The cutting wind still howled between the rocks when we finally stopped to breathe. The ice spirit had retreated after the combined blow, but it hadn't vanished. It had fled — too fast, as if returning to the nest it had come from.
That cold… was not natural.
Rai'kanna landed beside me, her wings trembling slightly as she pulled heat from her own body to push away the frost forming on her scales.
"Are you all alright?" she asked, her voice firm despite her worried expression.
"Define 'alright,'" muttered Vespera, rubbing her arms. "If 'alright' includes feeling like my fingers are about to fall off, then yes, I'm wonderful."
Elara watched the horizon with sharp eyes. "It fled, but it left a trail. I've never seen a spirit leave a trail like that."
"Because it wasn't just a spirit," said Liriel, turning a page of the grimoire that glowed bluish-white. "There's an external force holding it. Forcing it. Like a magical collar, but… bigger."
I looked at my own hands — still warm, still pulsing with that flame that seemed to react to the cold like an irritated animal.
And for the first time, I had the impression that the flame inside me not only recognized the spirit… but hated it.
"Takumi," Rai'kanna called, noticing my silence. "Do you feel anything strange?"
I took a deep breath.
"The cold doesn't affect me like it should. And when it got close to me… it felt like my flame reacted on its own."
Lyannis, who had been quiet until now, gripped my cape with worry. "Do you think the spirit was targeting only you?"
"He already said that," commented Vespera. "And I hate being right in moments like these."
"If it went back east," said Elara, "it's probably returning to the place where the patrol disappeared."
The trail was subtle but noticeable: small patches of ice on the ground — ice that didn't melt, even in a warm territory.
Rai'kanna stepped ahead. "We'll follow it. But carefully. Manipulated spirits are unpredictable."
We walked along the narrow path, where the natural heat of the terrain fought against the frost the spirit had left behind. It felt like walking between two worlds — one burning, one freezing.
In the distance, a white mist floated in the air, forming a thin layer over the valley.
"This wasn't here before," said Elara.
"It's recent," replied Liriel. "And dangerous."
Lyannis frowned. "Dangerous how?"
"Like if you breathe it, your lungs freeze," answered Vespera. "But aside from that, totally fine."
The princess swallowed hard.
When we reached the valley, something immediately caught my attention.
Silence.
The kind of silence that's heavy, dense, the kind that precedes tragedies.
In the center of the valley, a circle of rocks was frozen as if bathed in a winter storm. And around it, deep marks in the ground — marks far too big to belong to a spirit.
"These marks…" murmured Rai'kanna, touching one of them.
"What are they?" I asked.
"Claws," she replied. "Of something gigantic. Something that shouldn't be here."
Liriel examined the ice on the stones.
"The cold here is different. It doesn't come only from the spirit. There's something stronger behind it."
"Like a bigger spirit?" Lyannis asked.
"Or something worse," answered Liriel.
Vespera pointed to the center of the circle. "And there… is that supposed to be there?"
In the center of the frozen ground, something was shining, half-buried.
A fragment.
It looked like a stone, but radiated a disturbing energy — cold, vibrant, pulsating, like a heart trapped in ice.
"Don't touch it," Rai'kanna said immediately.
I was already halfway toward it. I stopped at once.
"It wants us to touch it," murmured Elara.
"It…?" I asked.
"Whoever put it here," she said. "This is a lure."
"A trap?" Lyannis asked.
"No," replied Liriel. "A test."
The fragment vibrated.
A blue light ran across the ice and rose into the air, forming small particles that floated like reversed snow.
And then, I heard it.
A voice.
A whisper.
It wasn't the spirit.
It was something else.
Something deeper.
"We need to leave," Rai'kanna said immediately. "Now."
"Wait," I answered, feeling something inside me boil. "The flame is reacting."
"Takumi, don't—"
Too late.
The fragment glowed brightly, and a wave of cold spread across the valley.
Vespera screamed and raised a wind barrier.
Elara pulled Lyannis back.
Rai'kanna grabbed my arm and yanked hard, spreading her wings.
"Up! Now!"
We rose several meters as the ground below began to split apart.
And then… it emerged.
A gigantic shape made of black ice rose from the ground — like an ancient beast awakening from a forced slumber.
The creature had no defined shape. It was a mass of ice, shadows, and frozen bones. At its center, a single eye gleamed with an opaque white light.
And from the ice, a continuous mist fell.
"What is that…?" whispered Lyannis, trembling.
"It's not a spirit," murmured Liriel. "It's a construct. Someone gathered corrupted essence and shaped this."
"The question," said Vespera, "is why?"
The creature lifted one of its ice-formed hands and pointed directly at me.
The wind grew heavy.
The world seemed to narrow.
Rai'kanna stepped in front immediately.
"Takumi stays behind me!"
"But—"
"Now!"
The creature attacked.
Rai'kanna spread her wings, creating a flaming wall that clashed against the icy strike. The impact sent frozen sparks scattering in every direction.
Elara fired flaming arrows.
Liriel raised protective runes.
Vespera unleashed blades of wind.
But the construct simply endured — and every blow left cracks that regenerated instantly.
"This won't hold," warned Liriel.
The creature raised its arm again, targeting only me.
"Why is it only aiming at you?" asked Lyannis, frightened.
"Because it senses the flame," I answered, heart racing. "It reacts to it."
Rai'kanna glanced at me over her shoulder.
"Takumi. I think this thing is a messenger."
A chill ran down my spine.
"A messenger from who?"
"I don't know. But it wants to reach you."
The construct roared — a deep roar full of echoes, as if dozens of voices screamed at once — and charged toward us with overwhelming force.
I tightened my grip on the sword.
The flame inside me burned stronger.
Almost too hot.
As if something within it was trying to come out.
"Takumi!" Liriel shouted. "If you unleash everything now, the ice might react… and explode!"
"Then what do I do?!"
Rai'kanna clenched her teeth.
"Trust us!"
Her wings ignited in bright red.
Elara aimed at the core of the ice.
Vespera gathered winds so strong they lifted frozen dust.
Lyannis spun her spear, the scales on her arm shining.
Liriel raised a massive rune.
And I took a deep breath.
The flame pulsed.
And for the first time, a voice echoed from within it.
A whisper.
"Don't fight alone."
So I attacked.
The final strike pierced the construct's core, which shattered into a thousand fragments of black ice, exploding into a cold wave that froze part of the valley.
The creature disintegrated, leaving behind only a single shining fragment on the ground.
It was identical to the previous one.
But this one… pulsed.
Like a heart.
Rai'kanna landed beside me, breathing fast.
"Takumi… that was…"
"I know."
I didn't know exactly what it was.
But one thing was certain:
Someone was testing my limits.
Someone wanted to measure my flame.
And they wanted to do it with increasingly dangerous monsters.
Lyannis touched my arm, worried.
"Takumi… you heard a voice, didn't you?"
I stared at her.
How did she know?
The other three immediately looked at me, serious.
Rai'kanna narrowed her eyes.
"What did you hear?"
I took a deep breath.
And I told the truth:
"Someone inside the flame spoke to me."
The silence that followed was heavy.
And I knew that was only the beginning of something much larger — and much more dangerous.