That night, Ash stood atop the academy spire.
Wind howled. Lightning crawled across the clouds.
And beneath the academy, something woke.
A tremor shook the mountain. Students screamed. Instructors scrambled to cast barriers. The Headmaster stood calm.
Ash didn't flinch.
> "It remembers me," he whispered.
Below, in the depths, a chained entity stirred. A creature with no form—just hunger, rage, and a voice that whispered in all languages at once.
> "Kaelith.
You broke me once.
Now, we will break this world together."
Ash clenched his fist.
He remembered sealing it.
He remembered the price.
> His lover's death.
The burning of an entire kingdom.
His own soul ripped in two.
And now it was waking.
The Crimson Dominion had been a fragment of his power—but this? This was Primordial Arcana. Older than nations. Forbidden even by gods.
And it was bound to him.
Lyssara appeared beside him, her robes fluttering.
"You felt it too," she said.
"It wants out," Ash replied. "And it knows I'm the key."
Arin joined them, silent for a long moment.
"If that thing breaks loose… the continent burns."
Ash didn't deny it.
He looked at them both. "Then we'd better be ready."
---
Velmora would not surv
ive what was coming.
And Ash?
Ash was done hiding.
---