Chapter Ten: "Marked by Fire"
Ash rained from the sky.
Raizel and Lyra crouched behind a fallen boulder, breath ragged, eyes locked on the burning remains of the aura forge. The screams of panic echoed through the valley as Black Aura warriors scrambled to recover.
"We hit them hard," Lyra said, wincing as she tied a bandage around her arm.
Raizel didn't speak. His eyes were on the flames — but his mind was ahead.
"They'll come after us," he finally muttered. "With everything they have."
And they did.
Within hours, the canyon shook with thunder — not from weather, but from him.
The Crimson Fang had arrived.
He walked alone, yet the ground trembled with every step. Cloaked in a long, dark coat that shimmered like blood-soaked steel, his face hidden beneath a crimson mask carved with fangs.
Raizel watched from afar as the man knelt beside the ruins of the forge.
The warlord touched the scorched earth… and aura wept from it.
"I smell it," the Crimson Fang said. "The one who did this… is awakening."