Resonance and Ryder: Anchor the Damn Thing...

Grrkt!

Grrkt!

The chain rattled from the pack like a serpent of black steel. Link after link spilled free, its weight grinding into my wrist until my knees buckled. For a moment, I thought it would drag me down with it. Every instinct screamed to let go but I didn’t listen.

Above, the Guardian reared back.

I snapped my head up just in time to see fire swelling inside its chest, spiraling inward, compressing into a sphere of burning orange. It rose higher, shining like a baby sun about to collapse. When it launched, the sound wasn’t a roar—it was the sky breaking.

RAWRROOOOM!

The fireball froze midair, quivering under the strength of Lira’s scream. Her face had gone red, veins bulging along her neck and temples, blood streaking from the corners of her lips. Her chest expanded until it looked like her ribs might snap apart.

“Lira!” I yelled.

She didn’t stop. Couldn’t. If she did, we’d be charcoal.

Her rune flared brighter, carving shadows in the ground. Her body trembled like it might split under the force clawing out of her lungs.

The Guardian staggered, its molten chest cracking open in jagged lines, fire leaking through in streams. For the first time, it looked… hindered—less of a god and more like prey.

She was doing it—holding her ground—but destroying herself in the process. And even now…it wasn’t enough.

The chain in my hands thrummed. The links rattled —with weight that wasn’t physical, dragging at my soul and bones, demanding resonance.

I grit my teeth, knowing what that meant. The last time I let resonance flow freely, CIX hijacked my body—his presence bleeding through me, using me like a conduit. I swore I’d never let that happen again.

But now…Now I had no choice.

I wrapped the chain tighter, forcing my breath into rhythm. The hum grew louder, vibrating sharper until it wasn’t in my ears anymore.

It was inside my head.

A voice.

Cold, sharp, stripped of all warmth:

“You restrain me. That is unwise.”

I froze, my breath snagging in my throat.

The chain clinked, almost like it was listening to the voice in my head.

“Do you intend to live? Then grant me your hand… and I will burn your enemy to ash.”

It slithered fully free, links pooling like rivers at my feet, wrapping my arms in a spiral of steel. The weight alone could have brought me down.

My heart slammed into my chest. It was happening again.

“CIX…?” I rasped. “Is that you?”

The reply was measured, each syllable deliberate—like an old general weighing every word.
“No. I am not CIX, Ash. My name is Ryder...Jax Ryder. The chain belongs to me. Or rather… it once did.”

A chill needled down my spine.

“You’re… a hero?”

“…I was.” A pause, solemn as a closed tomb. “Long before your time. That is irrelevant now. Your comrade… she is close to burnout. If you won’t relinquish control, then anchor the rune to the chain before she dies.”

I shook my head hard, clutching the links tighter. “She won’t. She’s stronger than you think…”

Even as I spoke, Lira faltered. Her scream snapped mid-breath, crumbling into a hoarse tremor before breaking off entirely. She clutched at her throat, gasping, the rune dimming. More veins climbed across her neck, then slowly toward her heart. She fell to one knee.

The fireball unraveled—but the Guardian inhaled again, heat surging for another strike.

I tried to move forward but Ryder’s voice lashed through me like a blade.

“Anchor the chain. Ignite it. Now.”

“I don’t…I don’t know how to anchor anything! Just …explain it in plain words.”

“…So CIX taught you nothing.” There was a sigh in his tone—a weary disappointment, not anger. “Typical of him.”

“You know CIX? Do you guys have a book club in my head or something?”

A soft sound, almost like laughter but stripped of joy. “That is not how resonance functions. But yes...I know him well. Too well. Another time, perhaps. For now… listen. Runes are powerful. They are not mere scribbles or symbols but living bridges etched between flesh and the Six Great Elements. Each rune is a covenant, binding the weaver's essence to a specific current of the world.”

“Great. Storytime during a boss fight.” I ducked as a shard of molten rock blasted past my head. “Okay, professor, just tell me what to do!”

