Silas could not tear his gaze from the ancient man. Everything about him radiated immense, terrifying power. It was not merely his towering frame, etched with scars like ancient runes, nor the harsh, molten glow in his eyes. A raw presence emanated from Kael, a palpable force that twisted the very air, pressing down on Silas until his lungs burned.
Felt like standing on a precipice before a cyclonic ash storm, naked and exposed. This formidable, primal force, something no living thing could defy, was Kael.
Silas trembled, unable to speak, to even draw a full breath. Kael’s voice, a gravelly rumble that vibrated through the molten ground, cut through his shock.
“Tongue tied, whelp? Your name. Speak it, or I’ll render you into a cinder-lump.”
“Silas,” he managed, the word a dry whisper. Ash particles around his feet stirred, a nervous tremor in his power.
“Silas. A thin name for a ghost.” Kael’s sneer was as sharp as broken obsidian.
Silas offered no retort. Fear bound his throat. Hastily opposing Kael felt like tempting a molten geyser to erupt, burying him in an instant.
Again, Kael’s query boomed. “How did you blunder into this primal chamber, boy? You didn’t come through the Breach. I felt no disturbance.”
“Stutter again, and I’ll burn the answer from your bones.”
“Underground passage,” Silas rasped, the words catching. “Working a scarred ash vein. A wall collapsed. Pulled me in.”
Kael chuckled, a rough, grating sound. “Hah. The draw-trap. Sometimes, these deep rifts, oversaturated with raw Conflagration energy, try to vent. They birth new entrances, magnetic pulls. Lure in whatever lives nearby while purging their excess.”
“Unfortunate luck, then. Most don’t even know they’ve found the trap until their bodies vaporize.” Kael openly mocked Silas’s predicament.
Silas couldn’t argue. Relentless misfortune had stalked him since the Great Conflagration, a grey stain on his existence.
Summoning a sliver of defiance, Silas finally asked, “Who are you? What is this place?”
“This place,” Kael declared, his gaze sweeping the churning, molten expanse, “is my hunting ground. From this moment forth.”
Silas shivered at Kael’s ominous words. It felt like more than mere bluster. Kael’s fierce eyes, the storm-like madness radiating from his very being, spoke only truth.
Suddenly, the molten flows churned violently. Giant forms began to emerge, not from the ash, but from the raw Conflagration energy itself. They were Cinder Leviathans, crude approximations of life born from pure heat. Their jaws, like furnace gates, snapped open, charging Kael with a primal hunger.
Even facing the terrifying spectacle, Kael merely grunted, a twisted smile on his lips.
As his words faded, a massive spear, its shaft of blackened stone embedded in a solidified volcanic plateau, hummed. It lifted, slow and deliberate, into the searing air.
Kael’s hand closed around the spear’s grip. He called it *Ignis*.
An instant later, a burst of crimson light erupted from Ignis. The spear’s resonance vibrated through the entire chamber, a deep thrumming that clawed at Silas’s nerves. His heart pounded, not from excitement, but from a profound discomfort. The spear’s cry grated against his very being.
Silas was not alone in his unease. Stimulated by Ignis’s resonance, the Cinder Leviathans spasmed. Then, other beasts from various corners of the molten zone appeared. Flying monstrosities, like fragments of night-sky, blotted out the crimson glow above. Massive constructs, larger than the leviathans, clawed their way from the magma. All charged Kael.
Ignis’s call had agitated every single creature in this chamber. Silas watched, mouth agape, unable to comprehend the scale of the unfolding madness.
The true horror began then.
Kael, Ignis held high, dashed toward the horde. Massive bodies of the Cinder Leviathans tore asunder. Their tough, resilient molten flesh, proof against any ordinary force, sliced like brittle ash. Not just the leviathans. Various unknown constructs and beasts were ruthlessly cut down.
Kael moved like a localized typhoon. The vast storm of his power swept away monsters. The force of the flowing molten rock, the volcanic debris filling the air, all were consumed by the storm Kael embodied.
What rank of being was this?
It was a staggering display of raw, unfiltered might. No elaborate incantations, no complex ash-weaving. Pure strength, a spear named Ignis, and a maniacal will to slaughter the monsters.
Soon, Kael stood amidst mountains of dead monstrosities. His maniacal laughter echoed within the chamber. Swinging Ignis, dripping with molten ichor and shredded flesh, he seemed less human than ever. He was something only disguised as a man, a fragment of the Conflagration itself.
Silas felt overwhelmed by Kael’s ferocity. Could not move a finger. Could not even take a deep breath. A rhinoceros-like magma-golem was the last one standing. Kael decimated the entire horde alone. Yet, he showed no signs of fatigue. Unknowingly, Silas swallowed dry air, thick with sulfur.
Then, a roar erupted from the highest volcanic peak in the chamber. Silas’s mind went blank at the sound. Struggling to retain his senses, he saw a colossal monster emerging. Its majesty, reminiscent of ancient, forgotten tales of dragons, froze Silas in awe.
