---
The old ruin was buried beneath roots and silence. The group moved slowly, led by the flickering lantern Yuki held. Its unnatural blue flame didn't burn, but it pulsed faintly—almost as if it were guiding them with a heartbeat of its own.
Each step deeper into the cavern made the air heavier.
Ren pressed his palm to the wall. "These stones… they're ancient. Older than the mythic divide."
Kai, usually joking, stayed quiet. Even he could feel it—the pressure in the air. Something was watching.
Yuki's eyes locked onto a carving.
A symbol—eight curved flames surrounding a spiral—marked the doorway ahead. The same spiral had appeared in his dreams.
But before they entered, something in Yuki shifted.
A tremble in his chest. The faint shimmer of void energy around his fingertips, uncontrolled and jittery. Reality bent slightly, and Aiko reached out instinctively.
"Yuki?"
Her hand brushed his, and for a moment—just one heartbeat—she saw what he saw:
> A field of white foxes.
A burning tree.
A boy crying beneath a red moon.
A cracked mask… and a voice whispering,
"Remember what was stolen."
She gasped and fell to her knees.
"Aiko!" Himari rushed to her side.
"I'm okay," she said breathlessly. "But… I saw inside him. Just for a moment. And now…"
A soft pulse rippled around her—a golden shimmer, light but dense.
Ren's eyes widened. "She's copying his aura manipulation."
"She what?" Kai blinked.
"She's awakening," Nogitsune said quietly, observing Aiko with intrigue. "His energy synced with hers. Not by force, but by… trust."
Aiko looked at her hands. They were trembling—but they glowed faintly, with the golden hue of her newly awakened aura.
---
Meanwhile, in the distance...
A voice stirred from deep slumber. Not the one calling Yuki, but one watching the watchers.
A pair of glowing silver eyes opened in the rift.
> "They've stepped through the ash."
"It begins again…"
---
As they passed through a tunnel of tangled roots and forgotten stone, the flame in the lantern flickered violently.
Yuki stopped walking.
"What is it?" Himari asked.
He didn't respond at first, eyes fixed on the lantern.
"It's… humming," he finally said. "Not a sound—more like a memory. Like it's remembering something I've forgotten."
Nogitsune stepped closer. "Or something it wants you to remember."
A beat passed. Then Yuki whispered, "It's not just guiding us. It's part of the ruin."
That's when they saw it—an arch of stone, barely visible under moss and decay, revealing a hallway that sloped downward into shadow.
The lantern pulsed once more, then went dark.
The group stood in silence.
"Guess we walk in the dark now," Haru muttered.
"No," Yuki said, raising his palm. A soft shimmer of voidlight swirled to life in his hand, illuminating the hallway ahead.
"This light is mine now."
---
After the pulse of Yuki's awakening and Aiko's aura synchronization, Ren made the call.
"We pull back. Just for now," he said, stepping away from the sealed door. "You don't enter something like that without breath in your lungs."
They returned to the surface.
The forest was calm again. No strange shifts. No pressure in the air. Just the soft rustle of wind through the leaves.
And… the smell of something cooking.
Kai was already at it, having pulled out his portable grill like it was a sacred artifact. "Alright! We just brushed against ancient death, reality-bending fox visions, and copy-paste awakenings. You know what we need?"
Yuki raised an eyebrow. "Let me guess…"
"Ramen. With grilled dumplings. And a side of 'holy crap, we survived.'"
Nogitsune, sitting on a log, smirked. "At least your humor survived the descent."
Kai winked. "It's my final form."
They all sat together under a wide canopy of trees. Stars slowly began dotting the sky.
Ren stood off to the side, arms crossed, quietly watching Yuki and the others.
Haru, sipping tea, glanced at him. "You thinking what I'm thinking?"
"That the calm never lasts?" Ren said.
Haru grinned. "Nope. That we need to challenge Yuki again… soon."
Ren rolled his eyes. "You're ridiculous."
Behind them, Yuki sat between Aiko and Himari—both girls leaning slightly against him, clearly tired. His face was flushed, trying very hard not to react to their closeness. Kai saw it.
"Ohhh nooo," Kai whispered to himself, trying not to laugh. "They're forming the triangle."
Yuki shifted slightly. The girls, unconscious, leaned in harder—one on each shoulder.
Nogitsune, without looking up: "Try not to explode, brother."
"I—I'm not exploding!" Yuki hissed.
Ren smirked. "He's malfunctioning."
---
That night, Yuki dreamed again—but not of pain.
Just laughter, echoing softly.
And flames that didn't burn.
And far beneath the ruin—
The spiral burned faintly again.
Not with heat.
But with anticipation.
---
"If you're enjoying the ride, don't forget to leave a power stone or a comment—it really helps this grow!"