The night in Zeta was never truly dark. Veins of glowing minerals threaded through the cliffs like pulsing lifeblood, casting eerie, shifting shadows across the ravaged earth. The deeper they went, the stranger everything became — twisted flora that whispered secrets, beasts that vanished into mist, and ancient ruins that seemed to breathe with a memory of something long lost.
Alex stood before one such ruin now — a half-submerged temple made of black stone and etched with golden glyphs that shimmered when his mana flared. Nyssa flanked him silently, blades drawn. Behind them, the rest of the Twilight squad scouted the perimeter.
"This is the place," Alex murmured. "The one from the vision."
Nyssa narrowed her eyes. "Are you sure? These glyphs… they look like the ones from the Arcane Banishment Protocols the imperials use."
"That's why I'm sure."
He stepped forward, and the ground beneath his feet trembled. As his palm met the temple's door, the glyphs lit up like fire, and a voice echoed in his mind — not words, but feelings. Pain. Betrayal. Power sealed and forgotten.
Then the door opened.
Inside, the air was thick with ancient energy. At the center of the chamber, atop a stone pedestal, was a crystalline core—pulsing with swirling mana of all elements. It responded to Alex immediately.
"It's… a convergence core," Nyssa whispered in disbelief. "These are extinct. Or at least, they're supposed to be. The imperials destroyed them all centuries ago."
Alex reached toward it, and the mana within spiraled toward him. Fire, water, wind, and earth flared within his veins — but unlike before, they harmonized. His mixed heritage sang in sync with the artifact, and his unstable mana felt… whole.
Then came the scream.
It wasn't human — it was primal, ancient. From the back of the chamber, a creature emerged, crawling from the shadows. Twisted and massive, with too many limbs and glowing eyes, it was a Zetan horror — one of the guardians left behind by the old civilization.
Twilight agents drew weapons, but Alex stepped forward. His aura erupted, and the convergence core responded — glyphs swirling around his arm.
"I'll handle this," he said, his voice low and certain.
And then he vanished.
What followed wasn't a fight — it was a storm. Alex moved with elemental precision, his strikes laced with thunder and fire, his defenses shielded by stone and wind. He was no longer the unstable half-blood struggling to control his power — he was something new. Something born of both worlds.
When the creature finally collapsed, its body dissolving into light, the chamber went still again.
Nyssa stared at him, eyes wide. "You… you stabilized."
"I think this place unlocked something," Alex said. "The ancients didn't just fight the imperial families. They were Saints too… ones who sided with humanity."
She stepped closer. "That means Zeta isn't just a battleground. It's a graveyard of traitors — and maybe, saviors."
Alex nodded slowly, eyes still glowing. "We're not just digging up weapons anymore. We're uncovering a forgotten truth. And the imperial families… are terrified of it."
Outside, far above, the sky cracked with unnatural lightning. Something had awakened — and the empire would feel it.