Far below, the world had faded into a drifting haze of clouds and fractured stone. Even sound seemed distant now, swallowed by altitude. Above them, the cavernous vault shimmered faintly, embedded Stars pulsing with a cold, distant brilliance that marked the very limits of their world.
Despite the quiet, neither of them relaxed.
On this mountain, even the wind felt like a hunter circling unseen.
They climbed in steady rhythm — boots scraping against loose rock, hands searching instinctively for holds worn smooth by centuries of claws and talons. Occasionally, small stones broke free beneath their weight and vanished into the abyss without ever striking bottom.
After a while, Adlet exhaled slowly, more to steady himself than from fatigue.
“Polo,” he said over his shoulder, careful not to stop climbing, “how do you do it?”
“Do what?” Polo answered, eyes still scanning the ridge above them.
“Your tentacles,” Adlet clarified, gesturing vaguely behind him while keeping one hand pressed to the rock. “You control them like extra limbs… even though they come from your back. I can barely manage a clean strike with my own arms half the time.”
Polo let out a quiet huff of amusement.
“Well… I’ve been training like that since I was a kid. Precise Aura control has always kind of been my thing.”
“Kind of?” Adlet smirked between breaths. “You move those things like they’re actually part of you.”
“Touching,” Polo replied dryly. “But it’s mostly repetition. And… I guess manipulating Aura has always come a little easier to me than it does for most Protectors our age.”
Adlet clicked his tongue, a familiar mix of embarrassment and determination twisting in his chest.
“Great,” he muttered. “So you make it look effortless while I’m still figuring out the basics.”
“Oh, come on,” Polo said, shaking his head. “You’re improving faster than I ever did.”
Adlet glanced back, surprised enough that he nearly missed his footing.
“You really think so?”
“I know so.” Polo nudged his shoulder lightly as they reached a slightly wider stretch of path. “At this rate, you’ll be keeping up with me sooner than you think. Honestly, I might need to start worrying.”
Adlet grinned despite the burn in his lungs.
“Don’t worry,” he shot back. “When I catch up, I’ll still let you feel useful.”
Polo rolled his eyes. “Wow. How generous of you.”
Their laughter was brief, quickly stolen by the wind, but genuine — a fragile warmth against the mountain’s oppressive vastness.
For a few moments, the climb felt lighter.
Then the path bent sharply upward again, narrowing into a jagged incline that demanded both hands and complete attention.
Conversation faded.
Only the scrape of boots, the rush of wind, and the silent weight of the Mountain Rokh remained as they climbed higher into its domain.
For days they advanced along the mountain’s unforgiving spine.
Sleep came in brief, uneasy stretches between stretches of stone barely wide enough to lie on. Meals were reduced to hurried bites swallowed against the wind. Every movement was measured, every pause deliberate, their senses stretched thin for any sign of the young Rokh Falcon whose deadly “test” had nearly ended them days before.
None came.
And somehow, its absence felt worse than its presence.
The sky remained empty. No shadow crossed the cliffs. No distant cry echoed above them. Yet the feeling of being observed never faded — a silent pressure lingering at the edge of awareness, as though something immense watched from far beyond their sight, patient and unmoving.
They climbed anyway.
Hours bled into nights, nights dissolved into pale mornings beneath the cold glow of the embedded Stars. The higher they rose, the harsher the mountain became. The cliffs narrowed. Frost crept into cracks in the stone. Even breathing demanded effort now, each inhale sharp against their lungs.
To keep the silence from swallowing them entirely, one of them would occasionally joke — usually Adlet, muttering insults at the wind or accusing particularly unstable rocks of conspiring against him. The comments rarely made sense, but they earned tired snorts from Polo all the same.
It didn’t remove the tension.
Nothing could.
But it reminded them they were still human.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
On the fifth day, as they approached the upper reaches of the mountain, something changed.
At first, it was subtle.
The wind died.
Not gradually — abruptly, as if cut away. Loose dust settled. Even the distant cries of Apexes vanished, leaving behind a silence so complete it felt unnatural.
Adlet slowed.
“Do you—”
The world exploded.
A shockwave of Aura crashed into them like a thunderclap.
Adlet staggered, one knee slamming against the rock as his heart seemed to stop mid-beat. The air warped violently, rippling like disturbed water. Stones trembled beneath their feet, tiny fractures racing across the cliff face.
Power flooded the mountain.
Raw. Overwhelming. Ancient.
It pressed against their bodies, against their thoughts, against their very instincts — the unmistakable clash of beings far beyond them.
Polo’s eyes widened, breath catching.
“That level… Adlet—”
“I know.”
