Adventure of the beasts quest 1 start of the burning world

Fresh snow spills across the mountainside, broken by shattered stone and the cub’s scorched tunnel. His black flames bend sharply in the bitter wind beneath the stars.

Below, Captain Sered Vale, a broad-shouldered middle-aged man with a weathered face and iron-gray beard, leads six mountain wardens, six sturdy adults with wind-reddened faces framed by wool caps uphill. Their blue-gray cloaks snap over ring mail, and each carries a pale charm on a leather cord.

The charms flare amber as the wardens reach the scorched trail. Their light crawls across the snow toward the cub, answering the black fire with trembling chimes.

The wardens spread across the trail, weapons lowered but ready. Sered raises one gloved hand, fixing his wary gaze on the small bear-wolf shape above.

The cub’s black flames surge low across the snow, racing downhill in a silent widening ring. Amber charms shatter into sparks as the mountain warden raise their arms.

The fire rises around Captain Sered Vale and the six mountain wardens, swallowing blue-gray cloaks and pale charms in a single dark blaze.

Their silhouettes vanish behind the flames. When the wind tears the fire away, the mountain warden lie motionless across the scorched trail, and Sered’s iron-gray beard is dusted with ash.

Captain Sered Vale’s voice fades beneath the mountain wind. No warden rises, no blade remains lifted, and the amber light has gone from every charm.

The cub stands alone above the buried ruin, black flames bending around his small bear-wolf body while fresh snow settles over the fallen line.