•The Hollow Beneath the Storm
Lightning rolled like a living tide across the violet heavens, each flash freezing the landscape in ghost-white relief.
The wind howled, cutting through armor and skin alike; dust lashed the eyes, carrying flecks of glass and salt.
Every breath was pain.
Lei Shan stood at the center of that tempest, one palm pressed to the trembling earth. His team huddled behind him inside a half-formed barrier—a shimmering dome of gold, thin as paper but holding.
"Pressure stable for now," Priya reported, her emerald eyes flicking across the readouts on her wrist-band. Sweat streaked her temples.
Her form was slender, built for agility, long raven hair braided tight against the wind. Beneath her light-plate armor, she moved like a dancer who had traded silk for steel—every motion deliberate, economical.
Beside her, Aakash , the team's shield-bearer, braced his tower shield into the ground. Blue sigils crawled across the surface as he poured energy into it. His physique was massive, shoulders broad, veins standing out like cords under the strain. Each exhale left a vapor trail in the freezing gale.
"Whatever's eating at the core lines is stronger than field drain," he growled. "Fifteen minutes, max."
Mohit Dren crouched low, spear planted beside him. Younger than the others, wiry, restless—eyes the amber of stormlight, reflecting every flicker above. His fingers traced a quick protective rune in the dust, though he knew it would not hold for long.
"Where's this shelter you promised, Lei? Because the plain's about to chew us raw."
Lei Shan rose. Golden sparks rolled from his fingertips, sinking into the fractures below. The faint hum answered—a rhythm not of stone, but of something waiting.
"Beneath us," he said.
Aakash blinked through the storm grit. "You mean—dig? In this mess?"
Exactly."
He thrust his palm down. Energy exploded in a narrow beam, the ground shuddering as sand and shale disintegrated. A cavern mouth yawned open, exhaling a rush of ancient, cold air.
The storm above howled in protest, as if the realm itself resented the defiance.
Move!" Lei Shan ordered. "Once we're below, seal the entrance."
They descended by rope and energy light.
The tunnel widened into a vast chamber, its walls glimmering with crystals that pulsed faintly like a sleeping heart. The air was still here, untouched by the killing wind.
Priya exhaled in relief. "We might survive the night after all."
Mohit dropped to one knee, laughing breathlessly. "If this isn't counted as divine luck, I'll file a complaint with the gods."
Aakash sat heavily, removing his helm. His face was a map of exhaustion. "What is this place?"
Lei Shan touched the nearest wall. Energy resonated—deep, pure. "Old construction. Pre-Trial era. Someone built this to outlast the storms."
He didn't say the rest aloud: someone powerful.
Lei Shan's golden light dimmed, but the quiet around him deepened, commanding instinctive respect. His presence was not loud power—it was restraint forged to precision. The cords of his forearms gleamed faintly under the glow, the scars of older battles visible only when the lightning outside flashed through the cavern cracks.
Priya's hands moved over her wounded teammates, green healing threads weaving into torn flesh. Her control was immaculate, even while her own energy bled faster than she could replenish it.
Aakash leaned back against the stone, chest heaving, muttering, "You realize, boss, everyone else is killing each other topside for scraps, and we're sitting in a damned museum."
Outside, unseen to them,on moon island the Null-Source Anchor detonated over Moon Island. The ripple crossed dimensions, hitting the Storm Plains like an invisible hammer.
For a heartbeat, every monitoring device in the observation halls went black.
Inside the cavern, crystals flickered out. The golden light in Lei Shan's palm sputtered, then steadied—but weaker.
Priya frowned. "Power drain just spiked. What the hell was that?"
Lei Shan looked up toward the cavern ceiling, sensing the disturbance beyond sight. "Something in the outside world changed… a great seal broken."
Aakash grimaced. "Meaning?"
"Meaning," Lei Shan said softly, "we're cut off. The watchers can't see us anymore."
They shared a look—half relief, half dread.
In a trial built on performance metrics and observation scores, invisibility was both freedom and danger.
Mohit gave a sharp grin. "Then it's a real game now."
Lei Shan's eyes glimmered gold for an instant before fading.
"The real game," he murmured, "has only just begun."
Above them, the Storm Plains screamed—
but beneath, in the hollow carved from the bones of forgotten titans, a new kind of silence took root.
The silence before slaughter.
————
•Blood in the Hollow
The cavern breathed around them.
Faint crystal veins pulsed across the walls, their glow rhythmically syncing with the thunder above. The light came and went like a heartbeat — too slow, too deliberate to be natural. The air smelled of ozone and ancient dust. Somewhere deeper, dripping water echoed in slow, uneven intervals, as if marking time for the dead.
