I opened my eyes slowly as Silver’s wings cut through the wind. The air grew heavier, and even before I saw it, I could feel the place pulling at my senses. I pushed myself upright on his back, stretching once before my eyes locked straight ahead.
Silver’s wings faltered, and for the first time since we left, he stopped mid-flight, hovering in place.
’That looks ominous,’ he muttered, voice low, wings twitching uneasily beneath me.
And I agreed with him.
A few kilometers ahead, rising from the sea like some natural monument that should not exist, was the Lamp Zone.
It wasn’t part of the Yami Continent, but sat on a solitary island beside it, an island that existed only to hold this one thing.
The Zone itself had the shape of a colossal lamp, yet it wasn’t made of stone or built by hand.
Its body was formed by the land, the ocean, and the sky all forced into impossible patterns. The curved sides of the "lamp" rose like jagged cliffs of blackened rock, their edges bending inward unnaturally until they met near the top.
The base spread wide beneath the waves, where I could see the outline glowing faintly under the water.
Dark clouds gathered above in a swirling funnel, pressing downward into the "head" of the lamp. Lightning cracked and danced within them, never breaking free, as though the storm was bound to the Zone itself.
From below, black fire burst from the ocean’s surface in thick plumes, curling upward around the island. The flames hissed when the sea tried to smother them, but they never went out. Instead, they moved like a living ring of fire, endlessly circling the Zone’s edge.
Between the storm above and the fire below, the Lamp Zone was caged in layers of shadows The sea surrounding it was eerily still—no waves, no current, as though the ocean itself refused to touch that place.
And guarding the approach stood a fortress.
"So here you are," I muttered under my breath.
Inside the stone walls, I counted six Grandmasters. Six, not four, as I had been told. One from each of the main factions, one from the Max family... and two Ferans I hadn’t even come looking for.
One bore the stripes and sharp eyes of the tiger tribe. The other, a scaled lizard-like man whose cold stare reminded me of a predator waiting to strike.
Hundreds of guards patrolled the fortress grounds and the waters around the Lamp Zone, wearing the emblems of their factions. This place wasn’t just protected, it was smothered under watchful eyes.
Why place four Grandmasters here, and even draw the Ferans into it? I wondered. None of the records I had studied mentioned anyone going in or out of the Lamp Zone. It was forbidden ground, marked by the Emperor himself as the most dangerous place in Peanu.
"There must be something inside," I whispered.
’Yes,’ Silver replied without hesitation.
I gave a sharp nod. "Wait in the core for now. I’ll call you when it’s time." His presence vanished as I unsummoned him, leaving me alone.
I let my body drop, piercing the water surface until the ocean swallowed me whole. Water pressed in from all sides as I sank to the ocean floor, then I pushed myself deeper still, swimming into the silence of the seabed.
My perception unfurled like a net, wrapping around the fortress, the patrolling guards, and the Lamp Zone itself. Every shift of armor, every flick of a tail, every quiet ripple of Essence reached me in detail.
Then I drew closer to the zone. That’s when I saw them.
The same black flames that had roared above the surface were here as well, burning impossibly beneath the water. They licked up from the depths, almost brushing against the ocean bed, and the water around them did not boil, did not stir, it simply bent away as though the flames themselves commanded it.
I swam closer and closer, the dark water parting quietly as I moved, until I stopped just three feet away from the flames.
They flickered soundlessly in the water, writhing like ribbons of black fire, yet they gave off no heat, no pressure, no law that I could sense. That was what unsettled me most, there was nothing behind them. No law. No element. Just a silent existence.
I narrowed my eyes, watching the flames curl and weave as though beckoning me forward. They looked harmless, almost delicate, like shadows pretending to be fire. But the very fact that I felt no danger from them... made them dangerous.
But I raised my hand, pointing a single finger toward the flame.
The instant my fingertip brushed it, the black fire moved. It wasn’t passive, it lunged. It latched onto me like a starving beast.
I hissed softly as I watched the skin of my finger vanish in an instant, stripped away without resistance. Flesh melted as though it had never been there, leaving behind a pale, naked bone.
And it didn’t stop. The spark of fire clung greedily, writhing and pulsing, pushing further, crawling along my finger toward my palm.
I tilted my head, more curious than alarmed, as I realized something else, it was growing stronger. The longer it consumed, the more vividly it burned, its black glow deepening in the water.
But it had chosen the wrong prey.
Before it could reach my palm, my Essence surged outward in a violent pulse. Violet Essence erupted from my core, racing through my channels and spilling from my hand. The ocean around me trembled as my Essence struck back.
The black flame twisted wildly, almost like it was alive. It wrapped tighter around my hand, scraping and tearing, trying to swallow even the Essence I pushed against it. But I forced more power out, refusing to let it spread.
My violet Essence met the dark fire head-on, the two forces grinding against each other in the quiet depths of the ocean.