The Empire soldiers spread out through the ruins, their boots crunching against the cracked, glassy soil of RimScape. Every movement echoed faintly under the hollow wind. Fragments of stone arches and shattered towers rose from the dust like the bones of a forgotten world.
"Sector seven, clear."
"Nothing on thermal scan."
"Copy that. Move to the west perimeter."
The captain's voice barked orders through the comms as they moved in formation, rifles glowing with faint mana charge. SK followed them—scythe slung behind her shoulder, her crimson eyes sweeping across the fog-veiled horizon.
Back at camp, only one soldier had stayed behind—watching over me and the wounded man they called Sir Blaze.
The silence pressed heavy. The faint hum of the Cross Portal shimmered in the distance, its unstable pulse flickering against the dark sky.
I sat against a rusted crate, hands still bound. The guard leaned on his rifle, bored, glancing occasionally toward Blaze's tent.
Then, the tent flap moved.
Blaze stepped out, his upper body bare, covered in layers of white bandages streaked faintly with dried blood. His posture was steady, though every step looked like it cost him effort.
"Ah—sir, you shouldn't be up," the soldier said quickly, lowering his weapon and stepping forward. "You're injured. You should rest. Let me—"
"I'm fine," Blaze interrupted, his tone calm but firm. "It's nothing. You should go help your teammates."
The soldier hesitated. "Sir, I'm under orders to guard the camp and the prisoner—"
Blaze gave a faint smile, the kind that never reached his eyes. "Then let me do that. I'll watch her. You go help them. They're short-handed, aren't they?"
Before the soldier could answer, his comms cracked alive with static.
"—We've encountered a giant golem! Coordinates—Sector four!"
The guard's expression shifted instantly. "A golem? In this area?"
"See?" Blaze said, tilting his head slightly. "Go. They'll need you."
"Yes, sir!" The soldier saluted quickly, grabbed his rifle, and sprinted off toward the signal.
Blaze watched him go until the footsteps faded into the ruins. Then, slowly, he turned toward me.
"Well," he said, walking closer. "Now it's just us."
He sat down beside me, the firelight reflecting faintly off the silver threads of his bandages. Despite everything, he smiled. "You know, you look ridiculous in that outfit."
I shot him a glare, muffled by the tape still covering my mouth. "Hmmmph!"
He laughed quietly, reaching over to peel it off. "Happy now?"
I exhaled sharply, rubbing my jaw. "You shouldn't even be walking around, idiot. You're bleeding through the bandages again."
He shrugged, leaning back on his hands. "I've had worse."
"You keep saying that," I muttered. "One day, 'worse' is going to kill you."
He only chuckled. The silence stretched between us again—quiet, but not uncomfortable. The fire crackled softly. Beyond it, the voidstorm's dull glow rippled through the horizon.
Then Blaze spoke again.
"Oh, right. I almost forgot—I need to ask you something."
I turned to him warily. "Ask what?"
He smiled faintly. "So… what exactly did you find in my house while SK and I were gone?"
My heart froze.
He knows.
"I—I don't know what you're talking about," I stammered, looking away.
Blaze raised an eyebrow. "Ryze, you're really bad at lying."
He leaned closer, his voice dropping lower. "You figured it out, didn't you? That I'm connected to the Empire."
The air between us felt heavier. I looked at him, trying to find the right words, but nothing came out.
He gave a quiet laugh, but his eyes weren't amused anymore. "Guess I'm not as good at hiding things as I thought."
He stood slowly, brushing off the dust from his hands. "I should probably be heading back before SK starts yelling."
"Wait—" I started, but he reached down, gently pressing the tape back over my mouth.
"Sorry, Ryze," he said softly. "Just in case."
Then he smiled again—that same teasing, infuriating smile—and walked away toward the tent.
I sat there, unable to move or speak, frustration burning hotter than the fire beside me.
It wasn't long before the others returned. The sound of boots and armor echoed through the night as the scouting team came back, weary but uninjured. SK walked among them, her expression unreadable.
"Golem neutralized," one soldier reported, throwing down a cracked mana core. "Whatever that thing was, it's not from this world."
"None of this place is," SK muttered.
The team set up their tents near the campfire. Some fixed their gear, others checked weapon readings, a few just sat around, exhausted. The night felt unnaturally still.
Blaze sat across from the captain, a faint smirk on his face. "So, Captain," he said casually, "what's the mission here anyway? You all came through the portal for a reason."
The captain hesitated, looking into the fire. He didn't seem sure if he should answer, but SK crossed her arms. "Yes, Captain. You haven't told me either."
After a moment, the captain finally spoke. "Our orders came from High Command. We were sent here to investigate an anomaly."
"An anomaly?" Blaze repeated. "Like what—some kind of Void storm?"
The captain shook his head. "No. A signal. Something—or someone—powerful enough to distort every scan we've run. It's not just mana. It's alive."
The flames crackled louder for a second, as if reacting to his words.
"We don't know if it's a player, a monster, or something else entirely," the captain continued. "All we know is that its energy readings are beyond anything we've ever recorded. It can even disrupt satellite readings from the Empire."
SK frowned. "A living entity strong enough to shatter readings? That's… unprecedented."
Blaze said nothing, his eyes fixed on the fire.
Inside, I felt my pulse quicken.
They're looking for Blaze.
And he knew it.
He was sitting right in front of them—the very anomaly they were hunting.
The irony almost made me want to laugh. Almost.
As the night deepened, one by one, the soldiers retreated to their tents. Only a few stayed awake to keep watch, rotating shifts every few hours. The fire burned low, casting long shadows across the camp.
I lay against the crate again, the stars above flickering faintly through the shifting Void mist. The hum of the portal had softened to a steady, haunting rhythm. I could almost fall asleep to it.
Almost.
Far beyond the circle of firelight, something stirred.
A shape moved between the broken ruins—a figure cloaked in black, its armor etched with crimson light. A long, red blade hung at its side, dragging faintly against the ground with a sound like grinding metal.
Its gaze locked on the camp.
The glow from its eyes reflected off the ruins as it stepped closer, slow and deliberate. The air around it trembled, space itself warping slightly with each movement. The power rolling off it was suffocating, ancient.
It paused, turning its head toward the portal still pulsing weakly in the distance. The unstable energy made the fabric of the world ripple.
The figure—known only in legend as the Shard—tilted its head slightly, almost curious. The faint sound of the Empire soldiers echoed through the night. It could sense them: weak, temporary, insignificant. But one signature stood out.
That energy.
That aura.
It remembered.
The man who had stood against it before. The one who had survived the unthinkable—the one who carried the same fractured power within him.
Blaze.
A low, distorted growl escaped the Shard's throat as the air around it shimmered like heat. The blade on its back pulsed, veins of red light crawling along its edge.
It stepped forward again, silent as death.
The campfire flickered in the distance, unaware of the shadow creeping closer.