The throne room pulsed.
Etherion curled through the air, heavy and oppressive, pressing down on reality itself. The ancient cathedral of bones and broken glass remembered him, as if the weight of his presence had reignited something long dormant. The stained-glass windows flickered, shifting with fractured depictions of past and future alike, distorting history with every pulse of Etherion.
And the abomination sitting upon the throne felt it too.
Its decayed head tilted slightly, its golden eyes, blackened by corruption, fixating on Evolis with a slow, dreadful certainty.
A recognition that was not surprise.
Not prophecy.
Hate.
"You…" The voice slithered through the chamber, rasping and raw, like something dragged from the depths of time. "You have returned."
Evolis' breath caught in his throat. His Etherion flickered in response, a silent ripple through his body, as if something inside him recognized this creature too. Something beyond memory, beyond sight.
Aeliana stiffened beside him, gripping her blade tighter. "Evolis—"
The entity's fingers curled against the arms of its throne, jagged nails scraping against ancient stone, sending an unnatural screech through the silence. Orion shifted uneasily, his usual smirk absent, his stance edged with tension.
The creature exhaled, its ruined lips twisting into something between a sneer and a hollow grin.
"You should not be alive."
The words struck harder than they should have.
"You… who let it all burn."
Evolis' pulse slammed through his veins.
For the first time since stepping into this chamber, since setting foot in this accursed ruin, he felt the whisper of something deeper.
Something dangerous.
Something waiting to be remembered.
A flicker of something, almost a memory, surged through Evolis—golden flames, a collapsing battlefield, screams swallowed by the void.
Gone in an instant.
His breath hitched.
"I don't know what you're talking about," Evolis said, voice even. "But judging by the fact that you're rotting on that throne, I'd say whatever happened should probably be buried in the past."
A violent pulse of Etherion erupted from the entity, shaking the entire chamber. The stained-glass windows cracked further, the grotesque depictions within them shifting, watching.
"You dare?" The creature rose, and the weight of its presence sent a crushing force through the room. "After everything—you stand before me and mock me?"
Orion let out a strained chuckle, rolling his shoulders. "Yeah, okay. So, this is going well."
"Orion," Aeliana snapped, eyes locked on the abomination.
The entity ignored them, taking a single step forward.
The ground beneath its feet withered.
Stone turned to dust. Shadows slithered from its wake, drawn to the gaping void where its heart should have been. The Etherion chains wrapped around the throne trembled, resisting, but with each movement, they weakened.
And then—it laughed.
A sound twisted and wrong, filled with something deeper than hatred. Something ancient.
"You do not even remember," the creature spat, its voice seething with rage. "How convenient."
Evolis exhaled sharply, instincts screaming at him. They needed to move.
Aeliana, catching the shift in his stance, readied herself. "We're leaving."
"Oh, thank the gods," Orion muttered. "I thought we were actually about to fight that thing."
But the entity's laughter did not stop.
"Flee," it rasped, almost amused. "Run, as you always have. It will not save you."
Evolis ignored it, grabbing Aeliana's wrist and motioning for Orion to move.
And then—the entity lunged.
It didn't move like something bound by mortal constraints. One moment it stood before the throne, the next—it was on them.
Evolis barely had time to twist space, yanking Aeliana and Orion backward as a massive, decayed arm crashed down where they had been. The shockwave shattered the ground, jagged tendrils of corrupted Etherion surging outward.
"GO!" Evolis shouted.
Orion needed no further encouragement. He sprinted toward the corridor they had entered through—only for it to collapsein front of him, swallowed by writhing shadows.
"Okay—never mind!" Orion spun on his heel, daggers flashing as he barely dodged a second Etherion blast. "Plan B! What's Plan B?!"
Aeliana was already moving, her gaze darting across the chamber, searching for an exit. "Up!" she called, pointing toward an ancient archway half-buried in the crumbling walls.
"Fantastic," Orion muttered. "We love climbing for our lives."
The abomination roared, shadows lashing outward. Evolis warped space around them just enough to bend the attack's trajectory—but the force of it still sent him staggering.
Too strong.
Too fast.
If they stayed, they would die.
Aeliana reached the broken archway first, vaulting up using the remains of an old pillar. Evolis followed right after—but Orion barely made it, the entity's clawed fingers snapping closed just behind him.
"Not today, nightmare corpse!" Orion hissed, scrambling up as Aeliana grabbed his arm and hauled him the rest of the way.
The entity shrieked.
A sound not meant for mortal ears.
Evolis' vision blurred for a split second. The Etherion chains around the throne shattered completely, and for a moment—just a moment—it was free.
We won't make it.
The thought hit him harder than he wanted to admit.
But then—something shifted.
A pulse rippled through the chamber.
The abomination stopped.
Not because of them.
But because something else was stopping it.
The shadows at its feet convulsed, writhing unnaturally. The air hissed with Etherion energy, but instead of pressing forward, the entity staggered.
