Dawn bled across Ember Academy,
painting its obsidian towers in a fierce red.
Spikes of black stone reached into a sky
that looked like it was burning from within.
I stood in the underground training hall.
A circular chamber carved into volcanic rock.
Runes lined the walls, glowing with pulsing heat.
The air was thick—smelling of ash and molten metal.
Lysara had sent me here
to refine my control over Fire.
But my body still bore the marks of the last trial.
My ribs ached from Kaelith's strike.
A cut burned along my thigh beneath my worn robe.
And the black veins of Aether twisted under my skin,
alive, like venom.
The amulet of Lirien—
cold, silent—
hung from my neck.
A piece of ice clinging to memories I could no longer trust.
Hidden in my robes,
the relic of Dren pulsed with purple light.
It beat like a second heart,
resonating with the runes.
A mystery I needed to unravel.
Nyra trained in the main courtyard,
shaping the wind with her will.
Her absence beside me was a silent weight—
ever since she started suspecting the Aether in me.
Then the Threshold spoke.
Its voice was a blade of frost in my thoughts:
"Truth calls to you, Echo. Awaken it in fire...
or the throne will break you."
Eryndor's words echoed like war drums in my skull.
The seven fragments of the Threshold...
If the relic was one of them,
I had to understand it—before Kaelith or the Sins claimed it.
Lysara had given me access to a shelf of ancient scrolls.
I picked one.
The runes beneath my fingers vibrated.
I opened it.
Lines of energy surged from the page,
forming a glowing 3D image—
A void of purple.
Seven shards floated within it,
each radiating a different hue:
Red. Blue. Green. Gold. Silver. Black. Purple.
A voice boomed inside my skull—ancient, heavy:
"The shards were scattered by the First Emperors
to seal the Threshold.
But its hunger returns with each cycle.
The bearer of the Echo must choose:
open the veil... or close it."
Before I could breathe,
the relic flared.
A crack split open in the center of the chamber.
A thin, shrieking noise tore through the air.
And from the rift—
a servant of the Threshold emerged.
Its body was smoke and shadows,
mist-purple and flickering.
Eyes like red coals.
Claws scraping the floor with a sound that pierced bone.
Lysara had planned this.
Another test.
Another trial.
I screamed—
let the fear become rage—
and charged.
My dagger sliced the air—
clean and sharp—
cutting through the creature's shoulder.
It hissed and staggered.
Then another one leapt behind me.
Its claws slashed across my chest.
Pain flared white.
I hit the ground.
Stone bit into my ribs.
I conjured fire.
A burst of orange flames exploded into the second creature,
forcing it back.
I kicked hard—
shoved it into the wall.
Its form collapsed into cinders.
The smell—burnt, sour—filled my lungs.
The first one lunged again.
I dodged.
Its claws scraped sparks off my dagger.
We grappled.
I drove my blade into its chest.
It faded—
silently—
leaving only a puddle of purple on the stone.
I barely caught my breath
before the rift widened.
Three more emerged.
Eyes glowing.
Claws ready.
The door exploded open.
Kaelith stormed in.
His flame blade roared like a comet.
Armor repaired—
red eyes blazing.
"The relic is mine, Vaelis!"
he shouted.
His aura blazed—
flames spiraling around him like a living storm.
The heat suffocated the room.
The runes glowed brighter.
A moment of pure aura.
I raised my dagger.
Steeled my breath.
"You won't have it."
My aura answered his—
a blend of purple and fire,
swirling in my hands.
The Aether surged beneath my skin.
The floor trembled.
The runes responded.
Silence—then tension.
A stillness before the firestorm.
Kaelith struck first.
His sword sliced the air—
a searing arc of flame.
I rolled to the side.
Heat scorched my robe.
Blisters bubbled on my arm.
I countered—
dagger aimed for his side.
He parried—
sent me staggering.
He launched a burst of flame.
I rolled again.
Barely dodged.
We clashed.
Steel and fire colliding.
"Prove your worth!" he roared.
His flames rose—
his aura engulfing the room in a wildfire.
The ground cracked beneath us.
I jumped onto a pillar—
leapt from above—
blade aimed for his shoulder.
He blocked.
But staggered.
I struck his chest with a fist cloaked in fire.
He growled—loud and guttural.
The servants attacked again.
Two from the sides.
Claws outstretched.
I summoned a fire barrier.
Flames coiled into a wall.
But the pressure strained it.
Kaelith laughed.
A dragon of flame emerged behind him.
Its black scales gleamed.
Its mouth roared open.
"Destroy him!"
The dragon charged.
I jumped—
rolled—
but a claw tore down my back.
I screamed.
"Arion!"
Nyra's voice pierced the chaos.
She burst in.
Her knife carved a whirlwind.
Sand lifted,
disrupting the dragon's charge.
Her aura—
wind and fury—
rose to meet Kaelith's in power.
A moment of aura unmatched.
I ran to her.
A servant cut me off.
I blocked with my dagger.
Sparks flew.
Nyra slashed it down.
"What's going on?" she demanded.
"It's part of the training," I lied,
facing Kaelith once more.
The dragon struck again.
We scattered.
Nyra launched another wind burst—
pushing it back.
Kaelith howled.
Flames erupted from his sword.
I conjured another fire barrier.
It cracked.
Heat seared my arm.
Then the relic pulsed—
wild, chaotic.
A new rift opened.
From it came Envy—
shrouded in mirrors.
Its eyes reflected my face—distorted.
"Your fire defines you, Echo," it whispered.
A mirror shattered.
Shards rained down.
I dodged—barely.
One cut my shoulder.
I shouted—
blasted fire to scatter the glass.
Kaelith attacked.
We clashed again—
his aura pressing me down.
Nyra unleashed wind.
The shards scattered.
She ran to me.
"You can't keep doing this alone!"
We fought together.
Flame and wind.
We crushed the third servant into ashes.
Kaelith roared.
The dragon released a wave of fire.
We dove.
Another barrier.
It shattered.
The flames scorched my face.
The Aether inside me screamed.
I let it rise.
My eyes burned purple.
An explosion of energy surged from me.
Kaelith and his dragon flew into a pillar.
Runes trembled.
Envy vanished.
The rift sealed.
I collapsed.
Blood spilled from my mouth.
The black veins spread.
Nyra caught me.
Her voice trembled.
"I saw you use it again… the Aether."
Kaelith rose,
his aura flickering,
his armor cracked.
"This isn't over, Vaelis," he growled, retreating.
Eryndor entered.
His staff glowing with earthen runes.
He sealed the last of the cracks.
"Envy is testing you," he said.
"The relic binds you to the Threshold.
You must master it."
Then—
A vision hit me like a blade.
The obsidian throne.
Blood dripping down its steps.
Nyra—dead at its foot.
Lirien—fading into light.
Envy's voice echoed from the mirrors:
"Your fire will destroy them."
I saw the other Sins:
The shadow king with a crown of night.
The ice queen with a frost scepter.
The chained beast dragging eternal weight.
The golden specter with sunlit eyes.
The whispering fog figure.
The blood-winged warrior with a broken blade.
The glass-eyed shadow.
The ash-covered colossus roaring silently.
Then—
"The Threshold awakens,"
it roared.
"Choose your path, Echo."
Nyra held my shoulder.
Her hand trembled.
"If you keep using that power…
I'll lose you."
Silence.
The runes faded.
But the training had revealed something far greater than Lysara expected.
The Academy was my forge.
And the Threshold…
was shaping me
for something more.