It began as a whisper.
No words. No voice.
Just a shift in the air—like the city itself was exhaling.
Zoren stopped mid-step. His Titan Core reacted, a pulse running through his chest like an unseen hand pressing against his ribs.
Then the wind came.
From below.
A slow, cold draft, curling from beneath the streets of Valdris, slipping through cracks and alleyways like a ghost searching for something long forgotten. The sky darkened—not with clouds, but with weight, as if something deep beneath them was finally stirring.
And then—
BOOM.
The earth lurched.
Buildings trembled, glass shattered, people screamed. A ripple of dust surged through the streets, sending loose stones tumbling like pebbles before a wave.
And at the heart of it all—
A door.
The ancient seal that had bound the dungeon for centuries cracked—not like stone breaking, but like skin splitting open.
A fracture ran through the massive, towering gate embedded in the city''s foundation. Symbols long worn by time flared to life, glowing with eerie blue light. The carvings didn''t just shine—they moved, shifting like something behind them was pressing to get out.
Elizabeth gripped her sword. "This isn''t normal."
Franklin ''s hands Molten with Lava. "When is anything we deal with normal?"
Aiden and Ivar stood frozen, Core energy flickering around them—fire and frost clashing in nervous bursts.
And others too nervous.
And then—
The pull came.
Not a gust of wind. Not a quake.
Something deeper.
Something that wrapped around them—not their bodies, but their souls.
The door was not opening.
It was calling them.
The street cracked further, stone crumbling away into a vast abyss. The glowing fissures reached out like fingers, dragging them toward the gate.
Zoren clenched his fists, trying to push back. Useless. His body was no longer his own. The force dragged them forward, feet skidding across the crumbling stone, into the gaping maw of the Dungeon.
And then—
They fell.
---l
The air rushed past them, thick and suffocating.
No screams. No sound.
Just falling down to thing that is pulling them.
Something that had waited for them for a very long time.
And at the bottom of the abyss—
A door stood open.
Waiting.
Welcoming.
And as they plunged into its depths, a single voice echoed through the void.
"The worthy shall rise."
"The unworthy shall be consumed."
Then—
Darkness.
---
Darkness.
Not the kind that simply lacked light.
This was a darkness that watched.
The fifteen candidates stood in the vast underground chamber, breathless from their fall, the weight of the dungeon pressing down on them like an invisible hand. The air was damp, heavy with the scent of old stone and something else. Something alive.
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And then—
A voice.
"Welcome… candidates."
It slithered through the chamber like a whisper carried by the wind.
From the far end of the room, a figure stepped forward.
Not from the shadows—from the walls themselves.
Stone bent, folded, peeled away as if it had merely been wearing his shape.
A man stood before them now. Tall. Broad shoulders wrapped in a tattered black coat. His hair was silver-streaked, but his face was young—almost too young. His piercing green eyes flickered in the dim light like embers beneath glass.
And his grin—
It was the grin of a man who had seen every fear imaginable and found amusement in all of them.
"I am Ryan," he said, voice smooth as polished steel. "Keeper of the dungeon. And I…" He spread his arms, eyes glinting. "…am here to test you."
The room shuddered.
Elizabeth''s grip tightened around her sword. Zoren''s breath slowed. Aiden and Ivar exchanged a wary glance—flames and frost flickering at their fingertips.
Franklin scoffed. "Yeah? I''d like to see you try."
Ryan''s grin widened.
"Oh, I love the cocky ones."
---
Ryan took a slow step forward.
"Here in the dungeon of illusion, your strength is meaningless, especially in this round."
Another step. The stone beneath his feet rippled—like water.
"Power? Useless."
He turned, facing them all, gaze sweeping over the group like a blade testing its edge.
"This first trial is about one thing. Fear."
A pulse ran through the chamber. The very air tightened.
"You will face your greatest terror. Your nightmare given form. But this test is not about enduring fear."
His grin sharpened.
"It is about destroying it."
Silence.
Zoren''s jaw clenched.
Elizabeth exhaled slowly, eyes unreadable.
One of the other candidates—a girl playing with a beast Core in her palm—shifted nervously. "And… what happens if we fail?"
Ryan tilted his head. "Oh, you won''t die, if that''s what you''re asking."
The tension in the air eased slightly—
"But," he continued, voice a whisper, "you''ll wish you had."
