Night settled over Stormcrest like a heavy cloak, dragging shadows down every alley and across every rooftop. The air was strangely still, as though the city itself was holding its breath, waiting—either for salvation or for destruction. Billionzaruto walked alone down the long stone bridge leading toward the abandoned outer district, the place where the strange signal of power had been detected the night before. His footsteps echoed faintly, each one falling with the quiet certainty of someone who already knew fate had begun turning its wheels again.
His mind wouldn't rest. Not after everything that happened in Dragon's Rumble, not after his encounter with the mysterious hooded figure who spoke in riddles about "the buried fire" and "the storm to come." Billionzaruto didn't fear danger—he feared uncertainty. Unknown threats had a way of clawing into his thoughts, making him imagine risks even speed and lightning couldn't outrun.
Halfway across the bridge, he paused.
Something was wrong.
The wind shifted unnaturally, brushing past him like fingers dragging across his skin. It wasn't cold wind—it was warm, almost too warm. The temperature rose with each second, pressing against his lungs. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his fists.
"Show yourself," he said softly, but his voice carried like thunder.
A low hum answered him. It vibrated under the bridge, rattling the stone. Then, a spark—small, bright, and dangerously alive—flashed before him. It floated in midair for a heartbeat before swelling into a swirl of burning red light. Billionzaruto took a step back as the spark exploded, swallowing the area in a wave of heat.
From the blaze stepped a woman.
Tall. Fierce. Cloaked in molten gold armor that pulsed like it was alive. Her eyes glowed the same color as fresh embers, and behind her, two long streaks of flame curled like wings.
She looked young, but her presence carried an ancient energy. Something powerful. Something old as forgotten kingdoms.
Billionzaruto's body tensed instinctively.
"Who are you?" he asked.
The woman smirked. "So the lightning wolf finally speaks."
Her voice rolled across the air like fire meeting steel—sharp, rough around the edges, but filled with a warmth she didn't try to hide.
"My name is Zephyr Blaze," she said. "Guardian of Emberfall… or what's left of it."
Billionzaruto scanned her expression. Pain hid behind her confidence, but she didn't allow it to surface. Guardians never did.
"What do you want from me?" he asked.
Zephyr looked away for a moment, as if searching for words in the night sky. When her gaze returned, it was steady and intense.
"I need your help," she said. "A dark force has risen in the Northern Rift. It destroyed my homeland. Burned everything. And now…" Her voice cracked slightly, but she forced it steady. "Now it is coming here."
Billionzaruto frowned. "The Northern Rift has been sealed for years. Nothing crosses that border."
"It did," she said. "Because someone opened it."
A cold ripple ran through him.
"Who?"
Zephyr hesitated—just long enough to show she was afraid of the answer.
"They call him The Hollow King."
The name hit Billionzaruto like a blow. He had heard it only once, whispered by the hooded figure who warned him about the storm approaching. A forgotten tyrant from the ancient age… a being sealed away because his power could warp the fabric of reality itself.
Billionzaruto stepped closer. "You're saying he's awake?"
"He isn't just awake," Zephyr whispered. "He's gathering soldiers. Creatures from the Rift. Shadows with no faces. Fire beasts that burn without heat. And worse…" She swallowed. "He's searching for the chosen wielders."
Billionzaruto's heart paused for a fraction of a second.
The wielders…
The ones tied to elemental destinies.
Lightning. Fire. Wind. Shadow. Earth.
If the Hollow King gathered all of them, he could reshape the world into something unrecognizable.
"So he's coming for me," Billionzaruto said quietly.
Zephyr nodded. "And for me."
Silence stretched between them. The night around them felt thin, like it could tear at any moment. Billionzaruto took a deep breath and exhaled slowly, letting sparks dance between his fingers. He wasn't afraid. He was ready.
Before he could answer, the bridge trembled again—this time more violently. Both of them snapped their heads toward the far end. The darkness rippled unnaturally, then split open like a wound in the air.
A shadow creature crawled out.
It had the shape of a man, but its body looked like smoke held together by instinct. No face. No features. Only two glowing crescent slashes where eyes should have been. It moved in a way that made Billionzaruto's instincts scream—too smooth, too silent.
Zephyr reacted first. Flames erupted from her hands, swirling into a fiery spear. She flung it at the creature. The spear burned through its torso, tearing it apart—
—but the shadow reformed instantly.
Billionzaruto's jaw tightened. These things weren't supposed to exist outside the Rift.
The shadow lunged.
Zephyr leapt back, flames flaring around her in a protective burst. Billionzaruto shot forward, lightning exploding beneath his feet. He moved so fast the world blurred. Before the creature could touch her, he was already behind it.
Lightning surged through his arm as he struck.
The blow tore the shadow apart again—this time with a crack so sharp it echoed across the city. Billionzaruto waited to see if it would reform.
It didn't.
It faded into ash and dissolved.
Zephyr stared at him, shocked. "Lightning disrupts them…" she whispered. "Of course. You're stronger than I expected."
Billionzaruto wiped the sparks from his hand. "I'm full of surprises."
But he wasn't smiling. The ease of its defeat worried him. That creature felt like a scout—something sent ahead to measure their strength. Something that would report back.
A warning.
Zephyr stepped toward him. Her ember-orange eyes glowed brighter. "You need to understand something," she said. "This was just the beginning. The Hollow King doesn't send scouts unless he wants someone to know he's coming."
Billionzaruto stared into the distance, the horizon swallowed by a thick, unnatural fog.
"So what now?" he asked.
Zephyr raised her chin slightly. "Now we prepare. Together. Whether you like it or not, lightning and flame were meant to stand side by side."
For the first time since meeting her, Billionzaruto felt something shift inside him—not fear, not tension, but a quiet sense of destiny sliding into place.
"Then we start tonight," he said. "If the Hollow King wants war… we'll give him one."
Zephyr smiled faintly, flames drifting off her shoulders like embers from a torch.
"Good," she said. "Because war is already on its way."
And above them, the sky cracked with distant thunder—not from a storm, but from something awakening in the far reaches of the world.
The fire in the dark had only begun to burn.