As Ethan sat cross-legged at the center of the great hall, the wind that had been gentle suddenly shifted.
A gust swept through the room, ruffling cloaks and tossing up small trails of dust.
Alden and Hera exchanged glances but didn't speak. Sothing unseen had stirred, and it was only beginning.
Ethan's eyes were closed, but behind his lids was fire.
Not the ordinary kind.
It was ancient. Wild. Untad. It danced through the space within him like a beast finally let loose.
At first, it felt like warmth in his chest. Then it grew. The warmth beca heat. The heat beca pressure.
His back arched slightly as if sothing inside was expanding far too quickly for his body to contain.
His breathing hitched.
The pulsing in his chest beca erratic. He pressed his palms against the floor, teeth clenched.
Every breath felt like it was pulled through smoke. And then it happened.
'This is much painful compared to having attributes boost,' Ethan thought.
A burning current shot through his veins, coursing from the center of his chest to his limbs, like rivers of molten fire trying to rewrite what had once been human.
Sweat beaded across his forehead. His jaw tightened as every muscle in his body locked. His fingers dug into the stone tiles beneath him.
His bones began to hum.
He could feel it. Sothing deep, sothing primal was reshaping the very frawork of who he was.
His spine tightened, crackling faintly with each vertebrae vibrating.
His heart no longer beat in a rhythm he recognized.
It thundered slowly, deeper than before, as if each thump echoed from the chest of sothing much older, much larger.
From the outside, Hera and Alden could see it.
"He is glowing brighter," Alden muttered.
Hera, who really love knowledge, took in everything that she was seeing.
"This is even better than what my Master told ."
Ethan's skin was glowing in places. Not just a light on the surface, but like veins of fire ran just beneath, flaring across his arms and neck and chest.
His body shimred faintly between solid and translucent, like layers of scales forming and vanishing all at once.
Then ca the sound.
Not a roar. Not a cry.
But sothing like the low rumble of a volcano before it erupts.
It was coming from inside him.
A burst of energy exploded around Ethan, throwing a blast of wind outward. The entire observatory trembled. The nearby torchlights flickered violently.
The glow around his chest concentrated into one point, pulling all other energies inward. Everything was being devoured into a single space no larger than a fist.
He gasped.
His body lurched forward, then dropped to the ground. For a mont, he didn't move. Not even to breathe.
Then his fingers twitched.
'That... was quick?'
"Is he done?" Alden asked Hera.
Hera shook her head. She didn't have any idea about how long the process would be.
Slowly, Ethan pushed himself up. His skin was steaming, yet unburned.
His eyes opened, but they didn't glow, they shimred.
Faint wisps of firelight drifted from his shoulders like trailing smoke. The space where his heart once pounded now radiated a constant, silent pulse, steady and powerful. It wasn't made of flesh anymore.
It was sothing else.
A fla that would never die.
The Dragon Core was born.
Alden took a few cautious steps forward. His eyes scanned Ethan from head to toe before he asked, "Is it done? Is it really that quick?"
Ethan let out a soft chuckle, rubbing his palm over his chest where the warmth still pulsed like a second heartbeat.
"I don't know," he said honestly. "It felt like hours… but maybe it was just minutes."
He turned slightly, noticing Hera hadn't moved. Her arms were crossed, but her eyes were distant, as if her mind was racing through scrolls only she could read.
"Hera?" Ethan called. "Is sothing wrong?"
She blinked once, then slowly shook her head. "Not wrong. Just… sothing's clicking into place."
Ethan stepped toward her. "What do you an?"
Alden watched them both, confused but silent.
Hera took a breath, then exhaled softly. "I think… I think it might be your ti to return. To your world."
Ethan's brow furrowed. "Why would you say that?"
She didn't answer imdiately. She turned toward the nearest window, her gaze resting on the silhouette of the buildings outside under the pale moonlight.
"Your mission here," she began slowly, "It's part of a trial, isn't it? A test. Each ti you co, sothing changes in you. Sothing awakens."
Ethan nodded, still surprised at how much she could piece together.
"I thought so," she murmured. "Then… this Dragon Core. It wasn't ant to happen just anywhere. Anterra has energy your world doesn't. My Master used to say that. Only in places like this can sothing ancient be awakened."
Her voice lowered. "It makes sense now. Back in your world, maybe the process would've failed. Or worse... consud you."
Ethan was quiet. That… made sense. He hadn't really questioned why the system brought him to Anterra in the first place, only that it felt necessary. But now it felt more deliberate. Like every step was building toward this.
Alden finally broke the silence. "So, what now? You go back already?"
Ethan glanced between them.
"I don't know. I just wish that I can co and go—"
Before he could even finish his words, a portal appeared beneath him.
"Okay... Now what's happening?" Alden asked in panic.
Hera raised her hand, signaling for Alden to calm down.
Ethan gave a crooked smile as he looked at the glowing portal beneath him. The light was soft, almost calming, but he knew what it ant.
"Looks like I'm going now," he said, voice low. "See you guys."
Alden opened his mouth to say sothing, but before any words ca out, the portal pulsed. In the blink of an eye, Ethan's body was pulled down into the light.
Gone.
The portal dimd, then vanished as if it had never been there.
The hall went silent.
Alden stood still for a few seconds, staring at the spot where Ethan had disappeared. Then he turned to Hera, letting out a quiet breath.
"Well," he said, scratching the back of his head. "Looks like we need to co up with a reason to tell the others."
Hera didn't look surprised. She lowered her hand and gave a small nod. "We can say he went into secluded cultivation. That's believable enough."
Alden let out a soft chuckle. "Sounds nice when you say it like that."
Hera raised an eyebrow, but she could see the look in his eyes. He wasn't just joking.
There was sothing else behind his quiet smile.
He turned back toward the center of the room, the spot where Ethan had been just monts ago. It felt colder now. Quieter. As if the space itself missed his presence.
Alden clenched his fists slowly.
He could still feel the lingering heat left behind by Ethan's transformation. That pressure. That fire. That overwhelming energy that didn't belong to soone ordinary.
And yet, not once did Ethan look down on anyone.
Alden thought of the sword sealed within him. The legacy of Vaelgrin—the White Wolf King—waiting patiently, yet untad.
'I can't stay like this,' he thought. 'I've followed. I've watched. I've protected. But I haven't grown.'
He exhaled softly and looked toward the rising moon outside the window.
'Next ti he returns, I'll be stronger. Not just soone who stands beside him. But soone who stands equal.'
He turned back to Hera and said, "We've got an empire to take care of. Let's make sure it's still standing when he cos back."
Hera gave a rare, quiet smile. "Then we'd better start now."
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