Leon's cloak. "Look! Down in the valley!"
They crouched behind an icy ridge. Dozens of hulking figures clad in beast pelts patrolled around the mineral veins. Each wielded obsidian axes, their faces painted with white war marks, and wore wolf-head totems around their chests. One of them suddenly let out a guttural roar—and from beneath the ice crawled several bone-plated frost spiders, their eight compound eyes glowing eerily in the darkness.
"It's the Frostwolf Clan!" Elara's pupils narrowed. "They're resisting the Shadow Covenant's excavation forces."
Leon tightened his grip on the flame emblem at his waist. The rune on the back of his hand pulsed faintly with warmth. He remembered the ring left by the Grandmaster—the laurel-crested metal now vibrated softly in his pocket, as if responding to something.
"We have to help them," Leon whispered. "The chieftain of the Frostwolves might know about the elemental trials."
Elara nodded, pulling a phosphorus-tipped arrow from her quiver. "I'll draw the frost spiders' attention. You two circle around to the mine entrance."
The arrow sliced through the night sky, bursting into green sparks among the spider pack. The beastkin warriors seized the opening, charging forward with thunderous battle cries. Axes crashed against carapaces, echoing alongside the shrieks of dying arachnids.
While the chaos unfolded, Leon and Tom slipped into the cave. Inside, near the far end, stood an elderly orc draped in bear pelts. He was using a totem pole to brace himself against a massive ice door covered in runes, his forehead bulging with strain.
"Help… hold it!" The elder saw Leon and shouted in broken Common Tongue. Leon rushed forward and braced the totem. The moment the flame emblem touched the icy surface, the runes flared red—the dark glyphs etched into the door cracked and shattered like glass under fire.
"You carry the Red Dragon's scent!" The elder orc gazed at the mark on Leon's hand. "Are you the one Chieftain Ironmane awaits?"
Before he could finish, the ice door exploded open, releasing a wave of freezing air mixed with decay. Three giant frost spider lords lunged out, fangs dripping with venom.
The elder raised his totem, chanting furiously. Ice spikes erupted from the ground, impaling one spider to the cavern wall. Leon activated the Heart of the Flame Dragon, unleashing a torrent of blue fire that formed a blazing wall between the remaining two beasts and their prey.
"Where is your chieftain?" Leon shouted over the chaos.
"In the *Wolf Spirit Altar!*" The elder gestured toward a spiral staircase deeper into the cave. "The Shadow Covenant captured his son—they plan to sacrifice him to hatch the Chaos Egg!"
Elara arrived just in time, her arrows piercing the spiders' compound eyes with deadly precision. Together, they pushed forward down the stairs. At the heart of the altar stood a red-robed Shadow Priest, carving into the wrist of a young orc with a bone dagger. Blood dripped onto the altar's shadowy runes. In the center, a pulsing egg-shaped object absorbed the crimson life force, exuding waves of nauseating energy.
"Stop!" Leon roared, hurling his dagger. The flaming arc lashed around the priest's wrist like a whip. The priest screamed and dropped the blade, turning with a snarl. His face bore a twisted shadow brand. "You again, little human pest!"
Tom rushed in to free the wounded orc youth while the elder tackled the priest's legs. "Ironmane! Now!"
Heavy footsteps thundered from above. A towering orc descended the stairs, wearing a wolf helm and covered in scars—Chieftain Ironmane himself. His axe cleaved the air, sending a gust of frigid wind before crashing down upon the Chaos Egg—only to be repelled by a dark shield.
"It won't work!" the priest sneered. "The Chaos Egg has already absorbed the Wolf Spirit's essence. Soon—"
Leon recalled the resonance power of the Heart and slammed it against the elemental sigil carved into the altar's edge. A surge of red and blue light erupted. The shadow runes cracked apart, and the Chaos Egg screeched in fury before disintegrating into black mist. The priest writhed in the radiant burst, turning to ash, leaving only a ring engraved with a chaotic insignia.
Ironmane picked up the ring and crushed it underfoot. His wolf helm tilted toward Leon, sharp eyes gleaming with scrutiny. "You saved my son. You destroyed a shard of the Chaos Egg. Speak, human—why have you come to the Frostwolf Clan?"
Leon retrieved the Grandmaster's ring. The laurel crest shimmered in the torchlight. "We seek the Elemental Relics to fulfill the prophecy's trials. The Grandmaster said only the Frostwolves know how to awaken the true power of the Heart of the Flame Dragon."
Ironmane fell silent for a long moment before removing his helm. Beneath it, his left eye was replaced by a dragon-shaped prosthetic—an ancient token of the pact made a thousand years ago.
"The Grandmaster was an old friend," the chieftain murmured, stroking the artifact. "He once foretold that a human bearing the blood of the Red Dragon would come to lead Azlan from the darkness."
The young orc suddenly pointed at Leon's hand. "Father! He bears the Mark of the Flame Bearer!"
Ironmane stepped closer, studying the rune burning on Leon's skin. Surprise lit his eyes. "Indeed! An Elemental Bearer! By the Ancestral Pact, the Frostwolves will aid the bearer in completing the trials. But to advance beyond the Trial of Flame, you must pass the *Wolf Spirit Test*—find the three *Wolf Spirit Stones* scattered across the tundra within three days. Only then will your courage be proven."
Leon clenched his fist. "I accept the trial."
Elara bandaged the young orc's wounds, her emerald gaze shifting to Ironmane. "The Shadow Covenant won't stop. They'll send more soon."
"We Frostwolves do not fear war," Ironmane clapped Leon's shoulder, nearly knocking him off balance. "But the Elemental Bearer needs a guide. Garrosh—you will lead them to the stones."
A particularly large orc stepped forward, a jagged scar running from his brow to his jawline. Fierce yet oddly earnest in expression, he grinned. "I'm Garrosh. Follow me, human pup."
Leon looked at the orc who might soon become an ally, then at the dragon-eyed prosthetic in Ironmane's grasp. A rush of excitement surged through him. With the Frostwolf Clan's aid, the path of the prophecy grew clearer.
As they departed the Wolf Spirit Altar, the aurora danced across the northern sky, casting shifting hues over the glacier—a flowing rainbow reflected in the ice. Leon knew the Wolf Spirit Test was merely the next step in the Trial of Flame. Deeper within the Frost Rift, more secrets of the Elemental Relics and ancient pacts awaited discovery.
Garrosh had already shouldered his axe and marched ahead. His heavy footfalls echoed across the frozen plain, like the first drumbeats of a new adventure.