"Bound," Aeliana whispered. "It's still bound."
The creature's golden eyes burned with hatred, flicking toward the shattered remains of its throne. The markings on the stone floor, ancient, jagged runes, flared, chaining it once more.
For the first time, its voice did not boom.
It whispered.
"You think this will hold me forever?"
The chamber trembled, but the bindings remained.
Evolis met its glare.
The entity did not lunge again. Did not chase.
But it did speak.
"You have escaped me once," it murmured, something almost sickeningly satisfied in its tone. "But they will find you."
A pause.
A grin that shouldn't have been possible stretched across its ruined face.
"They are already watching."
Orion stiffened. "Who's watching?"
The abomination only laughed.
Evolis didn't stay to find out.
He grabbed Aeliana and Orion, warping them through the last stretch of broken corridor before sprinting toward daylight.
The temple collapsed behind them.
The night air hit them like a cold slap, sharp and biting against their sweat-drenched skin. The transition from the suffocating tomb of Etherion to the open sky should have been a relief, should have felt like freedom, but Evolis found no comfort in it.
The silence outside was unnatural.
As if the world itself had felt what lay beneath. As if it, too, recoiled from the ruin they had left behind.
Aeliana's grip on his wrist was firm, steady, grounding. She was breathing hard, but her hand did not tremble. She was anchoring him.
He hadn't realized how much he needed that.
Evolis exhaled sharply, dragging a hand through his damp hair. His heart was still hammering, not from exertion, but from something deeper.
Something colder.
'They are already watching.'
The entity's voice slithered through his mind, coiling around his thoughts, refusing to let go.
Orion staggered forward before slumping onto a boulder, running a hand down his face. His usual cocky bravado had dimmed, replaced with something closer to weary frustration.
"So," he panted, rubbing his temples. "I hate it here."
Aeliana let out a breath that was almost a laugh, but there was no humor in it.
Evolis didn't respond.
His golden eyes remained locked onto the ruins below. The broken temple, the ancient prison, the thing still trapped inside.
The thing that had known him.
The thing that had been waiting.
Aeliana followed his gaze, then stepped closer, her voice quiet but unwavering. "It's over, Evolis. We got out."
But had they?
Had they really?
Evolis clenched his fists, the residual pulse of Etherion still thrumming through his veins.
For the first time in a long time, he realized something that sent a slow, gnawing dread curling in his gut.
He had no idea what he was truly up against.
They had found shelter an hour's journey from the ruins, an abandoned outpost, long since left to nature. The stone walls were cracked, vines creeping through the fractures, but it provided cover. Enough to feel safe.
Not enough to feel at ease.
The fire crackled softly, its glow casting flickering shadows along the walls. It was a small, meager flame, but none of them had the energy to build anything stronger.
No one spoke.
Not at first.
The silence stretched between them, thick and heavy, like the weight of what they had seen was pressing down on their lungs.
Orion leaned against the wall, arms folded behind his head, his eyes closed, but Evolis knew he wasn't sleeping. Aeliana sat a few feet away, her blade resting across her lap, her fingers running absentmindedly along its hilt.
She was thinking. Processing.
Just like he was.
Evolis exhaled, breaking the silence. "I'm going to train."
Aeliana blinked, turning to him. "Now?"
Orion cracked an eye open. "You're joking, right?"
Evolis shook his head, already pushing himself up. His body ached, his muscles screamed for rest, but his mind was too sharp, too restless.
"I need to clear my head," he said simply.
Aeliana studied him for a moment, her gaze lingering on the tension in his shoulders, the way his golden eyes burned with something unsettled.
She didn't argue.
Instead, she just said, "Don't overdo it."
Evolis gave a small, wry smirk. "Wouldn't dream of it."
Orion let out a tired groan. "Yeah, yeah. Try not to get eaten by an ancient horror while you're at it."
Evolis chuckled under his breath, then turned and left the fire behind.
The forest was quiet, save for the occasional rustle of wind through the trees.
Evolis found a clearing beneath the moonlight, surrounded by twisting vines and towering branches. He let out a slow breath, stretching his body, forcing his mind away from the weight pressing down on him.
His Plantae Etherion stirred at his fingertips, shifting, waiting.
He closed his eyes, focusing.
The abomination in the ruins had been consuming Etherion—draining what should not have belonged to it.
Evolis had watched it happen. Analyzed it. Understood it.
And now—
He was going to replicate it.
The forest was quiet, the cool night air carrying the distant hum of rustling leaves. The moon cast a soft glow over the clearing, illuminating Evolis as he worked, his Plantae Etherion pulsing faintly in his palms. The energy curled like living vines, shifting, stretching, feeding. He was close. He could feel it.
And then—
"Oh, you're actually training."
Aeliana's voice broke through the silence, wry and amused.
Evolis turned, finding her leaning against a tree, arms crossed.
He smirked. "What? Did you think I was lying?"
