The jungle was alive.

Not with animals—but with whispers. Vines slithered when backs were turned. Trees leaned closer when no one watched. Roots moved. The deeper they walked, the more Kael swore the forest was breathing.

“Is it just me,” she muttered, swatting away a branch, “or is this place trying to eat us?”

Lira, walking ahead with water gliding around her fingers, didn’t answer. She was tense—senses stretched thin.

Ashen was quiet too, for once. “We’re close,” he finally said. “The Earth-born stirs.”

They reached a clearing surrounded by stone pillars overrun with moss. Each one was carved with ancient glyphs—cracked but still glowing faint green. At the center stood a massive stone circle.

“This was a Grove of Balance,” Ashen whispered. “Before the Frost tainted the roots.”

Kael stepped closer to one of the pillars—and the ground trembled.

Suddenly, the stone circle rose.

Earth split. Vines lashed. A massive figure emerged—bare-chested, covered in dirt and scars, eyes glowing green like emerald fire. He held a hammer made from tree roots and mountain rock.

“Leave,” he growled.

Kael stepped forward. “We’re not here to fight—”

“You should be,” he snapped. “You brought the frost with you.”

The ground around them cracked open. Earth hands rose, shaped like golems. Lira tried to calm him. “Ryn, we’re your allies. Kael is—”

“I don’t know her!” he roared. “I don’t want to!”

The hammer hit the ground. A shockwave hurled them back.

Ashen cursed. “His memories are fractured. He’s caught in the war—living it on repeat.”

Kael “Then we break the loop.”

She lit her blade with flame and charged, not to kill—but to wake him. Each strike was met with stone. Ryn fought like a mountain—slow, but unmovable. Kael ducked and weaved, her fire not aimed to destroy, but to burn through the fog in his mind.

Lira circled, calling the rain. Water fell in sheets, washing the dust, cooling the rage.

Kael shouted through the storm. “You were our shield! You chose to protect us, even when the Frost King shattered your spine!”

Ryn hesitated.

The hammer slowed.

Memories flickered in his eyes—shouts, blood, battlefields of ice.

“I—remember… fire… glass… your scream.”

Kael dropped her blade. “I screamed because you wouldn’t leave me behind.”

Ryn’s body trembled. Then—

He fell to one knee.

The earth stilled. The jungle fell silent.

He looked up. “Kael.”

She smiled. “Welcome back.”

In a chamber of ice, the Frost King watched it all through a frozen mirror.

“They awaken faster now.”

His general stepped forward. “Should we strike?”

“Not yet.” He tapped a frozen coffin with his claw.

“Let them gather. When they reach the Stormborn… she’ll tear them apart for us.”

Inside the coffin, a figure slept—her skin cracked with lightning, her expression twisted in grief.