The Graymarch wilds swallowed Jhon and Liora as they followed the rune-map's glowing trail, ash-vines parting unnaturally under Jhon's Triune resonance. The Veiled Ruins loomed ahead—a sunken labyrinth of obsidian spires half-buried in mist, remnants of a pre-Sundering celestial forge where gods once shaped lesser divinities. Mana storms crackled overhead, spirit echoes wailed from cracked walls, and aura scars pulsed like veins. "This place reeks of forbidden fusion," Liora whispered, her spirit blade at ready. "One wrong step, and we're essence fodder." Jhon clutched the jade amulet, his gray orb zipping excitedly. Great. Dungeon crawl with no save points. ��They descended crumbling stairs into torchless gloom, the air thick with residual power. Traps triggered immediately: mana spikes erupted from floors, aura golems lumbered from alcoves, spectral scribes tested intruders with riddles woven in spirit tongue. Liora dispatched a golem with wind-laced precision, but Jhon fared comically: dodging a spike, he slipped on moss, tumbling into a rune-circle that activated a healing ward—overcharging his meridians until aura fireworks shot from his ears. "Ow! Body's trying to kill me with kindness!" Liora stifled laughter, pulling him up. "Focus, Sealbearer. The map points to the Crucible Heart." Seris's voice echoed faintly: "Blood of the fallen awakens it. Yours will suffice." ��Deeper in, murals depicted the Sundering's truth: Rai'on—not betraying, but sacrificing to seal a Void Incursion, a cataclysmic rift birthing the backlash entity. Allies from the Eight Orders framed him to hoard power, scattering the Seven Keys—Triune artifacts to mend or remake the pantheon. Jhon's touch on a mural surged visions: gods forging the Ethereal Bridges, only for void tendrils to corrupt them from within. "Rai'on sealed the first fracture here," Seris clarified, her chained presence strengthening. "Claim the Key, mortal soul. Restore balance—or doom us all." Empowered, Jhon experimented: aura fists now punched with mana explosions, spirit wisps guided strikes. Progress, but clumsily—a misplaced bolt shattered a pillar, burying them in rubble. "Earthquake much?" Liora teased, digging out. Their camaraderie shone: her faith in his "luck" growing. ��The Crucible Heart awaited—a vast chamber with a pedestal cradling a crystalline orb pulsing all three essences. Guardians manifested: amalgam horrors, fused aura beasts with mana hides and spirit cores, roaring challenges. "Defilers! The Key slumbers eternal!" Battle raged—Liora's gales clashing with hides, Jhon's hybrids disrupting cores. He synced with her: "Wind boost my orb!" Ashen Spirits amplified her blade into a tempest, while her spirits stabilized his volatile blasts. One guardian lunged; Jhon "tripped" into a spirit-channel, unleashing a Triune beam that vaporized it. "Divine technique!" Liora gasped, awed. Fluke again, he thought, grinning sheepishly. Victory came hard-won, wounds mended by scavenged wards. ��Panting, Jhon placed his palm on the pedestal. Resonance ignited—his blood (Rai'on's legacy, his will) fusing the essences. The orb cracked open, revealing the First Key: a radiant shard humming with pure Triune Harmony, imprinting knowledge into his soul—maps to other Keys, void countermeasures, god-forging rites. Power flooded him: meridians expanded to Iron Body realm, mana core ignited to Apprentice tier, spirit pacts deepened with Ashen allies. "It's... restoration," he murmured. "Not destruction. Rai'on saved Eryndor—they lied." Liora nodded solemnly. "Then we expose them. Partners?" Fist-bump sealed it, her smile warm amid the glow. Seris purred approval: "The pantheon stirs anew."But triumph soured. The chamber quaked—void essence seeping from cracks, tendrils coiling like living shadow. A cloaked figure materialized atop a spire: the Voidstalker, hooded visage concealing draconian-human features warped by backlash, aura veiled in nullifying darkness. "Sealbearer... the Key is mine. Your farce ends." It hurled a void lance, shattering wards. Jhon shielded Liora instinctively, the Key absorbing the blow—but cracking faintly. "Run!" he yelled, aura flaring defensively. As they fled upward, collapsing tunnels pursuing, the Voidstalker's laugh echoed: "The hunt begins. All Keys will unmake you."Surfacing into moonlight, Key secured, Jhon and Liora gasped for air. "That thing... it's the Sundering's child," she said, bandaging a gash. Jhon pocketed the shard, resolve hardening beneath humor. "Round one to us. But next? We need allies. Real ones." The orb bobbed affirmatively, spirits whispering of distant sanctuaries. Eryndor's fate hinged on the clumsy transmigrator, his misunderstandings forging legend. Yet shadows lengthened—the Voidstalker unbound, Keys awakening, pantheon trembling.
