Chapter 3
1543words
This was once her mentor's secret laboratory, now sealed by triple magical barriers, with anti-theft wards formed of titan runes hovering in the air.
"Use this." Liora handed each person an enchanted scale. "It can temporarily mask the energy signature of faction emblems."
As Kael took the scale, the Sunwell energy at his fingertips resonated subtly with it, making him frown. This scale retained energy fluctuations similar to those of the Ulduar observatory instruments.
The obsidian table at the center of the secret chamber automatically unfolded, projecting a hologram of Azeroth. Red dots marked soul rifts that had now increased to thirty-seven locations.
Valery unfastened the sin stele fragment from her waist and embedded it into the groove on the table.
As she chanted in ancient Venthyr tongue, the fragment erupted with dim radiance, projecting horrifying images: Kyrian ferryboats capsizing like fallen leaves in the void, inky energy seeping from broken chains; anima seeds in the Azure Span shriveling like squeezed fruits, druidic revival spells hitting invisible barriers and rebounding as black lightning; anima storage containers of Revendreth cracking with spider-web fissures, precious energy dissipating into blue smoke.
"In the past half year, the number of souls guided by Kyrian has dropped by seventy percent." Valery's voice carried a metallic, scratchy quality. Her sin record appeared on the edge of the sin monument—those past deeds of helping the Jailer steal anima flickered alongside the images. "After the Arbiter fell dormant, souls were already struggling to cycle normally. Now even the remaining soul flow is disappearing."
Zik suddenly whistled, pointing at a distorted energy flow in the image. "Look here! The Kaja stone resonance device shows these souls didn't enter the Maw, but... vanished into thin air?" He pulled up an energy curve comparison chart. "The energy signature perfectly matches the Ironforge rift—it's fluctuations from the Unbound Space!"
Liora opened her mentor's notebook. The yellowed pages automatically turned to a specific page under the light of the Sin Monument. "Found it," her fingertips traced the Titan inscription. "'The heart of the Star Soul pulses without cease, maintaining the balance between the realms of the living and the dead. When the breath of the stars weakens, the buffer zone will shatter like thin ice'—The stability of the Unbound Space indeed relies on Star Soul energy!"
She suddenly looked up, shock flashing in her eyes. "If the Star Soul energy continues to drain away, the Unbound Space will completely collapse, and then..."
"All souls will be directly exposed to the void," Valery continued. The Sin Monument suddenly shook violently, projecting clearer images: a group of Kyrian knights performing a soul-guiding ritual, but their golden armor was covered with black spots, and the soul stones in their hands emitted an ominous purple light. When they touched the souls, those souls instantly twisted into shadow creatures.
"This is impossible." Kael gripped his longbow tightly. "The Kyrian are guides of souls, their rituals should purify, not corrupt." He recognized the emblem on the knight's armor. "That's Kyrestia, the most senior Kyrian warrior."
Zik suddenly stood up, slapping the table. His modified resonance device projected a small rift on the tabletop. "My ore can locate the weakest nodes in the Unbound Space, perhaps opening a temporary passage to the Shadowlands." The Kaja ore on the device suddenly emitted a buzzing sound. "Right now, the rift energy in Tirisfal Glades has reached its peak!"
Liora quickly drew a teleportation array. "Titan records mention an observatory tower of souls in Bastion, which might reveal the cause of the disappearing souls. But we need enough energy to keep the channel stable." She looked at Valery. "Can Venthyr shadow energy resonate with the Kaja ore?"
Valery's sin stone suddenly levitated, resonating with the ore in the device. "The energy from a Redeemer's sins might work, but the process will be painful." She looked toward Kael. "A blood elf's Holy Light energy can neutralize excessive shadow corruption. We need to work together."
When the four stood in the teleportation array, Zik activated the device.
The Kaja ore array erupted in blinding red light, intertwining with the shadow energy from Valery's sin stone to form a spiral-shaped tunnel.
Kael infused the Sunwell's energy into the edges of the magical array, forming a golden barrier. Liora chanted Titan runes, attempting to stabilize the spatial fluctuations.
"Hold tight! This baby hasn't been tested!" Zik's shout was drowned out by the roar of space being torn apart.
