When Xiao, Aster, and Heim passed through the Gate of Light behind the shattered throne, the journey was not merely a physical crossing — it was an existential passage, a shift from time to time, from law to law.
Their bodies fragmented in the light, and their souls passed through nameless moments.
---
*The Otherworld*
The first sight in Niflheim was unlike any world they had known.
A sky torn by flaming fissures, a blackened land breathing heat, and mountains that melted and reshaped ceaselessly.
Heim spoke hoarsely:
> "We are at the heart of the Flame Realm… where nothing is born except through death."
Yet, a towering city rose in the distance — _Valsgard_, the Capital of Fire, said to have been built by _Surtr_ himself with the blood of his enemies.
---
*The Oath of Flame*
Inside the city, they were greeted by the "Ember Wardens," twisted humanoid beings, their bodies bleeding fire and eyes glowing like burning coals.
One of them stepped forward and said to Xiao:
> "You shattered the Throne's Seal? Then… you are the one chosen to complete the Oath of Flame."
Xiao asked him:
> "What is this oath?"
The warden replied:
> "He who enters Niflheim does not leave without choosing:
to burn… or to burn others."
---
*The Ritual — Trial of Inner Flame*
They were led to an enormous temple of fire at the city's center.
There, each of them had to undergo the trial of _Inner Blaze_ — where their spirits were confronted by the Flame of Truth — a fire that burned not flesh, but revealed soul.
Aster entered first.
She screamed — not from pain, but from the visions her heart saw: her father, her city, her failures.
Heim hesitated, then entered.
He saw how he had once been a pawn in the hand of an unknown enemy… and how he lost his kingdom through naïveté.
---
Then Xiao stepped inside.
But the flame stopped before him. It did not attack.
Instead, it asked in a searing voice:
> "Who are you… truly?"
Xiao did not answer, but he _felt_ it — that curse… the curse of the blood within him.
He saw images he had never seen before: a woman with dark eyes, resembling him… screaming as she fell into the flames, his small hands stained with blood.
---
*A Pact of Fire*
The three emerged from the trial changed.
Less human, more ember.
They were met by the "Prince of Ash" — the fiery heir of Niflheim.
He said:
> "You are the first to survive the trial in a century.
Now, you must seal a pact with us, or… perish."
At that, Xiao looked up at the fissured sky and said:
> "I will not burn another world to survive.
But… I will burn the path to stop ruin."
---
*A New Threat*
Before the pact could be sealed, a scream echoed from above.
A gate tore open in the sky, and from it emerged a colossal hand of shadow, pulling light itself into its grasp.
The Prince of Ash cried out:
> "It is… the Devourer Between Worlds… the shadow even the gods failed to bind!"
Xiao glanced back at Aster and Heim, then drew his sword:
> "This is no time for pacts… but for war."
---
And so… in an unforgiving land, amidst crumbling realms,
Xiao stood at the edge of a new battle — one not even the legends had foretold.