Kai's fingers clenched tightly around the interrupted note, the edges of the paper crumpling under his grip. Linor's handwriting was sharp and forceful, and the final blot of smeared ink lingered before his eyes like a blood-red warning that refused to fade. Ironhammer spread the parchment scroll out on a reindeer hide beside the campfire. His rough fingers traced the obscure ancient runes, his brows knitting tightly.
"The arrangement of these runes is very similar to the inscriptions on the Starcore altar recorded in ancient dwarven texts," Ironhammer said in a low voice. He rummaged through his pack and pulled out a yellowed leather-bound notebook, its cover engraved with the same twisted symbols. "This is a remnant passed down from my ancestors. After the Starfall Incident, the dwarven clans listed these runes as forbidden knowledge. Only successive forging elders were allowed to read them."
Kai leaned closer, studying the hand-drawn illustrations in the notebook. One depicted an altar floating among the clouds, with seven Starcore fragments embedded at its center. The runes carved around them were identical to those on the parchment. Ironhammer compared the two carefully, deciphering them word by word, muttering under his breath as firelight flickered across his face.
"I've got it!" Half an hour later, Ironhammer slapped his thigh, unable to contain his excitement. "This isn't an ordinary secret letter—it's a resonance coordinate for the Starcore fragments! It says that when all seven fragments are gathered, the Starcore altar will reappear at the裂隙—the rift in the barrier between the two realms. And the hiding place of the final fragment… is deep within the volcanic interior of the Aurora Continent!"
Kai's heart slammed violently in his chest. So Victor's goal had never been just the scattered fragments. He already knew the location of the final one and had even predicted that Linor would head to the volcanic interior, setting an ambush there. That secret letter was never meant to guide them—it was bait, deliberately left behind to lure them in.
"The volcanic interior…" Kai murmured, Linor's smile flashing through his mind. "We have to get there immediately. If we're too late—"
"It's not that simple," Ironhammer said, shaking his head as he gestured toward the howling wind and snow outside the tent. "The teleportation array linking the polar icefields to the Aurora Continent collapsed after the Starfall. The dragon's injuries haven't fully healed—it can't carry us across realms. And Victor's remaining forces are surely still prowling the outskirts. If we expose ourselves now, we're as good as dead."
Just as the two fell into grim silence, a deep dragon's roar suddenly sounded outside the tent. The voice was no longer weak; it carried a vigorous, surging power. Kai and Ironhammer exchanged a glance and immediately rushed outside.
In the snow, the guardian dragon was slowly rising to its feet. The wound on its chest had already scabbed over, golden scales gleaming in the newborn sunlight. Seeing Kai, the dragon lowered its head, warmth filling its amber vertical pupils. It scraped away the snow with one claw, revealing a blue crystal buried beneath the ice. The crystal was perfectly translucent, faint magical light flowing within it—it was a spacestone, the key to activating a cross-realm teleportation gate.
"A spacestone!" Ironhammer exclaimed. "I can't believe it was hidden beneath the ice. The dragon's going to help us open a portal!"
The dragon let out a low rumble and gently nudged Kai's hand with its snout. Understanding immediately, Kai pressed his palm against the spacestone, channeling the remaining Starcore energy in his body into it. The crystal erupted in brilliant blue light. A twisted pillar of radiance shot skyward, and at its end, a rune-covered portal slowly took shape.
"Hurry! The portal won't last long!" Ironhammer hoisted his ice-breaking axe and shoved the parchment and notebook into Kai's pack. "I'll stay behind and hold off Victor's remaining forces. You take the spacestone and go save Linor!"
"No!" Kai refused without hesitation. "We go together!"
"You foolish boy!" Ironhammer slammed a fist into Kai's shoulder, his eyes blazing with resolve. "I'm old—I've lived long enough. But you're different. You're the hope of both realms. Remember this: the power of the Starcore exists to protect, not to take revenge. Find Linor. Gather the fragments. Don't let our sacrifices be in vain!"
Before Kai could reply, the roar of approaching mechs echoed in the distance. Victor's remaining forces had caught up.
The dragon roared in fury, its wings spreading wide as golden flames erupted toward the oncoming mechs. Ironhammer gripped his axe and charged in the opposite direction, his rough voice echoing through the storm.
"Go! Now!"
Kai stared at the retreating figures of the dragon and Ironhammer, his eyes burning red. He clenched his teeth, turned, and sprinted into the portal. Blue light wrapped around his body, wind screaming in his ears as overlapping visions of the two realms flashed past.
Moments—or perhaps much longer—later, Kai crashed heavily onto scorching ground.
The air reeked of sulfur. Rivers of red-hot magma surrounded him as volcanic ash drifted down like black snow. Not far away, a towering volcano was slowly erupting, lava flowing down its slopes and painting the land in blazing crimson.
This was the volcanic interior of the Aurora Continent.
Kai struggled to his feet, gripping the meteor-iron wrench tightly. The positioning crystal at his neck suddenly burned with intense heat. He looked up toward the volcano's mid-slope, where three powerful energy signatures pulsed brightly—two belonging to Starcore fragments, and one radiating Victor's cold, technological aura.
Linor was there.
Kai took a deep breath and downed the focus potion from his pack in one gulp. Starcore energy surged back through his body. With the wrench in hand, he charged toward the volcano without hesitation.
Within the volcano's shadows, a black figure silently emerged. The shadow guard watched Kai's back, a cruel smile spreading across his face. Slowly, he raised his dagger. The poison coating its blade glimmered with an eerie green sheen beneath the falling ash.