Lei Shan's team moved in practiced silence. Each had fallen into their survival roles.
Aakash constructed a partial barricade near the entrance — steel shards and shield fragments fused into a narrow choke point. His massive frame was slick with sweat, his arms straining as he wedged a broken slab of stone into place. Even exhausted, his every motion carried quiet certainty. Muscles bunched and released like living cables.
Priya adjusted the energy field, tuning its frequency to the cavern's pulse. Her brow furrowed in concentration. She had undone her hair from its tight braid, letting it fall around her shoulders; the strands glowed faintly where they brushed the healing sigils etched onto her armor. The smell of burnt metal and healing herbs clung to her.
Mohit was the eyes and edge. The young spearman prowled near the tunnel mouth, senses flaring. His pupils had narrowed into predator slits; his weapon — a long,spear — Shine faintly as he whispered quiet invocations to steel spirits of his homeland.
Lei Shan stood apart, one hand pressed to the crystal wall. He was not meditating; he was listening. Beneath his fingertips, faint vibrations whispered of movement — not geological, but deliberate. Someone — or something — had entered the underground network.
He opened his eyes. "They've found us."
Aakash straightened. "Who?"
"Not sure yet. At least six. Maybe eight." His gaze sharpened. "They're not from Arcanis… energy signatures feel colder, disciplined."
Priya's lips tightened. "That would be the Veyrath team again. Or kaelthar Team"
Mohit hissed a curse. i think "Elina."
•The Return of the Silver Viper
The tunnel shivered, carrying a different sound now — faint metallic steps, rhythmic, almost musical. Then came a soft voice, smooth as smoke.
"So this is where you disappeared to."
From the darkness stepped Elina Veyrath, leader of the Veyrath team, her pale silver armor gleaming faintly in the crystal light. Her hair, long and snow-white, fell in waves around her shoulders, contrasting sharply with the matte black of her undersuit. The beauty of her face was the kind that felt engineered — symmetrical, precise, dangerous in its serenity. Her eyes, the color of frozen mercury, reflected nothing but calculation.
Behind her came four others — two men and two women, all clad in light-stealth combat gear. Each bore the Veyrath crest — a serpent entwined around a crescent blade.
Priya stepped forward, one hand instinctively on her weapon. "This cavern's ours. You have a whole plain to die in. Pick another hole."
Elina smiled faintly, unfazed. "You mistake my intent, dear mixture of wizerd and healer. I didn't come to fight." She let her gaze sweep slowly across Lei Shan's team, pausing briefly on him. "Not yet, anyway."
Mohit spat. "Then leave."
But Lei Shan's eyes narrowed. He studied her stance — relaxed but balanced, her team's formation loose but lethal.
He'd seen enough wars to know that peace offers from assassins usually hide the blade in the smile.
"What do you want, Elina?" he asked, voice even.
Her silver eyes glimmered. "An alliance. Temporary, of course."
Aakash barked a laugh. "You tried to rob us two days ago."
She didn't flinch. "And you killed a hydra. Efficiently. That makes you useful."
Mohit stepped forward, spear lowering. "You think we're going to trust you because you flatter us?"
"No," Elina said softly, "because the storm above just shifted." She gestured toward the ceiling. "Feel it. The drain has tripled. The anchors that stabilize the Plains' energy fields are faltering. In less than an hour, the entire surface will collapse into hyper-flux zones. If you stay here alone, this cave becomes your tomb."
A silence fell. The crystals pulsed once more, brighter now — as though reacting to her words.
Priya's expression hardened. "You're lying."
Lei Shan shook his head. "No… she's not."
He could feel it now — the subtle tearing of the realm's energy balance.
(The ripple from Moon Island's Null-Source Anchor was spreading faster than expected. Their safe zone wouldn't remain safe much longer)
Elina tilted her head slightly, watching him with a spark of interest. "You sense it too, don't you? That… wrongness."
He met her gaze, unreadable. "What's your plan?"
Her smile was faint, dangerous. "There's another cavern deeper in the system — a relic chamber. It might have a stabilizer core. My scouts found it, but the path is swarming with wraith-born and scavenger teams. We can't reach it alone."
"So you want us to clear the path," Aakash said flatly.
"I want us to survive," she countered. Then, almost gently: "And I want to see how far you will go when no one is watching."
For a heartbeat, no one moved.
Then Lei Shan nodded once. "Fine. We move together. But if you betray us, I'll kill you first."
Elina's smile widened — the kind of smile that meant good.
"Spoken like someone who understands the rules."
The two teams moved as one uneasy column through the tunnels.
Their lights carved narrow lanes through the dark, glimmering off crystal-lined walls that seemed to pulse with quiet awareness.