Traversing the rift felt like passing through boiling tar. Countless tiny soul fragments brushed against their bodies, emitting piercing wails.
Liora felt her magical barrier slowly eroding, with shrieks of void energy mixed within those fragments.
When their vision cleared, they found themselves standing on a desolate golden plain.
The spires of the Ascension Fortress pierced the blood-red sky. The once pristine white marble walls were now covered with ink-colored vines. The air reeked with the bitter smell of depleted heart energy, and from the distance came the grating sound of twisting metal.
"Welcome to the 'Shadow Version' of Ascension Fortress." Zik's device emitted urgent alarms. "Energy readings are off the charts! The Kaja ore can't hold much longer!"
Liora pointed to the temple ruins nearby. "The observation tower should be over there. Stay alert—"
Before she could finish, three Kyrian clad in tattered armor descended from the sky. Their wings had transformed into bone spikes made of shadow energy, and void vortexes burned in their eyes.
"Forsworn..." Valery gripped her sin stone. "They failed the ascension trial and were consumed by negative emotions."
But she quickly realized something was wrong—these Forsworn had shadow sigils on their armor identical to those in Ulduar.
Kael fired an enchanted arrow, but the lead Kyrian deflected it with a wave of his hand. The Kyrian raised his spear, its tip concentrating not holy light, but swirling void energy. "Purify... all... souls..." His voice sounded like countless souls howling simultaneously.
The battle erupted instantly. The ice wall summoned by Liora was easily penetrated by the Kyrian's void spear. When Kael's Sunwell energy hit the enemy, it unexpectedly triggered an energy explosion—the collision of the two forces generated a strange shockwave. The bombs thrown by Zik mutated upon contact with shadow energy, splitting into countless small void creatures.
"They're absorbing void energy to strengthen themselves!" Liora noticed the Kyrian drawing inky energy from the air with each attack. "Valery, use your sin stone!"
Valery thrust the sin stone into the ground, causing the Venthyr's shadow energy to violently clash with the Kyrian's void energy.
"These are no ordinary Forsworn," she struggled to maintain the energy barrier. "Their souls have been transformed into void vessels! Look at their ritual movements—"
Those Kyrian were performing twisted ascension rituals, attempting to convert the wandering soul fragments around them into void energy.
Liora suddenly recalled the records in her mentor's notes. "It's the Jailer's experiment! He wants to modify the soul cycle mechanism, converting all souls into void energy!"
Just then, a massive energy fluctuation came from the direction of the observation tower. The Kaja ore device suddenly pointed in that direction, with a warning flashing on the screen: "Detected large amounts of anima residue—along with the energy signature of a Harvester's medallion!"
Kael's arrow pierced through the throat of the last Kyrian. He watched as the body dissipated into shadow. "The Harvesters of Shadow have already been here."
He picked up a fragment of remaining armor, which bore the insignia of Revendreth.
Valery's sin stele suddenly shook violently, projecting a brief image: seven Venthyr conducting a ritual on the top floor of the observation tower, medal fragments in their hands emitting a red glow, void energy flowing through their ritual array into the core of Bastion. "They're accelerating the corruption of the Kyrian," she said, her face pale. "If they complete the ritual, the entire Bastion will become a transit point for void energy."
Zik's device emitted a piercing alarm. "Our portal is about to close! And—"
He pointed to the end of the plain, where dark masses of corrupted Kyrian were surging toward them. "We have trouble, big trouble!"
Liora quickly drew a return array on the ground. "Valery, use the sin stele to locate the next safe node! Zik, enhance the ore energy! Kael, cover us!"
When the golden portal lit up again, she took one last look at the flashing red light atop the observation tower. The energy fluctuations created an ominous resonance deep within her soul—it wasn't just Void energy, but something more ancient and more dangerous awakening.
In the rift on the return journey, Liora's mentor's notebook opened automatically. Titan-like prophetic words appeared on a blank page: "When light becomes the breeding ground for the Void, when shadow devours the path of souls, only when the memory of the redeemed resonates with the pulse of star souls, can the path to balance be found."
Below was a line of scribbled annotation, as if added by her mentor before death: "The sin stone of Revendreth holds the key to reversal."
