The deeper they traveled, the heavier the air became.
What had once been mere ruins, crumbled walls and fractured stone, had transformed into something older, something untouched by time yet still lingering in its grasp. The path beneath their feet was no longer paved with shattered cobblestone, but with smooth obsidian-like slabs, each etched with faintly glowing runes that pulsed in slow, rhythmic beats, as if mirroring the heartbeat of something vast and unseen beneath the surface.
The very fabric of Etherion shifted, thickening with each step they took. It wasn't just the presence of power, this was something ancient, something that had been sleeping, undisturbed for countless ages. The air hummed with a resonance that brushed against their skin like unseen whispers, as if the ruins themselves were watching.
The architecture around them began to change. Where once there had been simple, crumbling structures, now great monoliths loomed in the distance, jagged and reaching toward the heavens like the skeletal remains of an empire that had long since turned to dust. The stone was too perfect, too precisely cut, untouched by time despite the ruin that surrounded them.
Vines with glowing blue thorns curled around the cracked pillars, feeding on the raw Etherion that radiated from below. Strange, iridescent mist clung to the ground, shifting like tendrils of smoke, coiling at their feet before retreating as they stepped forward. The scent of ancient parchment, wet stone, and something faintly metallic lingered in the air, as if the very place had preserved the echoes of its past.
And through it all—silence.
No birds. No insects. No wind.
Just the oppressive stillness of a place long abandoned, but never truly empty.
Evolis felt it in his bones. The way his Etherion whispered back at the ruins, reacting to the invisible force pressing in on them. This place wasn't just forgotten.
It was waiting.
Evolis felt it first.
The shift in Etherion.
It was subtle at first, just a tingle in his senses, a faint hum in the air. But the closer they moved toward their destination, the stronger it became. The very ground beneath their feet pulsed, as if breathing with the lifeblood of something immense, something waiting.
Aeliana noticed it next. Her steps slowed, her fingers grazing one of the twisted stone obelisks along the path. "This place… it feels like it's alive."
"It's not alive," Evolis muttered, his golden eyes narrowing. "But something here never truly died."
Orion exhaled sharply beside him, rolling his shoulders. "That's not unsettling at all. Love that."
They pressed on.
The jungle-like foliage around them thickened as the energy grew denser. Towering trees with bark as dark as midnight twisted toward the sky, their roots gripping the ruins like ancient sentries. Strange, luminescent plants lined the pathway, feeding on the raw Etherion that radiated from deeper within.
And then they saw it.
A massive circular portal.
It stood between the ruins of what must have once been an altar, the swirling vortex of dark Etherion flickering in and out of existence, as though the very fabric of reality was struggling to contain it.
And before it—
A troop.
At least two dozen Dark Elf soldiers were stationed around the portal, their armor gleaming in the unnatural glow of the swirling gateway. Their presence was suffocating, silent, disciplined, deadly.
But that wasn't the worst of it.
At the center of them all stood him.
The Dark Elf Commander.
He was unlike the others. His presence alone was crushing, radiating sheer dominance. His armor was a deep obsidian, lined with intricate runic etchings that pulsed faintly with Etherion. Twin blades, long and curved, rested against his back, their hilts crackling with raw energy. His hair was silver, his eyes a piercing violet, calculating, aware.
The air crackled with lighting around, as if the very air was supercharged. Evolis could see in his vision a lighting field covering the whole camp, as the commander used it too sense any changes that were occurring in the vicinity.
This was no ordinary commander.
This was a monster in his own right.
Evolis didn't need his sight to tell him that. He could feel it.
The concentric circles in his golden eyes spun as he observed the commander closer.
Name: [Talion Stormfel]
Race: Dark-Elf
Power Level: Grandmaster Stage
"..." Evolis' eyes slightly widened.
If they were caught, they wouldn't get the chance to surrender.
They would die.
Or worse.
Aeliana's voice was barely a whisper. "We can't fight through that."
Orion let out a slow breath, his usual humor absent. "We don't have to."
Evolis already knew what needed to be done. A diversion.
He glanced at Orion. "How strong are those Etherion charges you made?"
Orion arched a brow. "Strong enough to convince those bastards they're under attack." His voice turned grim. "But if the commander doesn't take the bait…"
Evolis' gaze flickered to the portal, then back to the commander. "We don't have a choice."
Aeliana looked between them, understanding dawning in her silver eyes. "Where do we place it?"
Evolis studied the ruins carefully, mind calculating everything. The wind direction. The guard rotations. The way the energy of the portal fluctuated.
"There." He pointed toward a ridge opposite their location. "If we set it off there, the blast will make it look like an external attack, hopefully forcing them to investigate."
Orion nodded, already moving. "Then let's not waste time."
They moved quickly but silently, keeping low as they circled the perimeter. The ruins offered some cover, but with a force this disciplined, a single misstep would be their end.
Orion worked fast, embedding the Etherion charge within the fractured remains of a broken pillar. Aeliana kept watch while Evolis fine-tuned the device, ensuring the detonation wouldn't immediately give them away.
And then, they waited.
Evolis' pulse pounded in his ears. Timing was everything.
They needed as many guards as possible to move before they rushed the portal.
