The beasts snarled and their claws raked the ground, their howls were amplifying the visions and Kelvin saw his father’s death, flas consuming him while blaming Kelvin’s weakness.
His heart pounded with doubt clawing at him, but Xerion’s warmth surged, grounding him.
Darius fired soulstone blasts, the gem-enhanced green light which exploded across the gloomstalkers and shattered their cores.
Rhoam charged with his iron bulk crushing two beasts, their thorns screeching against his plates. The visions hit Darius hardest fear, where his village burned, screams echoing, Zack’s taunts overlayed the chaos.
"Shut up!" he roared, his blasts were wild, his wounds were bleeding as he staggered.
The gloomstalkers were relentless with their psychic howls intensified and their claws slashed through the air.
One lunged at Kelvin with its thorns grazing his arm and drawing blood. He cursed, channeling a second Convergence and Xerion’s flas roared into a fiery vortex that incinerated the beast.
Lyra took a hit, but a gloomstalker’s claw raked her side, tearing her bandages. She cried out, collapsing to one knee, but Salaris’s talons ripped through the beast, saving her.
Darius dodged a swipe, but his concussion slowed him, but Rhoam’s charge sent the attacker flying and its core exploded under a soulstone blast.
"We’re losing ground!" Darius shouted, his voice cracking, the visions of Zack’s taunts shaking his bravado. "He’s in our heads!"
Kelvin’s mind raced, the Veil’s whispers rging with Zack’s voice. You will fail. You are nothing. His grip on his staff trembled, with the weight of leadership crushing him.
He saw the Sanctum falling, his friends’ lifeless forms, Zack laughing. "No!" he roared, shaking it off. "We focus on the cores! Together!"
Lyra nodded, with her eyes fierce despite the pain, weaving a rune net that pinned three gloomstalkers.
Salaris darted between them, her talons slicing their cores. Darius steadied himself, his grin returning as he fired a precise blast, shattering another core.
Rhoam roared, crushing the last beast, its thorns snapping against his plates. Kelvin channeled a final Convergence, Xerion’s flas engulfing the remaining gloomstalkers, their howls fading as their cores burst in a shower of ash and light.
Silence fell, heavy and absolute, the forest were littered with charred thorns and ash. The trio collapsed, their breaths ragged and their beasts were battered but alive. Kelvin’s arm bled, but he ignored it, checking on Lyra.
Her side was soaked with blood and her face with ashen, but she managed a weak smile. "Still here," she whispered, leaning on Salaris.
Darius clutched his chest, his wounds were seeping, but Rhoam’s steady presence kept him upright. "We are stronger than Zack thinks," Kelvin said, with his voice hoarse, as the whispers faded.
Lyra nodded, her gauntlet flickering. "He is out there. We will find him." Darius tossed his soulstone, though his grin weak but defiant. "And we will make him pay."
They searched the gloomstalkers’ remains, finding loot: a handful of gloomstalker fangs, their surfaces pulsing with soulstream energy, and psychic runes glowing with faint violet light.
"Split it evenly," Kelvin said, dividing the fangs among them for their gear and giving himself extra psychic runes to enhance his staff’s defenses against ntal attacks.
The act was a small gesture of unity, a reminder that they had survived together, their Peaks loot, dark gauntlet, dark runes, soulstream gems—proving vital.
.
The monitoring device humd, its ssage were weak but clear: "Rogue tar proximity confird. Traps detected deeper in forest. Proceed with caution."
The words were a lifeline, but the ntion of traps fueled their suspicions of Zack, echoing the Peaks’ ambush but tied to his taunts.
They pressed deeper into the Hollow, following a trail of dark runes which etched into the ground, identical to those from the Peaks’ rogue tar.
The forest grew denser, the trees were violet veins pulsing faster, the air were thick with the scent of rot and burning runes. Xerion’s scales bristled and his hiss were sharp, sensing the tar’s energy.
Salaris darted ahead, her feathers blended with the shadows, scouting for traps. Rhoam’s plates clinked, his growl low, ready for the next fight.
They camped that night in a small clearing, the canopy blocked the stars, the air heavy with the scent of sap and decay. Kelvin lit a fire with Xerion’s breath, the End-Tyrant’s flas casting a warm glow.
Lyra tended to her wounds with her runes sealing the fresh gash, though pain that lingered in her eyes. Darius bandaged his chest, his silence were heavy as he fed Rhoam a chunk of dried at, the panther’s plates clinked softly.
"Zack is behind this," Darius said, his voice was low but staring into the fire. "Those visions... he knew about my village. Only he would twist that."
Lyra’s expression softened with her hand pausing on her bandage. "My sister... he taunted about her before the Peaks. He is using the Veil to break us."
Kelvin nodded, with his hand resting on Xerion’s scales. "My father’s death, he threw it in my face. If he is the tar, we will stop him.
If not, we will find who is." Xerion’s amber eyes glead, his hiss affirming their bond, his warmth a steady anchor against the cold.
They shared quiet stories to ease the tension, Darius recounting a ti he tripped Zack in the Sanctum’s yard, Lyra speaking of her sister’s courage, Kelvin recalling his father’s tales of Xerion’s battles.
The monitoring device humd, its ssage flickering: "Rogue tar energy intensifying.
Traps imminent. Unity is your strength." Kelvin’s heart sank, the warning a grim reminder of Zack’s taunts, but their resolve burned brighter, a spark that would light their path through the Hollow’s shadows.
The dawn brought a gray, oppressive sky, the forest looming darker. A shadow flickered in the canopy, a cloaked figure, their runes glowing briefly before vanishing.
Kelvin’s breath caught, the sighting a chilling echo of the Sanctum gates. "They’re close," he said, gripping his staff. "Zack or not, we end this."
They pressed on, battered but unbroken, their unity a fla that had carried them through the gloomstalkers.
The Verdant Hollow was a new crucible, but the Tide’s Crest was ready, their defiance an ember that would ignite the future.
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