They fled under moonlight.
The Obsidian Spire behind them burned with a cursed light—red and violet, flickering like the eye of some ancient predator.
Aelric didn't look back.
He could feel it watching.
The Starfall Mountains loomed ahead. Jagged. Cold. Ancient.
Said to be where the first swords were forged. Where star-metal fell like tears from the sky.
And maybe—just maybe—where Aelric could find the Fateblade Temple mentioned by the system.
But the path was not silent.
And they were not alone.
Caelum walked with a limp.
The poison hadn't fully cleared.
Aelric let him lean on his shoulder, but neither of them spoke much. Not since they left the Spire's crater.
Both were still shaken.
They'd seen something impossible.
And worse—something true.
> [System Update – Hidden Path: Forging Fate]
Quest: Reach the First Starfall Temple
Hint: Look for the three falling embers in the sky. Follow where they strike.
Warning: Pursuit detected.
Aelric glanced up.
Stars wheeled overhead.
And then—three streaks of orange light tore across the sky.
One fell west.
One north.
One… due east, into the heart of the mountain range.
"We follow the third," Aelric said.
They had no fire that night.
Too risky.
So they huddled beneath stone ledges, cloaked in snow.
And it was in that frozen silence that she came.
The cursed scent of scorched roses preceded her.
And then, the flames whispered.
A woman walked through the storm.
Unburned.
Unbothered.
And very much not human.
Long crimson hair. Skin the color of embers. Eyes—no, sockets—that glowed like furnaces.
Her voice was layered, like several people speaking at once.
"I am Asharia, Apostle of Ur'Zhal. I bring death to the traitor."
Aelric stepped forward, blade drawn.
"I'm not a traitor," he said coldly. "I just refused to kneel."
Asharia smiled. "Then you die standing."
> [System Alert – Boss Encounter: Flame Apostle Asharia (Tier V)]
Condition: Cannot be defeated by force. Use terrain, cunning, or hidden relics.
The battle wasn't fair.
Asharia didn't fight like a person—she fought like a wildfire.
Each step she took scorched the snow for meters around. Her fingers left trails of magma in the air.
Aelric parried twice, then got flung into a boulder.
Caelum tried to draw her attention—but her flames curved around him.
"Your defiance is hollow," Asharia said, summoning a spear of fire. "He offered you godhood."
"And I chose freedom," Aelric spat, coughing up blood.
Then he saw it—
A broken pillar buried in ice.
Old.
Markings faint but glowing.
A forgotten Starshard Beacon.
He dove for it.
Asharia laughed. "A trick? Futile!"
But Aelric slammed his hand on the sigil.
> [System Sync – Ancient Relic Activated]
Starshard Beacon: Rejection Protocol – Voidflare
The ground pulsed.
The flames screamed.
Asharia reeled back as the beacon erupted in cold, silver-blue light—flames unraveling like thread.
"No—" she shrieked. "You don't understand! The gods will return! The fire will consume—"
She vanished in a burst of light and ash.
Silence.
Then snow fell again.
The beacon dimmed.
And Aelric collapsed to one knee.
> [Boss Repelled – Asharia Retreats]
Warning: She will return stronger. Next encounter: Fatal.
Achievement Unlocked: First Rejection of a Flame Apostle
System Sync Strengthened – +1 to Free Will Resistance
Caelum knelt beside him. "You okay?"
Aelric didn't answer right away.
He looked at the fading beacon.
Then toward the eastern mountains.
Toward fate.
"I don't want to be a god," he said finally.
"I just want to be the one who decides."
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