There was no doubt.
Lucien.
Linoa.
The realization struck like lightning through Adlet’s chest.
Without another word, they ran.
Pain vanished beneath adrenaline as they forced their exhausted bodies upward along the final incline. Every breath burned like fire. Their legs screamed in protest. The crushing pressure of colliding Auras weighed on them with every step, as if the mountain itself resisted their approach.
But they didn’t slow.
Couldn’t.
The ground steepened, turning into a near climb. Hands grasped rock. Boots slipped and recovered. The roar of distant power grew louder, vibrating through stone and bone alike.
Then—
they crested the final rise.
The world opened before them.
And the sight rooted them where they stood.
They had reached the summit.
The top of Rokh Mountain was not a peak but a vast, carved plateau — an immense crown of fractured stone suspended beneath the distant glow of the Stars. Sheer cliffs encircled the expanse like broken teeth, and colossal nests had been gouged directly into the rock itself. Each one was the size of a village house, woven from enormous branches and shredded vegetation hardened by wind and time.
Bones covered the ground.
Thousands upon thousands of them.
Some were small, splintered remains bleached pale by the mountain air. Others were colossal — ribcages taller than Adlet, skulls wide enough to swallow him whole. The summit felt less like a battlefield… and more like a graveyard built for kings of the sky.
Then the wind changed.
Adlet lifted his gaze.
And saw it.
Far above, dominating the heavens—
a white titan.
The adult Rokh Falcon soared across the sky with overwhelming majesty, its six wings unfolding like living banners of light. Each beat of those immense wings unleashed spiraling torrents of wind that tore across the plateau, sending dust and loose stone scattering into the abyss below. Its feathers shone with an immaculate brilliance — not merely white, but radiant, almost celestial.
A being that did not belong to the same world as them.
And facing it—
Lucien.
Suspended in the air, blazing like a second star.
Wings of golden Aura spread from his back, vast and luminous, each feather-shaped construct shimmering like liquid starlight. His presence alone bent the atmosphere around him. Aura expanded outward in immense waves, controlled with impossible precision.
Adlet’s breath faltered.
He had never imagined Aura could reach such scale… such density.
This wasn’t combat.
It was catastrophe given form.
Lucien and the adult Rokh collided midair.
The impact detonated across the summit.
Shockwaves rippled through the plateau, splitting stone and sending fractures racing across the cliffs. Clouds far above tore apart under the force of their clash, and the air itself trembled under the violence of beings fighting at a level Adlet could barely comprehend.
His knees nearly gave out.
Instinct screamed at him to look away.
He only managed to tear his gaze free when movement closer to the ground caught his eye.
Another battle raged below.
Linoa.
Two wings of white Aura unfolded from her back, beating with fluid grace as she faced a younger Rokh Falcon — smaller than the titan above, yet still enormous, its wingspan dwarfing anything Adlet had fought before.
Recognition struck instantly.
The same kind that had tested them.
But now there was no playfulness in its movements.
Only killing intent.
Linoa and the young Rokh spiraled through the air like twin comets.
Unlike Lucien’s overwhelming collision of power, this fight was something entirely different.
A dance.
Every motion Linoa made flowed seamlessly into the next. She slipped past talons by fractions of a second, twisted through currents of wind, and countered with precise strikes delivered through her legs. Her Aura sharpened with each movement, forming spear-like extensions along her shins that flashed with lethal precision.
She didn’t fight the wind.
She moved with it.
For a moment, Adlet forgot to breathe.
It was beautiful.
Terrifyingly so.
A perfect harmony between motion, instinct, and control — combat elevated into art.
Then—
the rhythm broke.
The younger Rokh’s wing snapped outward.
Faster.
Sharper.
No warning.
Linoa reacted instantly, twisting her body aside—
but not enough.
The strike crashed into her side with explosive force.
The sound vanished beneath the roaring wind, but Adlet saw the impact — the violent distortion of Aura, the sudden collapse of her balance.
Her wings flickered.
Her body spun downward.
Time seemed to slow.
Fragments of white light scattered from her fading Aura as she fell, spiraling toward the shattered stone below.
Adlet’s heart lurched violently in his chest.
The dance was gone.
Beauty shattered into raw reality.
Above them, Lucien’s battle raged like a storm beyond mortal reach.
Below, Linoa fell.
And in that single, fragile instant, Adlet understood—
Linoa wasn’t going to recover.
She was falling.
And if no one moved now… she could die.
Every voice echoes through the stone, shaping the secrets it holds.
-
follow and leave a comment.
-
Join our Discord to uncover hidden truths and share theories:
-
Which secret will reveal itself next?