Lei Shan took point, his golden aura barely visible — just enough to read the terrain without revealing too much.
Behind him, Elina walked with silent grace, her hand resting casually on the hilt of her dagger. Every few paces, she glanced at him — not suspicion, but study.
His movement was clean, weightless, controlled. No wasted motion, no visible fear. It unsettled her more than she cared to admit.
She finally spoke, voice low enough that only he could hear. "Your team follows without question. You trained them for this?"
"They follow because they've seen me return from what kills others," Lei Shan replied. His tone was calm, but the words carried weight.
Elina chuckled softly. "Confidence… or confession?"
"Neither," he said. "Truth."
The tunnel ahead bent sharply, descending into a wide cavern.
That's when the temperature dropped.
Aakash halted, frost forming on his shield. "Cold front… No, this isn't weather."
Priya whispered, "Energy inversion field. Someone—or something—is feeding here."
From the shadows ahead, a figure emerged.
At first glance it looked human — until its eyes opened, twin voids of blue flame.
The wraith's body shimmered like smoke wrapped in flesh, its limbs bending at impossible angles. Dozens more glowed faintly behind it, crawling down the walls like ghosts stitched to spiders.
"Wraith-born," Elina hissed. "Don't let them touch your soul-line!"
Her team drew blades of cold iron.
Mohit's spear flared to life, fire-runed. "Finally, something to hit."
Lei Shan didn't move. He closed his eyes and listened — to the heartbeat of the realm, the rhythm of their enemy's approach. When he opened them again, gold light pulsed within.
"Form diamond. Aakash, anchor center. Priya, weave field link to Mohit. Elina, your right flank — control the corridor."
The commands came crisp, absolute. Even Elina obeyed Unwillingly with gritted teeth.
The wraiths struck.
They moved soundlessly, but their arrival screamed in energy senses — like knives across nerves. Aakash's shield caught the first impact, sparks bursting. Mohit spun, his spear slicing through two of them — they vanished in bursts of ash and cold vapor.
Elina's daggers sang through the air, silver arcs flashing. She moved like liquid lightning, beautiful and lethal. The wraiths fell in pieces, but more kept crawling, emerging from cracks above.
Priya's magic laced through them, green fire sealing wounds and reinforcing barriers. Sweat drenched her, but her focus was unshaken.
Then one wraith slipped past the line, lunging for her throat.
Lei Shan's hand caught his neck mid-air.
The creature writhed, claws scraping against invisible force. Its scream was the sound of wind through bones.
Golden light erupted from his palm, pure and radiant.
The wraith convulsed — then shattered, disintegrating into dust.
Elina froze, watching the residual glow fade from his hand.
That wasn't Federation magic. It was something older. Cleaner.
She felt as if she had seen this golden light before, something familiar. But where? She tried to force her mind.
A whisper passed through her mind — not from the realm, but from memory.....
The battle lasted minutes but felt eternal.
When it ended, the tunnel floor was littered with grey ash. The walls dimmed again, as if the cavern itself sighed in relief.
Aakash wiped his blade on a torn cloak. "That all of them?"
Lei Shan scanned the darkness. "For now."
Priya leaned against the wall, chest heaving. "We need rest."
Elina sheathed her blades, her face unreadable. "Rest if you wish. But the relic chamber is close — and if we delay, others will find it."
Lei Shan turned to her, his gaze unwavering. "Then lead the way."
She inclined her head slightly, a smirk playing on her lips. "As you wish… golden stranger."
As they moved again, deeper into the lightless heart of the Storm Plains, none of them noticed the faint black dust that clung to the cavern floor — residue of the Null-Source influence spreading silently beneath the surface.
Something far worse than wraiths was awakening.
And above, unseen, the Council of Observers in Ozythra watched only static.
•The Relic Chamber
The tunnel sloped downward until sound itself seemed to fade.
Every breath came back hollow, absorbed by the earth.
Only the faint glow of the cavern crystals guided them now — pale, ghostly veins etched in the dark, pulsing like the heartbeat of a buried god.
Lei Shan led the way, silent, focused. His eyes caught faint glints of movement ahead — flickers of reflected light that didn't belong to torches.
The relic chamber was close. He could feel the ancient resonance leaking through the stone — a hum of long-dormant power, half-mechanical, half-divine.
Behind him, Elina followed, her boots making no sound on the stone path.
Her face, always calm and poised, carried a shadow of distraction now.
Her silver eyes weren't on the path — they were fixed on the faint, residual Glow of golden light that still clung to Lei Shan's right hand.
That same impossible light. The light she had seen once before in different Shape — year ago, in a Black forest where sun light not reached.
The memory came not as a dream,
but as a wound reopening.
To be continue....