Snow fell in sheets across the northern wastes, blanketing the frozen world in silence. It was a land abandoned by time, where even the wind spoke in whispers. The locals called it the Hollow Expanse—a place where footsteps vanished and echoes lingered too long.
No one traveled this far north. No one, except the dead… and those who had forgotten they were alive.
Yet today, a caravan moved through the storm.
Wrapped in thick furs, Jun Mo Xie led the expedition, flanked by Lan Xue and a dozen elite scouts from the Silent Flame. Behind them, a sled of provisions, and farther still, Mei Yun rode her storm-deer mount, her eyes narrowed against the snow. Fei Yan and Yue Ling brought up the rear, their weapons ready.
"Remind me why we're here?" Fei Yan called through the wind.
Jun Mo Xie didn't turn. "Because something woke up. Something old."
"And you decided to poke it?"
He smiled, despite the cold. "I'd rather face the unknown than let it grow in darkness."
---
Three weeks earlier, Lan Xue had detected a strange pulse while meditating near the ruins of the Gate. A flicker of unnatural resonance that didn't match any known spiritual signature. At first, they thought it a residue. But when Jun Mo Xie meditated with the Ember in hand, the fire stirred violently, pulling northward.
That was enough reason to investigate.
---
They made camp near a stone formation shaped like a crown. The rocks were black, untouched by frost, as if the cold refused to touch them.
Lan Xue touched one and recoiled. "It's… humming."
Jun Mo Xie placed his palm on the stone. The Ember flared inside him, and for a moment, he heard a voice—not words, but a melody. A song of sorrow… and hunger.
Mei Yun stepped forward. "This place is wrong."
Yue Ling drew her sword. "Then we stay alert."
They slept in shifts. But the snow never stopped, and neither did the whispers.
---
By the third night, two scouts went missing.
They found one frozen near the ridge, eyes open, mouth screaming. The other left no trace.
Fei Yan cursed. "We're not alone."
Lan Xue conjured wards. Mei Yun summoned protective winds. They pressed deeper into the Expanse, following the Ember's pull.
On the sixth day, they found the entrance.
A gate—not like the one from the Crimson General's domain. This was older, carved into the side of a glacier. Symbols lined its edges, pulsating with faint violet light.
Yue Ling studied them. "They're not from our world."
Jun Mo Xie stepped forward. The symbols reacted to the Ember.
The gate opened.
---
Inside, the world shifted.
They stepped into a vast cavern bathed in unnatural twilight. Walls of ice shimmered with reflections that didn't match reality. Images danced across the surface—wars, storms, stars falling.
Lan Xue whispered, "This is memory. Frozen time."
At the center stood a dais with six pillars. On each pillar, a shard of crystal pulsed. Above them, suspended in the air, was an orb of dark energy—contained, but barely.
Jun Mo Xie approached.
The Ember flickered. The orb responded.
A voice filled the chamber.
**"He has returned…"**
Fei Yan readied her blades. "Who's 'he'?"
A figure emerged from the far wall—tall, humanoid, yet ethereal. It had no face, only a swirling mask of shifting stars.
"You bear the Flame," it said. "You are not the first."
Jun Mo Xie's heart pounded. "Who are you?"
"I am what remains of the Wardens. Those who kept the Beyond sealed."
"The Beyond?"
"That which the Gate sought to open… was merely a fracture. The true danger lies deeper."
Mei Yun's voice was sharp. "And this orb?"
"A seed. A remnant of a greater will. Sealed here for millennia. But now… your war has weakened the walls."
Jun Mo Xie stepped back. "You mean… the Crimson General was only the beginning?"
The Warden nodded.
"You burned away the corruption. But the flame awakened the ancient dark. It calls now. From the hollow void."
Yue Ling spoke quietly. "Can we destroy it?"
"No," the Warden said. "But you can choose. Reinforce the prison… or use it."
Lan Xue froze. "Use it?"
The Warden extended a hand. "Light grows stronger in the presence of shadow. With control, you could wield balance itself."
Jun Mo Xie looked to his companions. Mei Yun's gaze was wary. Fei Yan's curious. Yue Ling's skeptical. Lan Xue's afraid.
And within him, the Ember burned—not with rejection, but interest.
"Why me?" he asked.
"Because you are reborn. You have walked both death and fire. You… are empty enough to hold it."
The orb pulsed, beckoning.
Jun Mo Xie stood still for a long time.
Then he turned away.
"I won't be a vessel. Not for light. Not for darkness."
The Warden nodded slowly. "Then reinforce the seal. But know this—the Beyond will not sleep forever."
Jun Mo Xie raised the Ember. The flames pulsed in rhythm with the shard pillars. One by one, they lit.
The orb resisted. Shadows hissed. But the light held.
With a final roar, the orb shrank, sealed once more within a crystal of white flame.
Silence returned.
---
They left the cavern in silence.
The gate closed behind them, burying the prison once more beneath layers of frost.
As they descended from the Hollow Expanse, Jun Mo Xie looked back only once.
And felt the faintest echo in the back of his mind:
**"We will meet again."**
---
That night, beside a modest fire at the edge of the world, Mei Yun asked, "Did you make the right choice?"
Jun Mo Xie stared into the flames.
"I don't know. But I made my choice."
Lan Xue took his hand. "That's enough for now."
Yue Ling stood watch on the ridge, sword resting on her shoulder.
Fei Yan smirked.
"Well… guess the shadows are never really gone."
Jun Mo Xie looked at his companions.
"No," he said. "But neither is the flame."
---
*To be continued...*