Orion's finger hovered over the detonator.
"Now?" he whispered.
Evolis' golden eyes flicked to the Dark Elf commander, watching as he turned slightly, scanning the area.
"…Now."
Orion pressed the trigger.
A heartbeat later— hell broke loose.
The Etherion charge detonated in a thunderous explosion, sending fire and debris cascading through the far side of the ruins. A powerful shockwave ripped through the jungle, shaking the ground beneath them.
The ground slightly trembled as the shockwave passed over them.
Shouts erupted from the Dark Elf soldiers.
Confusion.
Panic.
The commander's eyes snapped toward the explosion, his entire body tensing. His gaze narrowed.
Then he barked an order.
Immediately, the bulk of the Dark Elf guards surged toward the blast site, their weapons drawn, their focus torn away from the portal.
The sky darkened as clouds gathered above the commander, and lighting struck him, as he became empowered then he started flying upwards, towards the explosion.
Evolis didn't wait.
He quickly tapped Aeliana and Orion using his gravity powers to lower their weight, and using his space element to loosen the space around them, and bend it slightly making their figures hazy.
"Move!" he hissed, already sprinting.
They raced toward the portal, their footsteps drowned by the chaos.
Fifteen meters.
Ten.
Five—
And then—
A flicker.
A shift.
The commander turned.
Evolis felt his stomach drop.
Those piercing violet eyes locked onto him.
For a single, terrifying second, the world slowed.
Evolis' heartbeat pounded like a war drum in his ears. Every instinct screamed at him to run, to get away, to disappear. But there was nowhere to hide, not from something like this. It wasn't a battle. It was an execution waiting to happen.
The air itself turned against them, the commander's presence bending the atmosphere around him like a force of nature. Evolis had felt powerful enemies before, but this was different. This was control.
There was no winning this fight.
Their only hope was surviving long enough to escape.
The air around the Dark Elf commander crackled, the charged atmosphere bending to his will. The faintest movement of his fingers sent arcs of electricity snapping across the battlefield, burning ozone into the air. His presence was oppressive, not just in strength, but in sheer inevitability.
The gaze of a predator that had already won.
His lips parted.
Then—
He vanished.
Evolis' mind screamed a warning as his vision began overlapping with what he saw in his future vision.
Dodge. NOW.
A thin bolt of lightning, no wider than a thread of silk, sliced the space where his head had been a fraction of a second ago. The speed was unimaginable. A miscalculation of even a breath would have meant instant death.
The commander reappeared midair, silver hair swept back by the sheer force of his own momentum.
Evolis twisted—just in time.
BOOM.
A crack of thunder exploded through the ruins as the commander's foot landed on a stone pillar, reducing it to rubble.
His second attack was already coming.
"GO!" Evolis roared, shoving Aeliana forward with his Etherion.
Orion spun, knives flashing, but the commander was inhumanly fast—already repositioning, already swinging for Aeliana's back.
Evolis warped space, bending it just enough to throw the commander's attack off course.
Aeliana dove forward, just barely dodging the strike.
Orion moved next, lashing out with his daggers.
A parry.
A counter.
The commander's eyes narrowed in mild annoyance.
Then—
He struck.
Orion's defense shattered under the sheer force, sending him flying backward into a stone pillar with a sickening crunch.
Blood splattered.
Orion didn't move.
Aeliana turned sharply, Etherion crackling around her sword.
But Evolis knew.
She wouldn't make it.
The commander was already turning—his blade arcing straight for her throat.
No.
NO.
Evolis' Etherion flared—gravity shifted in an instant.
The weight of the world collapsed inward.
The commander slowed—just slightly.
Aeliana took her chance, lunging—
Evolis, at the same time, violently tugged the gravity particles in the air and attracted Orion's body toward the portal.
And in that split second of hesitation—
They crossed into the portal.
A wave of blinding light swallowed them.
A sudden, violent pull, as if the universe itself was tearing them away from reality.
Then—
Darkness.
The weight of his body vanished.
Time became meaningless.
He was falling. No, he was floating. No, he was—
Slamming back into solid ground.
The shock of it rattled his bones, forcing the air from his lungs. Evolis coughed, trying to get his bearings, his vision flickering in and out.
The ground beneath him was cold.
The air was thick, humming with power beyond comprehension.
A groan from beside him. Orion. Alive, but barely.
Aeliana staggered to her feet, silver eyes still wild with adrenaline.
Evolis turned.
The portal behind them flickered.
Through it—
The commander stood just beyond the threshold, his violet eyes burning with something unreadable.
The commander didn't move. He didn't need to.
A thin, invisible force kept him out.
Instead, the air around him crackled, space itself distorting, as if the universe itself refused to contain him. Lightning surged from his body, arcs of violet power lashing against the invisible barrier of the portal.
The very ground trembled beneath Evolis' feet. The pressure alone made his Etherion flicker, like a candle about to be snuffed out.
For the briefest moment—he swore those violet eyes saw right through him.
Then, the portal snapped shut. The world turned dark.
For a moment, he simply watched them.
Then—
A smile.
Cold. Knowing.
"Run while you can," the commander murmured.
Then—
The portal snapped shut.
Darkness swallowed them.
And the true trial began.