The obsidian tower loomed above them, a jagged structure half-consumed by frost, the other half smoldering with eternal flame. Snow fell in reverse around it—rising instead of descending—and the wind whispered in lost tongues.
Kaen placed a hand on the tower's dark surface. "It's older than the gate itself," he muttered. "This thing wasn't built. It was grown."
Zian stepped beside him, her breath visible in the frigid air. "I can feel something… something familiar."
"Familiar?" Lirien echoed, her rapier drawn. "As in memory returning?"
Zian shook her head. "Not yet. But it's close. Like it's calling."
Rourke motioned toward a broken archway. "There's only one way in."
Inside, the air grew hotter with every step, yet the stone beneath them remained ice-cold. Hallways twisted like the roots of a dead tree, and symbols shimmered faintly on the walls—runes from before recorded time.
Rayden lit a torch. "This place feels… alive."
Kaen didn't answer. His eyes never stopped moving.
They reached the heart of the tower—a vast chamber with no ceiling, its walls stretching endlessly upward. Suspended in the center was a floating orb of fractured crystal, pulsing with chaotic energy—half encased in frost, half dripping molten lava.
"The core," Mira whispered.
Then the air exploded.
Flames surged. Ice daggers rained down. A creature emerged from the shadows—part wraith, part elemental, its body a swirl of fire and frost. It roared with a voice that shattered the ground beneath them.
"Guardian of Balance," Kaen said calmly. "A failed experiment from before gods existed."
The group scattered as the monster attacked, its strikes tearing through stone.
Zian and Lirien struck together, coordinated like dancers in battle. Leon and Kyel flanked, striking its limbs. Mira launched freezing beams while Rayden punched through with flame. Rourke kept them protected, deflecting elemental blasts with glowing shields.
Kaen, however, didn't move.
"Kaen—" Zian called out.
"I'm watching," he said.
The Guardian grew more erratic, its balance slipping, fire overtaking ice. Kaen's eyes narrowed. "There. The fracture."
He moved.
Shadows surged up like a tide. In a blur, he stood at the core, touching the orb. With a single word—unspoken but heard by the tower—the chaos stilled.
The Guardian shrieked, unraveling into ash and silence.
The core dimmed, then pulsed once—then shattered.
A warm light bathed them. Zian fell to her knees again, another memory brushing her mind: standing in a place just like this… alone… her wings torn… her god bleeding.
Kaen caught her before she collapsed.
"You were never meant to carry it all alone," he whispered.
Outside, the tower crumbled behind them. The +A-rank gate cleared, leaving blue skies and fresh snow behind.
But something unseen had watched them from afar. Something that remembered Zareth.
And it was no longer content to wait.