Chapter 1: The Edge of the World
The Arken Spine wasn't meant to be crossed—not by foot, not by beast, not by sane men. A jagged chain of mountains slicing the continent in two, it rose so high that the clouds clung to its peaks like smoke from some divine forge. For centuries, it had been the boundary between the known world and the forgotten.
And Shu was standing right at its edge.
He knelt beside a cracked stone pillar, its surface buried in ivy and ancient moss. His gloved fingers traced a faint symbol—two wings cradling a broken sun. The Mark of the Sky Order. The very same glyph burned into the scroll hidden in the leather tube strapped to his side. He wasn't lost.
He was exactly where the stories said he shouldn't be.
Behind him, the wind screamed, tearing across the ledge like it wanted to fling him into the abyss. Ahead, half-devoured by the cliff and time, loomed the Temple of Veyr—the last known resting place of the Sky Key, an artifact so powerful, it had been erased from history. Some said it opened the gates to the floating cities. Others believed it controlled storms. Shu didn't care about legends. Not anymore.
He needed it to save her.
"Still breathing?" came a voice from the earpiece tucked into his hood.
Shu pressed a finger to it. "I found the temple."
A pause crackled through the static. "Be careful. If the stories are true—"
"They're never just stories," Shu said, standing. His long black scarf snapped behind him, torn at the edges from too many battles. He looked like a wanderer, but the way he moved—quiet, precise—betrayed his past. Trained by the Stormblade Monks. Forged in exile. Hunted by the empire.
He approached the temple's weathered gate. Carved directly into the mountain face, its door was sealed shut, no visible handle or keyhole. Only a circular emblem at its center, the same symbol from before.
Shu took the scroll from his pack and unfurled it. Along its bottom edge was a line of mirrored script. He whispered the words aloud.
"Let the sky remember what the world has forgotten."
The symbol flared with light. Stone grated against stone, and the door split open with a deafening groan. Cold air spilled out, thick with the scent of metal and dust. Shu slipped inside, blades loose at his sides, every sense alert.
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The interior was unlike anything he expected. This was no crumbling ruin. The walls pulsed faintly with embedded circuitry, a forgotten technology laced into ancient stone. Glowing lines snaked along the floor, guiding him down a sloping tunnel. It was as if the temple were alive—dreaming, waiting.
He descended in silence. The only sounds were his footsteps and the whisper of wind through cracks in the ceiling. He passed statues of winged guardians, fractured stained glass depictions of cities floating above clouds, and murals of men wielding lightning as weapons.
Then he heard it.
A low growl.
He froze, hand moving slowly to one of his twin hookblades.
The creature appeared from the shadows without warning—six-legged, all muscle and armor, eyes like molten iron. A Skyrender. Bred long ago by the Empire to guard its forbidden places.
It lunged.
Shu ducked low, drawing his blades in a cross-slash that sent sparks flying. The beast spun with shocking agility, swiping a claw that shredded stone. Shu vaulted backward, twisted mid-air, and landed on a broken pillar. The Skyrender charged again.
He didn't dodge.
He ran straight toward it.
At the last second, he slid under the beast, slicing at the exposed underbelly. The creature shrieked, whirled, and struck—too slow. Shu flipped over its back, planted a blade in its spine, and used the momentum to hurl himself onto a ledge above.
It collapsed with a final hiss of breath.
Shu didn't smile. He just kept moving.
---
Finally, he reached the Heartchamber.
It was vast—easily the size of a cathedral, with a domed ceiling that showed a projection of the night sky. In the center, floating above a pedestal of levitating stone, was a crystalline object shaped like a star broken in half and stitched with silver: the Sky Key.
He stepped forward, breath catching. After all the years, the blood, the betrayal—he had found it.
His fingers touched the Key.
And the room screamed to life.
A voice, ancient and mechanical, echoed through the chamber.
"Unauthorized retrieval detected. Guardian protocol: activated."
The floor trembled. Lights flared. Across the room, a section of wall collapsed—and a golem emerged.
Twice his height, carved from obsidian and gold, with glowing veins of blue energy surging through its limbs. Its face was a blank mask with two circular eyes that burned with ancient fury.
Shu stared up at it. "Great."
The golem slammed its fists together, and arcs of electricity danced between them.
Shu tucked the Sky Key into his satchel and readied his blades. The flare of battle surged through him—his heart calm, his mind razor-sharp.
The golem charged.
And Shu ran straight at it.
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