The Cryowaste Zone was colder than memory.
Even through Aria's reinforced gear, the frost clawed at her bones like a living thing. The land stretched in endless white, punctuated by twisted remnants of buildings half-swallowed by ice. Nothing had lived here for years—not officially. No birds, no wind, just silence so deep it buzzed in her ears.
Xander trudged beside her, his breath forming sharp clouds. Nyra and the scout team followed behind, drones scanning the icy terrain for anomalies.
"How much further?" Xander asked, breaking the silence.
Aria checked the signal on the device synced to Ryven's drive. "Less than a mile. The energy readings are unstable, but it's coming from that sinkhole ahead."
She pointed to where the ice dipped into a deep chasm, a blue glow pulsing faintly from below. Something unnatural hummed in the air.
Nyra frowned. "Whatever's down there… it's waking up."
As they approached the edge, the temperature dropped further. Even the frost beneath their boots started to crackle, not with cold—but with something else. Energy.
That's when Aria heard it.
A voice—faint, distant, like a whisper across dimensions.
"Aria…"
She froze.
"Did you hear that?" she asked.
Xander and Nyra exchanged glances. "Hear what?"
The whisper came again, this time clearer. "You came after all… sister."
Her heart stopped.
Kael.
Without another word, she stepped toward the edge of the pit. And then the ground gave way.
She fell—fast and hard—through a tunnel of ice and light, until she landed in a chamber buried beneath the surface. Her body hit snow, but it wasn't cold—it was warm.
The walls pulsed with a strange red glow, veins of dark energy stretching like roots. In the center stood a figure. Tall. Lean. Eyes like frozen midnight.
"Hello, Aria," Kael said.
She scrambled to her feet, blood roaring in her ears. "How do you know me?"
He smiled, slow and chilling. "I remember everything. Even the day they took you from me."
His voice was calm, almost gentle. But there was a tremble in the air now, like the world itself feared what came next.
"You and I," he said, stepping closer, "were meant to be gods. But they made you forget. And now you've come to stop me."
Aria clenched her fists, ice coiling around her arms.
"No," she said. "I've come to see if there's anything left of the brother I never knew."
Kael's smile faltered for a fraction of a second.
Then the chamber shook.
And Aria knew the real fight was just beginning.