Aeliana shrugged, tilting her head back to gaze at the stars. "No… I just thought you might've wanted to get your mind off of what that… abomination was saying."
Evolis stilled. The energy at his fingertips sputtered, flickering out as his focus broke. He exhaled, closing his eyes, trying to shake the weight of the entity's words.
"You're right," he admitted, his voice quieter now. "That's why I'm training. Honestly… what it said really struck me. And I don't know why."
Aeliana's sharp gaze flickered back to him. She didn't say anything, just studied him, waiting.
Evolis hesitated, then took a slow breath. "Can I ask you something, Aeliana?"
She pushed off the tree slightly, intrigued. "That depends. Am I going to like the question?"
He huffed a small laugh. "Probably not."
She smirked. "Go on then."
Evolis hesitated for only a second before meeting her gaze. "Do you believe in past lives?"
Aeliana blinked.
For a moment, the only sound between them was the gentle rustling of the wind.
Then, finally, she spoke, her voice softer than before. "I think… I've heard the stories. Reincarnation, cycles of fate, souls that refuse to pass on. The High Elves had theories, but they were just that... theories." She took a small step forward. "Why?"
Evolis exhaled, rubbing the back of his neck. "Because I think I had one."
Aeliana froze.
The flicker of realization dawned in her eyes, like a puzzle finally clicking into place. The abomination's words. Its hatred. The way it spoke to him not as a stranger, but as someone it had once known.
"That's what it was talking about," she murmured, almost to herself.
Evolis gave a small, humorless smile. "I think so."
Aeliana searched his face, as if trying to find something deeper beneath the confession. "And you're telling me this now? After everything we've been through?"
His smirk softened. "Well… you are the first person I've told."
Something shifted in Aeliana's expression. The tension in her shoulders eased, and a slow, genuine smile pulled at her lips—small but real.
"You really do trust me, huh?"
Evolis huffed, looking away. "Don't make a big deal out of it."
She took another step closer, tilting her head. "I might have to. I was beginning to think you were hopelessly romantic, but now you're telling me you were a whole different person in another life? That's commitment."
Evolis groaned. "You're impossible."
Aeliana just grinned. "And yet, here you are, confessing past lives to me in the moonlight."
He shook his head, but there was a warmth in his chest now, one that hadn't been there before.
The fear, the confusion... it hadn't gone away.
But in this moment, standing under the stars, with Aeliana's teasing smile and her unwavering presence beside him…
It felt lighter.
He exhaled, rolling his shoulders as he turned back to his training.
And just like that, Aeliana's smirk returned.
"So what are you busy with?"
Evolis shrugged. "I saw how the facility was using Etherion to sustain the bodies. It was different from normal healing or regeneration. It was... controlled absorption. I'm trying to see if I can replicate it, but in a way that doesn't corrupt the source."
He frowned slightly, watching as his Plantae Element flickered before fading back into his skin.
Aeliana stiffened. "...You're trying to mimic what those creatures were doing?"
Evolis nodded, unconcerned. "Not exactly. Their Etherion was... unnatural. It wasn't theirs. It was being forced into them, sustaining them like puppets. But the principle, the way they absorbed and redistributed energy, is interesting. If I can control it properly, I might be able to develop something similar without the side effects."
Aeliana watched him closely, her expression unreadable.
"You're doing that thing again."
Evolis raised a brow. "What thing?"
"The thing where you make the impossible sound like it's easy."
Evolis smirked. "It's not impossible."
Aeliana arched a brow, skeptical. "This kind of manipulation hasn't been done before. Etherion absorption is possible, but restructuring it at will? That's not something you can just figure out in a few minutes."
"Maybe they just never tried."
She scoffed, but there was an undertone of something else in her voice. Something bordering between admiration and frustration.
Evolis exhaled, turning his attention back to his Etherion.
The way the abomination had fed, it hadn't just stolen Etherion.
It had absorbed it. Converted it.
Evolis lifted his hand, letting the tendrils of Plantae Etherion extend from his palm, twisting like living vines. He reached out, not to the trees, not to the plants around him, but to the very life in the air.
And he pulled.
The shift was immediate.
For the first time, he felt the Etherion bend to him in a way it never had before. It flowed into his own, absorbed, redirected, and reformed.
Aeliana's breath hitched. "You're actually doing it."
The vines around Evolis' fingers thickened, pulsing with new energy. The plants weren't just growing, they were feeding.
His Etherion had evolved.
From merely controlling life—to consuming it.
Evolis grinned.
[Congratulations! You've reached Stage 5 in your Plantae Element]
Breakthrough.
'I haven't checked my status in a while', He thought as he shelved that thought away for later.
Aeliana let out a slow, incredulous breath. "I hate that you make things look this easy."
Evolis laughed. "It's not. But it is possible."
She stepped closer, studying him carefully. "So what now?"
He clenched his fist, feeling the newfound power settle into him, his golden eyes flickering in the dark.
"Now," he said, "we see how far I can take it."