The ruins of the monastery turned out to be larger than they had seemed from a distance. Cracked stone walls rose out of the fog, ivy and moss covering the once-proud columns, and a strange, heavy silence settled over the place, one that seemed to deepen with every step they took.
Kael, Shiro, and Akira approached the main entrance slowly — a massive, wrought-iron gate, half overgrown with vines.
"Do you think he's here?" Akira asked quietly, as if afraid to disturb the silence.
Before anyone could answer, a deep, hoarse voice spoke from behind the gate.
"Leave."
All three of them stopped. Through the gaps in the gate, a silhouette was visible — tall, broad-shouldered, holding a massive, dark top, its surface lined with small, glowing cracks, like smoldering fissures on the side of a volcano.
"Valaris?" Kael asked cautiously.
"That's me. And I said leave."
"Voltar sent us," Kael tried. "He said you could help us."
"Voltar seems to say a lot of things these days." The voice grew more mocking. "I don't care who sent you. I don't teach anyone."
"Please, this is important. The Heirs' power is in danger, and—"
"I know what the danger is, boy." Valaris's voice sharpened now, almost angry. "Better than you'd think. That's exactly why I don't open the door to people who think an old legend will solve their problems."
Kael stepped forward, closer to the gate.
"We're not looking for a legend. We're looking for the truth. Aurelion and Reizen want to awaken the Destruction."
Silence fell. A long, tense silence, in which Kael could almost hear his own heartbeat.
"That's not true," Valaris finally said, but there was something in his voice that didn't match his words. Fear, perhaps. Or rather, the denial of it.
"It's true," Kael insisted. "Voltar believed us too, once we told him."
"Voltar always believed things too easily." Valaris's voice grew more tired now. "Leave. I don't want any part of this. Not now, not ever."
The silhouette disappeared from behind the gate, the sound of footsteps fading into the distance, then nothing.
Akira kicked the gate angrily, though she knew it was pointless.
"What was that?"
"He's afraid," Shiro said quietly, his gaze still fixed on the gate. "That wasn't anger in the refusal. It was his voice. He's afraid we might be right."
Kael nodded, though his stomach tightened with disappointment.
"We still need him. We can't give up."
But the gate remained shut, no matter how much they knocked that evening.
Not far away, on a rocky clearing, they made camp. The fire flickered faintly as all three sat around it in silence, the day's disappointment still weighing on their shoulders.
"We'll try again in the morning," Kael said, more to himself than to the others.
At night, when everyone was asleep, or nearly asleep, the ground suddenly trembled beneath Akira.
"What is th—" she cried out, but it was already too late.
The ground collapsed beneath her, and Shiro, reaching out instinctively to save her, fell as well, dragging Kael down with him as he tried to catch them both at the last moment.
All three of them plunged into a dark, damp cavity that looked like an old, forgotten tunnel beneath the monastery. Dust drifted slowly down around them in the moonlight filtering through the gap above their heads.
"Are you okay?" Kael groaned as he tried to get up.
"I think so," Shiro replied, though his voice sounded pained. "My ankle… I don't think I can stand on it."
Akira looked around in the darkness, panic beginning to creep into her voice.
"How do we get out of here?"
The wall Kael tried to feel his way along was slick and crumbling — every touch sent more stones falling, as though the entire cavity could collapse at any moment.
"Help!" Kael shouted, though he knew how slim the chances were that anyone would hear them in the dead of night, in this abandoned region.
Minutes passed that felt like hours. Shiro grew paler and paler, Akira's voice more and more desperate, when a light appeared in the gap above their heads.
"Who's down there?" a deep, familiar voice called down.
"Valaris!" Kael shouted, hope flickering in him. "Please, help us! My friend is hurt!"
Silence was the answer for a long moment, in which Kael feared the old man would simply leave them there.
But then a rope dropped down through the gap.
"Hold on," Valaris muttered from above. "And don't you dare think this means I've changed my mind."
He pulled them up one by one, handling Shiro the most carefully, checking his injured ankle before anyone could say a word.
"Broken?" Valaris asked, examining the injury with surprisingly gentle movements.
"I don't think so," Shiro replied through gritted teeth. "Just sprained."
Valaris grunted, then pulled out a cloth and skillfully bandaged the ankle.
"Come on," he finally said, something reluctant but undeniably caring in his voice. "I can't leave you out here for the night like this."
The inside of the monastery was surprisingly homely — simple but comfortable rooms, a hearth whose warmth filled the space. Valaris sat them down, then poured hot tea for everyone before taking a seat across from them himself.
"Fine," he finally said, after a long silence. "Let's hear it. All of it."
Kael told the story again, in more detail this time — Aurelion's plan, Reizen's role, the tournament that had turned out to be a trap, Voltar's warning about the eight Heirs.
Valaris listened, his face growing grimmer, but he didn't interrupt.
"I knew it," he finally said quietly, mostly to himself. "I've felt something stirring for weeks now. I just didn't want to believe it."
"So will you help us?" Kael asked cautiously.
Valaris didn't answer for a long time, his gaze sinking into the fire.
"If the Destruction is truly awakening, then I have no other choice." He looked up, and there was no longer refusal in his eyes, but something heavier, more serious. "But you need to know, Kael: what I'll teach isn't about individual power. Voltar surely taught you about control. I'll teach something else."
"What?" Shiro asked.
"That none of you alone is strong enough for what's coming." Valaris's gaze swept over all three of them. "Only together do you stand a chance."
That evening, far from there, deep within the ancient ruin, Reizen and Aurelion's projected form stood facing each other once again.
"Valaris knows," Aurelion said, faint irritation ringing in his voice. "Kael found him."
"We expected as much," Reizen replied calmly. "Voltar and Valaris always represented the old order. It was only a matter of time."
"This slows our plans."
"Or speeds them up," Reizen said, his lips curving into a faint smile. "The more who know the truth, the sooner they're forced to act. And the sooner they act, the sooner everyone's power activates."
Aurelion was silent for a moment, then nodded, though tension remained in his voice.
"Don't underestimate them, Reizen. Voltar and Valaris once defeated what we're now trying to awaken."
"Once," Reizen repeated. "But time weakens everyone. Even legends."
In the training gym, Ren was pulling the ripcord, Crimson Tornado spinning as it flew into the small training arena, Orion watching his every move.
"Better," Orion said approvingly. "But you're still releasing the energy too early. Wait until the top asks for it itself."
Ren nodded, panting, sweat glistening on his forehead.
"How far away could Kael be?"
"I don't know," Orion replied honestly. "But I hope he found what he was looking for."
At the lava lake, far to the north, Ryujiro was still training alone, though his movements were slower now, as though exhaustion had finally caught up with him. Virex wasn't there that evening — he had left, as he had before, whenever it became too hard to bear what his brother had become.
Ryujiro watched the lava alone, Dragon Vortex resting quietly in his palm.
"Stronger," he whispered again, though now there was a weariness in the words that hadn't been there before.
Back at the monastery, Kael, Shiro, and Akira went to sleep after Valaris showed them their rooms. Before Kael fell asleep, he looked out the window once more, at the mountains bathed in moonlight.
Starting tomorrow, everything will be different, he thought. They wouldn't just need to learn to fight individually anymore.
They needed to become a team — whatever that would take.
To be continued in Chapter 22…