The room turned ice cold.
The girl went pale.
Franklin whistled. "Nice. Very reassuring."
Ryan ignored him.
"The first to conquer their fear will receive a bonus in the next round."
Zoren''s eyes narrowed. "What kind of bonus?"
Ryan winked. "You''ll find out."
He stepped back, raising his arms.
"Now then."
The walls groaned. The ground beneath them pulsed. The air itself seemed to breathe.
Ryan''s voice dropped, smooth as silk.
"Let the test…"
The chamber collapsed.
No—shifted.
Fifteen different realities unfolded at once, swallowing each candidate whole.
"…begin."
And then—
They were alone.
---
Franklin hit the ground hard.
Not just any ground—scorching ground.
Heat coiled around him like a living thing, wrapping around his limbs, slithering into his lungs. The air shimmered, distorted by sheer intensity. Beneath him, the earth wasn''t just burnt—it was cracked, melted, oozing magma through deep veins of molten rock.
A battlefield.
His battlefield.
Squad 07''s battlefield.
His breath caught.
No.
No, no, no—
He knew this place.
The twisted corpses. The broken weapons. The massive Titan footprints carved into the lava-riddled wasteland.
The Day of the Inferno.
The day he failed them.
A voice rasped behind him.
"You left us."
Rael turned sharply—his heart slamming against his ribs.
They stood there.
The ghosts of his past.
Squad 07.
Burned, blackened, fused with the melted rock beneath them. Some still clutched their weapons—frozen in their last, desperate attempts to fight back.
"You were supposed to protect us," one of them whispered.
"You let the Titan escape."
"You let us die."
Their lifeless eyes burned with accusation.
Franklin''s fingers curled into fists. His Lava Core pulsed—veins glowing molten orange beneath his skin.
He knew what this was.
A trial. A test. An illusion.
But knowing didn''t stop the rage.
Didn''t stop the guilt.
Didn''t stop the feeling of their blood soaking his hands.
And then—
A shadow fell over them.
Rael felt it before he saw it.
The Titan.
The same Titan that wiped out his squad.
Looming. Towering. A monster of obsidian and molten fury, its body cracked and glowing like a walking volcano.
Its eyes locked onto him.
Like it remembered.
Rael exhaled, slow and steady. His arms trembled. His pulse pounded in his ears.
Fear?
No.
Something worse.
The past.
The part of him that still screamed you weren''t strong enough.
The part that still whispered you ran.
The part that knew the truth.
Rael hadn''t just failed that day.
He had survived.
And that was the worst part.
---
The Titan moved first.
The ground split open, rivers of lava surging upward as its obsidian fist came crashing down, warping the air with sheer heat.
Franklin''s didn''t move.
Didn''t flinch.
Because this time—
He wasn''t running.
BOOM.
The fist collided—and stopped.
Not against the ground.
Against Franklin''s hand.
His Lava Core erupted, veins glowing white-hot as heat pulsed through his body. His breath came out in steam. The earth around him melted—not from the Titan''s attack.
From him.
Franklin grinned.
"Yeah, I let you go last time or you almost killed me."
He clenched his fist—
And the Titan''s arm began to melt.
Lava surged from his hand, seeping into the Titan''s obsidian flesh, corrupting it, twisting it, turning it into something even the monster itself couldn''t withstand.
The Titan reeled back, its roar shaking the battlefield—
But Franklin didn''t stop.
He slammed his fist into the ground.
And the entire battlefield detonated.
Lava erupted like a volcanic explosion, rivers of molten rock swallowing everything in sight. The Titan screamed, its obsidian body cracking, melting, disintegrating into the very lava it once ruled over.
Franklin eyes blazed like twin infernos.
"Burn in the pit you came from."
And then—
With one final eruption—
The Titan was gone.
When the flames finally died—
There was nothing left.
No Titan.
No corpses.
Just Franklin. Standing alone in a field of cooling lava, his breath coming in short bursts.
His body still glowed, heat pulsing through his skin like liquid fire.
And then—
A voice.
Ryan''s voice.
"Hah."
Amusement.
Satisfaction.
"You turned your fear into fuel, huh?"
Franklin cracked his neck. "Yeah."
Ryan''s chuckle echoed.
"Then let''s see if you can keep that fire burning in the next round."
And just like that—
Franklin was pulled back into the Platform.
---
To be CONTINUED.