They stumbled in—gasping for air, weapons drawn but shaking, eyes wide with exhaustion… and something deeper.
Fear. Not just of each other, but of what they didn't understand.
The final chamber of Emberstone Burrow yawned wide before them, silent and sweltering. An obsidian cathedral of molten veins and forgotten heat. Glowing furnace-pipes lined the walls, hissing with ancient breath. At the center, unmoving, slumped atop a cracked platform of scorched stone, waited the Emberforged Titan—a colossus of brass and bone, half-buried in soot.
The UI was still blank. No combat music. No boss aggro.
Just pressure.
Raven watched from above. Perched on a narrow support beam above the entry arch, his mask still worn, body wrapped in flickering shadow.
Even he was breathing heavy—quietly, carefully.
He wasn't immune to fatigue. But this part? This part didn't need him. Not yet.
