Adventure of Iris 1

Iris reaches the orc village gate, blood moon gauntlets readied over his scarred arms. Elders and armed orc warriors form a broad, living barrier across the passage.

At the barrier’s center stands the elder spokesman, an aged orc man with a stooped frame, white braids, and a black staff capped by a dull crimson stone.

A younger orc woman steps from the ranks as the chosen opponent. Tall and powerfully built, she wears layered hide armor and carries a blunted war spear.

Korga, with slate-gray skin, shaved temples, and a jagged gold tooth plants her spear in the dust, then raises it across her body. The warriors tighten their ranks, while the elders wait in absolute silence for Iris’s response.

Iris surges across the dust, his blood moon gauntlet driving a tremendous punch toward Korga’s guarded stance.

Korga twists aside at the last instant. The gauntlet misses her by a finger’s breadth, yet the displaced force bursts outward like a hammerwind.

Korga is hurled backward across the gate’s packed earth, boots carving twin furrows before she catches herself and lowers into a braced crouch.

Dust rolls around her legs. The black stone atop the elder’s staff gives a faint crimson pulse, and murmurs ripple through the watching warriors.

Iris closes the distance before Korga can reset her stance. His blood moon gauntlet crashes into the side of her head with brutal, controlled force.

Korga’s guard breaks. Iris seizes her armor, pivots with his immense strength, and drives her down into the packed earth, shaking dust from the gate stones.

The watching warriors fall silent. Dust settles over Korga’s slate-gray shoulders as Iris’s gauntlet holds her firmly against the ground.

The crimson stone atop the elder’s black staff flares, and a circle of ancient runes glows beyond the gate, marking the entrance to the trial ground.

Iris’s demand rolls across the gate. The watching warriors shift uneasily, while Korga remains unconscious in the dust beside her fallen spear.

The elder drives his black staff into the earth. The crimson stone erupts with light, and the runes beyond the gate widen into a burning circle.

Beyond the glowing threshold, the village path twists into darkness that was not there before. A deep, distant horn sounds beneath the stones.

The burning circle answers before Iris can cross. Its runes gutter from gold to corpse-blue, and the distant horn becomes a grinding cry beneath the earth.

The circle snaps shut into a narrow ring around Iris’s feet. Black light climbs his shadow, stretching it toward the village gate instead of the trial ground.

The crimson stone splits with a sharp crack. Behind the elders, dust bursts from the packed earth as long, dark fingers of buried magic curl upward.

Korga of the Ash tusk remains unconscious beside her spear while warriors recoil. The widening shadow reaches the first gate stone, and every ancestor-rune begins to scream.

The screaming runes abruptly fall silent. Above the corpse-blue ring, new symbols ignite one by one, forming a path of silver fire through the darkness beyond the gate.

A final rune opens like an eye. Words appear in the air, stark and luminous: Descend beneath the First Stone. Find the Crown-Eater. Return with its extinguished name.

The shadow circling Iris’s feet jerks toward the silver path, then recoils as though chained. Beneath the village, something vast answers with three slow blows.

The gate stones split along ancient seams. A stairway descends where the path once stood, its steps vanishing into blue-black mist while the warriors raise their weapons.

Iris steps into the corpse-blue circle. The silver path ignites beneath his fur-wrapped feet, and the shadow binding him snaps backward into the stones.

His voice rolls beneath the village like thunder. The ancient stairway shudders, and red fire pours upward through the blue-black mist.

A colossal adult dragon emerges from the stairwell, its scales dark crimson beneath plates of black stone. Broken ivory horns frame its skull, and a crown-shaped brand burns across its brow.

The dragon unfolds vast wings, filling the gate with their shadow. Its talons settle outside the circle while ancestral runes flare around Iris.

Iris drives forward inside the corpse-blue circle, blood moon gauntlet cocked beside his scarred shoulder. The Crown-Eater lowers its skull, expecting defiance rather than impact.

His legendary strength detonates through the punch. The gauntlet smashes into the dragon’s jaw, cracking black stone plates and snapping its head violently aside.

The colossal dragon staggers across the stair mouth, one talon gouging deep furrows through ancient stone. Dark crimson radiance spills from the fractured plates along its jaw.

The crown-shaped brand on the dragon’s brow flares violently. Its vast wings beat once, blasting dust and blue mist around the gate as ancestral runes recoil from its wounded presence.

Iris plants his feet within the corpse-blue circle and lowers his gauntlets. The Crown-Eater’s fractured jaw tilts upward, and the dragon’s burning brand answers with a savage flare.

The dragon’s foreclaw sweeps across the circle with the force of a falling tower. Iris refuses to move. Black talons hammer his crossed arms and drive him to one knee, cracking the ancient floor beneath him.

The blow lands as demanded, but its cost is immediate: one blood moon gauntlet splits at the wrist, and numbness races through Iris’s striking arm.

Iris surges upward, seizing the Crown-Eater’s wounded forelimb with both hands. His monstrous strength and iron will wrench the dragon sideways, but the limb refuses to tear free.

Instead, the black stone plates split along an ancient seam. The dragon’s arm remains attached, yet its crown-shaped brand flickers, exposing a silver rune buried beneath the scales.

The Crown-Eater recoils and drags its limb free, leaving a trail of dark radiance across the circle. The fractured gauntlet drops uselessly from Iris’s wrist.

Iris locks both hands around the Crown-Eater’s wounded forelimb. His remaining gauntlet groans under the strain as monstrous strength and iron will surge through the binding seam.

The silver rune flares. With a thunderous crack, the ancient forging gives way, and Iris tears the dragon’s forelimb free beneath the First Stone.

The severed limb collapses into black stone and crimson light across the circle, while the dragon reels against the stairway. Its crown-shaped brand sputters wildly.

The Crown-Eater reels, stunned and weakened. Iris closes on its skull, clamps both hands around the ancient horns, and drives his remaining blood moon gauntlet into the binding seam.

His speed denies the dragon any recovery. Strength and iron will wrench against the crown-brand, while the silver rune tears open beneath his grip. The world vanishes into black thunder.

When sight returns, the Crown-Eater lies dead across the stair mouth, its severed head held in Iris’s grasp. The body collapses into dark stone and crimson sparks.

The crown-shaped brand breaks apart in Iris’s hands, revealing a small silver key of living rune-light. Below, the First Stone unlocks with a deep subterranean roar.

The silver path surges down the newly opened stairway, illuminating chambers beneath the village. Ancient carvings reveal a crown split in two, one half marked with Iris’s tribal symbol.

Descend beneath the First Stone