Kael smiled as he looked at the beast.
“You finally show yourself. Pyroclast Dragon!”
Wrapped in crimson, solidified magma from head to tail, its body stretched over thirty meters long. Wings, when fully extended, spanned even further. Not a true dragon, Silas realized. Still, the beast made him tremble.
A crimson aura surrounded the Pyroclast Dragon’s body, a stark contrast to the molten ground from which it rose. This indicated intense physical prowess. The Pyroclast Dragon was a monstrous entity of immense power.
Kael tightened his grip on Ignis, speaking with relish. “That bastard is this chamber’s heart.” Even facing the ultimate power of the rift, Kael showed no hint of fear. Instead, he seemed delighted, flashing that maniacal grin.
Silas could not fathom Kael’s demeanor. He wondered if immense power twisted all beings into this madness, or if only mad beings could wield such power.
The Pyroclast Dragon flapped its wings, soaring into the air. It flew towards Kael at terrifying speed. Even before its arrival, a sharp wind, scorching hot, swept through the air.
Bending his knees slightly, Kael spoke, without looking at Silas. “Survive on your own.” In that instant, Kael launched himself off the molten ground. A human flying was shocking enough. A sonic boom ripped through the air. Kael broke the sound barrier, instantly appearing before the Pyroclast Dragon.
The collision between the colossal monster and the diminutive human reverberated through the air. Its aftermath shook the chamber to its core. The previously serene molten flows surged like tidal waves, spewing in all directions. The volcano belched out more intense, suffocating black smoke. Corpses of the monsters Kael had slain melted back into the raw energy. The protective aura from the chamber’s heat vanished upon their deaths.
Molten energy surged towards Silas. He hastily maneuvered to evade the burning wave, but it followed him relentlessly. On this path, he would dissolve into the raw Conflagration, just like the other beasts. Amidst this chaos, Kael and the Pyroclast Dragon battled fiercely in the air. Then, Kael’s deflection of the Dragon’s breath landed dangerously close to Silas. Accompanied by a deafening roar of superheated air, molten rock splashed, and Silas had to bear the brunt of it.
Silas darted around frantically, like a trapped cinder-rat. With the molten flows’ unpredictable surges and the urgency, he couldn’t even begin to think about how to optimally use his ash abilities. To survive, he needed distance from Kael and the Pyroclast Dragon.
He leaped across the molten flows, running across hardened, obsidian-like platforms. Suddenly, a platform he stepped on crumbled, revealing raw Conflagration underneath. A fall meant the end.
Instinctively, Silas gathered the surrounding ash. Just as he had evaded the leviathan earlier, he created a compacted ash platform beneath his feet. He continuously willed these platforms into existence, a desperate, taxing display of his power. His internal ash reserves depleted rapidly. Still, he managed to land on solid ground, a precarious obsidian spire, just before his power gave out entirely.
Kneeling on the spire, Silas gasped for breath. His heart felt like it might burst. A metallic taste rose in his throat. It was the aftermath of pushing his abilities to their absolute limit in a single, desperate moment. The entire chamber shook violently. Looking towards the origin, Silas saw that Kael and the Pyroclast Dragon’s fight was reaching its peak.
Amidst Kael’s manic exclamations, an enormous force gathered within Ignis. In Silas’s eyes, Ignis seemed to double in size for a moment. Kael hurled Ignis towards the Pyroclast Dragon. Ignis flew like a meteor, piercing straight through the Pyroclast Dragon’s chest.
The Pyroclast Dragon let out a pitiful scream as it plummeted. The colossal monster, over thirty meters long, crashed onto the molten terrain. Devoid of strength, the Dragon’s body sprawled across the ground.
Kael descended upon the motionless beast. Though the Pyroclast Dragon still gasped, its breaths labored, its head weakly lifting to look at Kael. Glancing down at the dying creature, Kael spoke. “I scoured the Cinder Wastes for a cycle to catch you. To imbue Ignis with your cinder-heart… so, die gracefully.”
Kael lifted Ignis high into the air and plunged it into the Pyroclast Dragon’s heart. Pain from Ignis piercing its core caused the Pyroclast Dragon to convulse. Its last struggles were feeble. Ignis, embedded in the Pyroclast Dragon’s heart, glowed crimson, absorbing an enormous amount of raw fiery mana, typical of a rift’s core beast. Ignis heated intensely, almost as if it might melt away.
At the peak of its incandescent heat, Ignis suddenly underwent a transformation. Kael expressed satisfaction at Ignis’s metamorphosis. Ignis, now reassembled, grew larger, sharper, its obsidian shaft now laced with veins of pulsing, solidified magma. Its tip shimmered with contained fury.
This chamber’s origin was the Pyroclast Dragon. Without its core, the rift could not maintain its form. It faced annihilation. A shimmering crimson portal appeared before the Pyroclast Dragon’s remains. It was the exit from the primal chamber. Just before stepping into the portal, Kael turned to look at Silas.
“Aren’t you leaving, whelp?”