Khaos stood atop a jagged cliff, gazing into a swirling dark portal that pulsed with ancient energy. The sky above his lair churned with storms, as if the world itself recoiled at his presence. Behind him, Nyra stepped forward—her cloak of mist trailing behind like vapor from an unseen sea.
"You summoned me," she said, her voice cold and ethereal.
Khaos didn't turn to face her. "Kael has awakened his second element. The boy is becoming dangerous."
"He is untrained," Nyra replied. "Still vulnerable."
"He's stronger than we expected," Khaos said. "We cannot let him mature. I want you to use your full power, Nyra. Invade his mind. Break him from within."
Nyra's eyes glowed with silver light. "As you command."
---
That night, in the quiet safety of the temple, Kael slept restlessly. The fire in the hearth had long since faded, and the moonlight fell in thin beams through the high windows. But in his dreams, the world shifted.
Kael awoke—or so he thought—and found himself alone. The temple was eerily silent. Shadows danced in the corners, and an unnatural chill hung in the air.
"Hello?" he called out. No answer.
Panic crept in. He wandered the halls, his footsteps echoing. The place felt hollow, abandoned. As he stepped into the Ember Grounds, the sight before him froze him in place.
Daran and Elira lay motionless, blood pooling beneath them. Their eyes stared blankly at the sky. Kael dropped to his knees. "No... no, this can't be happening."
A cold laugh echoed from ahead. He looked up to see Khaos standing there, his boot pressed against Ravon's limp body.
"You failed them," Khaos said, grinning.
Kael screamed—and suddenly, everything shattered.
The dream world flickered. Hands were shaking him. He bolted upright, drenched in sweat, gasping for air.
"Kael!" Elira's voice. "It's just a dream!"
Daran added, "You were screaming our names. Are you okay?"
But Kael didn't hear them. In his eyes, the nightmare hadn't ended. Where Elira stood, he saw Nyra's pale, haunting face. Where Daran knelt, he saw Urshifu's mocking glare.
"No!" Kael roared.
Flames burst from his body, wild and uncontained. The room erupted in heat. Bookshelves ignited, curtains caught flame. Daran and Elira backed away, shielding themselves.
"Kael! It's us!" Daran shouted, trying to deflect the fire with a wind barrier.
But Kael couldn't see. Couldn't hear. The illusion clouded his mind. He hurled a firebolt at "Urshifu," and then another toward "Nyra." Elira screamed, dodging just in time, singed by the blast.
The room was becoming an inferno. Daran tried to get close, but Kael's fire lashed out violently, unpredictable and erratic. Elira collapsed behind a pillar, coughing from the smoke.
Kael stepped toward her, eyes burning with fury. One final blast began to form in his hands.
Then—
A blur shot through the door.
Ravon.
"Enough!"
Kael turned, but saw only Khaos approaching. With a cry of rage, he launched the fireball. But Ravon was faster.
"ASTRAL PUNCH!"
His fist connected with Kael's chest. A wave of shimmering energy pulsed out, silencing the flames. Kael's body froze mid-motion, then collapsed, unconscious.
The fire died with him. Silence returned. Smoke curled from the scorched walls.
Ravon knelt beside Kael, brow furrowed. "His mind was invaded," he muttered. "This… this was no dream. This was war."
Elira coughed as she emerged from the rubble. "He… he thought we were them. Nyra and Urshifu."
Daran leaned against the wall, singed but conscious. "We couldn't snap him out of it. I've never seen him like that."
Ravon nodded grimly. "That wasn't Kael's fire alone. Nyra's influence turned it volatile. She twisted his memories, made them weapons against him."
He looked at the scorch marks carved into the walls. "She's powerful—and bold. If she dared to invade his mind here, the veil between dream and reality is weakening. They're growing desperate."
Daran frowned. "So what do we do?"
"We prepare," Ravon said. "We train harder. We strengthen our bonds. The next attack may not come as a dream. It may be real."
As they worked together to extinguish the remaining flames, Elira stole a glance at Kael's unconscious face. Despite the destruction, she felt something different—something hidden beneath the surface of fear.
Power.
Not just in his fire or his water—but in his heart. A force that, if guided right, could change the fate of the world.
They brought Kael to the meditation chamber—one of the few rooms untouched by the fire. Ravon carved protective runes into the walls, binding Kael inside a stasis field to ensure he wouldn't harm himself or others if Nyra struck again. The other trainees watched in silence as Kael's body floated in the center, calm and unaware.
Elira sat quietly nearby, knees drawn to her chest. "He never wanted this. He just wanted answers. A home."
Ravon placed a firm hand on her shoulder. "And we'll give him both. But now, he must face his inner chaos."
In the days that followed, the temple bore the weight of unease. Even the birds that sang in the trees around the Ember Grounds seemed to go quiet. Daran trained longer, pushing himself harder than ever, as if preparing for a battle already begun.
At night, Elira would often visit the stasis chamber, just to make sure Kael was still breathing. She'd whisper stories from their training, sometimes reading from the journal she kept. "You're not alone," she'd say. "You've got us, Kael. And we're not giving up on you."
Far away, in the cold chambers of the shadow realm, Nyra opened her eyes.
"The seed is planted," she whispered. "Let's see how deep it grows."
She stepped back from the obsidian mirror she had conjured to watch the event unfold. Her reflection flickered with Kael's image—his eyes aflame, his expression twisted in confusion and agony.
A soft smile touched her lips.
"So easily broken. Yet still... he resists."
Behind her, shadowy figures whispered.
"Let him resist," Nyra murmured. "The more he struggles, the more tightly the threads will bind him. When the time comes, he won't know what's real… and what isn't."
With a slow turn, she vanished into the mist, her final words echoing through the void:
"Soon, Kael. Very soon."