A smile tugged at my lips as I stared at the strange sight in front of me. I had seen many dangerous things before, but this... this was something else.
The black fire wasn’t like the deathmist I was familiar with. Deathmist ate away at Essence, chewing through it like it was made to destroy. That was already bad enough, but this flame felt even stranger. They were similar in nature, almost like two predators meant to hunt each other. And now, this black fire stood before me, as if daring me to step closer.
Part of me wanted to study it right there, to break it apart and see what laws shaped it. But I held back. That could wait until I reached the lamp—the real source of all this.
I raised my hand and pressed my will outward, then snapped my fingers. A ripple spread through the water, silent but sharp, and the flame clinging to me vanished at once. My vitality rushed through me, knitting flesh back together, and in the blink of an eye my palm was whole again.
It wasn’t difficult. Whatever this thing was, it had no master. My will was enough to smother it.
With that, I stepped forward. A thin layer of Essence mixed with my will spread around me, forming a protective bubble, and I walked toward the barrier of flames.
Crossing the threshold, I expected only a wall of fire. Instead, I was swallowed by it.
It wasn’t a simple layer, it was endless, stretching in all directions. For a moment, it felt like I was sinking into an ocean made of flames instead of water. All around me, black fire twisted and churned, coiling like a cyclone that had swallowed the land whole.
The deeper I went, the more oppressive it became. Each step forward was like walking deeper into the jaws of something that shouldn’t exist. The fire pressed down, pressing harder, hungrier, but it couldn’t touch me.
My Omega Psynapse held firm, untouchable. I could feel the difference between myself and others. Even someone with a Psynapse strength of a 1000 would be swallowed whole in seconds here.
I wondered if that was why this place had stayed untouched. After all, I doubted there was anyone alive across the three human worlds who carried an Omega-level Psynapse while still being only at the Grandmaster rank.
It took me almost a full minute of walking before I finally pushed through the last of the black flames.
I was still standing on the ocean bed, and when I raised my head, I saw land looming above me. The wall of fire had carved the ocean apart, sealing the island off like some forbidden place cut out of the sea itself.
I tapped my foot against the seabed, gathering strength, and shot upward in a single leap, breaking through the water and landing on the island.
Behind me was the wall of black flames and above the black clouds churned with crackling lightning.
But the instant I stepped out, my eyes froze on the sight before me.
It looked like a painting drawn by someone who had drowned in endless sorrow.
At the very heart of this storm of black fire stood a castle. Once, it must have been grand, its tall pillars and sweeping walls spoke of beauty and power but now it was nothing more than a husk.
Every inch of stone was charred black, its surfaces carrying the same color as the flames that surrounded it. A beautiful ruin swallowed by despair.
The ground outside told its own story. Craters scarred the land as though some great battle had once taken place here. Scattered between them were giant bones, bleached and broken, remnants of creatures I could not name. And beyond them stretched a vast cemetery.
Rows of graves lined the earth outside the castle walls. Some stood upright, with names faintly etched into their boards, the letters warped and blurred by time.
Others had been shattered, half-buried in the craters or burned by stray fire. A few, strangely, looked as though someone had tended to them long ago, though no hand had touched them in ages.
The scenery looked like a world that had lost its voice and the air carried the weight of grief.
I drew in a long breath and stepped forward. My feet carried me past the graves, one after another, the stones standing crooked in the dead soil.
I glanced at the names carved on them, but most were too faded to read. Only a few letters clung to the surface, most had been worn down with time.
Beyond and among the graves lay bones, giant, scattered pieces of creatures that once must have shaken the earth when they lived.
Some were almost a hundred feet tall, their ribs rising like broken arches against the dark sky.
There were all kinds among them: twisted humanoid frames, reptilian spines that stretched like ridges of mountains, even the hollow wings of birds large enough to blot out the castle if they still lived.
I found myself wondering if they had once stood to defend this place, or if they were the attackers that tried to bring it down. Maybe they were both.
I kept walking, my steps slow and heavy, until the graves thinned out and I stood before the castle gates, still standing, though blackened and scarred by fire.
I stepped closer and laid my hand against the surface. The gates weren’t metal as I expected, but wood, solid and stubborn despite the centuries. Intricate carvings covered them, most of it decorative, but one emblem in the center caught my eye.
It was a clock. Half of it was carved into one gate, the other half into the other, so that when the gates were closed, the image was whole.
Four clock needles stretched across its face, pointing in pairs to opposite times—two and eight, ten and four. If the gates opened, each half of the clock would split, the hands divided between the two doors.
The image of the clock stayed etched in my mind as I pulled my hand away and stepped back. With a push of my legs, I leapt over the gates and landed on top of the castle wall. I wasn’t about to risk opening them and waking some ancient ghost but then again, who knew if they were already awake the moment I set foot on this island.
I gave a small shrug and lifted off, flying toward the main castle.
There was quite a bit of ground between the outer wall and the main keep, and that space was filled with rows of houses. There weren’t many, only twenty-three in total. My perception swept through each one as I passed. They were spotless, empty, and completely bare. No furniture, no belongings, nothing.
"Don’t tell me this place was already looted..." I muttered under my breath.