Episode 53 – Rise of the Golden Flame
The skies were too quiet.
Kael stood at the cliff's edge, watching the clouds churn like stirred smoke. There had been whispers in the air all day—no birds, no wind, just that eerie silence that made the back of his neck itch. Lana tightened her grip on her staff beside him, her fingers trembling slightly, though she hid it well.
"I don't like this," she murmured.
Neither did Kael.
The team had barely gotten a few hours to breathe, just enough to laugh a little, eat something warm, and plan their next move. Tunde had been mid-way through a sarcastic impression of Rhea when the air shifted. The ground trembled faintly. A thin pulse of dark energy stretched across the sky like a ripple in fabric.
Then it came.
The warning bells in the village they'd sheltered in began to toll wildly. A blood-red symbol appeared in the clouds—something ancient and cursed. The realm of Earth was cracking open.
They didn't need anyone to explain it.
They just knew—the war had begun.
Kael turned, eyes glowing faintly. "Positions," he said, voice low but steady.
In seconds, the peace they'd tasted vanished. The magical barrier around the outer village shattered with a boom, and enemy troops began flooding in—beasts of twisted bone and flaming mouths, wizards cloaked in black smoke, and shadow archers who never missed.
Thunder. Blood. Screams.
The battlefield stretched for miles—broken cities, floating islands, and dark skies set ablaze by spells. Shadows swirled in every corner, and rising through the heart of it all was an army led by the new entity born from the shard: a hulking figure cloaked in living darkness, its voice a rumble that cracked bones.
> "Bring me the boy. The one who holds the blade that defies fate."
The gods' whispers had warned of something powerful returning.
It had arrived.
---
At the Front Lines
Kael, Rhea, Lana, Tunde, and Felix stood at the edge of an erupting cliff. Below, a tide of shadow demons—dozens at first, then hundreds—raced toward them like a flood of living nightmares.
Rhea was still without her wand but stood strong, raw energy crackling in her hands.
Tunde activated his bloodline sigil again, eyes glowing fiery red as he muttered, "This better be worth missing lunch for."
Lana summoned two ethereal blades, her face hard but worried. "There's too many."
Kael's hand twitched near Velmorth'Rael.
He whispered, "It's time."
---
Kael's Transformation
Lightning began to swirl from the sky—black, gold, and white bolts clashing around him.
Kael dropped to one knee, chest rising and falling fast. His back arched. The symbol on his chest glowed furiously. Runes raced across his skin like living tattoos.
> BOOM!!!
In one burst, Kael exploded with light. A wave of holy power knocked even his friends back.
When the dust cleared…
Standing there was not Kael.
Not the boy. Not the god.
But something more ancient. Something primal.
A full golden wolf—majestic and terrifying. Eight feet tall. Glowing fur so bright, none around him could bear to look at him. His golden aura pulsed with god-level intensity. His eyes blazed like miniature suns.
The shadows froze.
And then…
> He roared.
A sound that made mountains tremble and skies peel open.
---
The War Begins
The golden wolf leapt, and time seemed to break around him.
SLASH. A hundred shadow beasts gone in a blur of light.
HOWL. A shockwave sent an entire demon battalion flying.
The enemy screamed, shielding their eyes, unable to face the light.
Tunde gawked. "I knew my guy was strong but—HE JUST ERASED THINGS FROM EXISTENCE!"
Rhea blinked, breathless. "That's not Kael anymore. That's… a god in beast form."
Lana tried to call his name, but Kael was deep within—silent, focused, burning through his enemies with divine fury.
---
Final Confrontation of the Day
From the void, the shadow overlord stepped forward—twice as tall as before, now fused with more shard energy.
"I was born from your light's mistake," it growled. "Let me show you the truth of it."
It raised a dark hammer, trying to crush Kael.
But Kael caught it—with his teeth.
> CHOMP.
The hammer shattered like glass.
> SLAM!
Kael body-slammed the overlord into the ground and placed one glowing paw on its chest.
Rhea screamed, "Kael, stop! You'll kill yourself!"
But Kael's aura grew brighter still.
He roared again—and his voice wasn't just his own. It was layered with thousands of echoes… voices of gods long dead.
The earth split.
The skies cracked open.
The void monster howled—
And then exploded into a million specs of black ash.
---
The Aftermath
Kael stood silent as a golden breeze floated across the land. Then, like a collapsing star, he shrank down—collapsing to the ground, unconscious but breathing.
Lana ran to him first, tears in her eyes. She touched his hair and whispered, "You came back."
Tunde collapsed beside him. "So… next time, I'm the one going golden. Deal?"
Rhea rolled her eyes. "In your dreams, wolf boy."
The skies began to clear.
But from the ashes of the battle… something stirred.
Far away, unseen, another force watched.
A cloaked figure with no face, whispering to itself:
"Now… the last gate opens."