The Box: Fate
Chapter 60 — The Ash and the Iron
The Volcanic Trenches of the north were a hellish wasteland of black obsidian glass and rivers of bubbling sulfur. Ash drifted from the sky like gray snow, sticking to the sweat on Axel Hatanaki's golden armor. Beside him, Sharky Bee moved like a shadow among the jagged rocks, his green-tinted eyes darting through the thick haze. Zanaki walked in the center, his draconic pulse acting as a radar through the dense, heavy atmosphere.
Suddenly, a deafening roar tore through the canyon, followed by the sound of tearing flesh and collapsing stone.
"Up ahead!" Sharky Bee whispered, vanishing into a **Shadow Flicker**.
Axel and Zanaki sprinted over the crest of a jagged ridge and stopped cold. Below them, in a wide basin of boiling mud, a single man was surrounded by a massive horde of Level 45 **Pyre-Drakes**—beasts that could incinerate a standard squad in seconds.
The man wore crimson armor forged from dragon scales, wielding a massive, jagged greatsword that burned with a terrifying, white-hot heat. He was moving like a hurricane of pure violence. With one massive sweep of his blade, he cleaved three Pyre-Drakes in half, their blood turning into steam before it even hit the ground.
This was the missing elite hunter from the High Kingdom: **Gideon the Ash-Bringer**.
As the final drake fell to the dirt, headless, Gideon exhaled a long breath of steam. He didn't even look back at the bodies. His sharp, amber eyes snapped directly up to the ridge, locking onto Zanaki, Axel, and Sharky Bee. To a high-tier native hunter like Gideon, their sudden presence in a restricted danger zone smelled like a trap.
"More pests," Gideon growled, his deep voice carrying a massive, suffocating physical pressure.
He didn't ask questions. He gripped his greatsword with both hands, coiled his legs, and launched himself directly at the ridge like a volcanic eruption. **"Cinder Shatter: Apex Strike!"** His blade came down in a crushing arc, a massive wave of white-hot magma expanding from the tip, aiming to wipe out the three teenagers in a single blow.
Axel crossed his arms, preparing to unleash his absolute defense, but before the magma could touch them, a blinding flash of sapphire lightning tore through the sky.
*BOOM!*
The magma was blasted apart into harmless sparks. From the smoke, Azureus stepped forward in his towering humanoid form, his hand effortlessly gripping the burning edge of Gideon's massive greatsword. The blue draconic scales on Azureus's palm didn't even singe.
"Lower your steel, mortal," Azureus commanded, his slitted silver eyes flashing with ancient authority. "We are not your executioners."
Gideon's eyes widened as he felt the immense, heavy aura of the Dragon King. He ripped his sword back, skidding twenty feet across the ash, his breath hitching. "A dragon... in human form? Who are you people?"
Azureus melted back into Zanaki's chest, leaving the seventeen-year-old boy standing there, dusting off his jacket.
"We're the guys who just saved your life from making a very embarrassing mistake," Zanaki said, walking down the ridge with a cocky smirk. "So, you're the big, bad elite hunter Gideon? The Guild Master in Liya was practically crying into his ledger because you didn't show up. We thought you got eaten."
Gideon straightened up, planting his massive greatsword into the ground. He scoffed, looking at the teenagers with pure arrogance. "The Guild Master is a coward who lives by schedules. I am Gideon the Ash-Bringer. I am the master of my own path. I will enter that city when I feel like it, not when a piece of paper tells me to."
Zanaki burst out laughing, clapping his hands together. "Oh, wow. 'Master of my own path?' Is that what they call getting lost in a ditch full of oversized lizards? Man, the High Kingdom must be really running low on talent if their top elite has the directional sense of a blind sheep."
Sharky Bee reappeared from the shadows, chuckling. "Seriously. You've been missing for three days, dude. The city is literally under a purple rift, and you're out here playing tag with drakes because your ego is too big for a map."
Gideon's face flushed as red as his armor, his amber aura flaring with intense rage. "You arrogant little brats... I'll teach you to respect the crown's elite! Draw your weapons!"
Zanaki grinned, his knuckles crackling with blue lightning again. "Gladly. Let's see if that big sword is just for show."
Before the two hotheads could clash, a sudden, violent vibration shook the ground. Deep inside Zanaki's mind, Azureus's voice boomed like thunder: *'Stop this foolishness. The northern rift is expanding. The balance is shifting back toward Aethelgard. We must return to the city immediately.'*
Zanaki's grin vanished. He looked at Axel, who nodded grimly, sensing the sudden shift in the atmospheric pressure.
"Alright, alright, fight's cancelled," Zanaki sighed, waving his hand dismissively at Gideon. "My landlord inside my head says we gotta go. Look, 'Master of your own path,' the Second Monarch is moving. If you want to actually fight something that matters instead of throwing a tantry here in the dirt, follow us back to Liya"
Without waiting for Gideon's reply, the three teenagers turned and began their rapid sprint back toward the city gates. Gideon stood in the ash for a moment, his jaw clenched, before ripping his greatsword from the ground and storming after them in a silent, furious rage