“Fire in nature,” Ryder began,” requires three key components to activate: heat, fuel and an oxidizing agent. Apply this to us: the fuel is your Magna—your life force, the amount you have determines how long your fire burns. The oxidizer is the rune, which you must anchor to that Magna. Combine them with proper flow—the pathways in your body that conduct the element—and you create…heat.”

I blinked. “That was a lot of words. Can you dumb it down before we’re charcoal?”

“I thought you enjoyed research and wanted to learn more about your glitch status.”

“Yeah, on a cool summer day! Not while  Lion-King here is trying to flambé me!”

Another rumble of sound in my mind—maybe Ryder thought it was a chuckle, but it was bone-dry.

“Fine. But do not concern yourself with time. While in resonance, our conversations occur more slowly than the rest of the world. Everything we’ve said so far hasn’t even cost a minute.”

That’s… actually convenient.

“Whoa. Trippy. Another resonance perk, huh? If we live, you’re giving me the full lecture.”

"We will survive....if you listen. Fire flows outward from the heart, through the chest. To control it, you must control your heartbeat. The faster it beats, the hotter you burn. Activation techniques are necessary for now: some whistle, some clap. Simply choose what works for you.”

So that’s how it works. I remember Keiji explained something like that from his evaluation trials. I didn’t have any ideas and his looked simple enough. I lifted my hand and snapped my middle finger with my thumb.

Snap.

The chain twitched in my grip, runes igniting one after another, each link flaring as though lit by some unseen match. Heat crawled up my arm in waves, until the chain felt less like steel and more like something breathing—hungry, eager to be unleashed.

“Good,” Ryder murmured, smooth against the pounding in my chest. “Now to anchor…match your pulse to the flames. Do not force it with thought…feel it. A rune without a steady anchor drags from you whatever it can…your fear, rage Especially where fire is concerned. Without discipline, it grows fat on your emotions until it devours you from the inside out.”

My chest hammered like a war drum. Too fast. Too uneven to tell. Sweat ran down my neck as panic fought for dominance. How was I supposed to tame something as erratic as my own heartbeat?

Then my eyes glanced on the shovel lying discarded nearby —the cracked wood, the warped edge. Familiar. The sight of it pulled me back—late nights, early mornings, the cold dirt and quiet graves. I let that weight settle in my lungs until the rhythm inside me began to steady.

Breathe in.

“That’s it,” Ryder spoke approvingly. “But remember fire wants to be unleashed. You can’t cage it, and you can’t drag it back once it’s gone. You must force it out from your heart, through your arms, into the chain.”

The next heartbeat snapped the world into terrifying clarity. I could see Lira straining, her bow trembling. The Guardian, a burning storm of muscle and rage, charging forward like a sun with teeth.

I didn’t hesitate. Fire ripped through me, setting nerve and tendons ablaze. Embers sparked from my fingertips as the chain ignited fully—every link pulsing with orange light in time with my heart. Each beat made it longer, spitting sparks like it was alive and trying to break free.

It felt like absolute power.

And absolute ruin.

“Steady,” Ryder cautioned. “If you let emotions take control, the flames will consume you instead. Fixate on the enemy before you… the one that wants your comrades dead…that’s your target.”

The Guardian bellowed, a furnace roar that rattled stone loose from the ceiling. Its throat glowed white-hot, molten light swelling behind its teeth. The air warped, the heat crushing against my skin.

Lira’s voice cut through the roar, ragged and broken. She spat blood into the dust, her bowstring trembling as she forced her last arrow into place.

“Scrap picker!” she rasped; voice shredded to ribbons. “Quit talking to yourself…and get the others out!”

Her legs buckled, but she still drew back, her defiance burning brighter than her failing body.

The Guardian’s red eyes slid toward her.

“No…” I breathed, stomach dropping as its jaws opened wide.

Lira staggered, bow trembling in her grip. Her legs buckled but she still lifted it, ready to fire nothing at all if that’s what it took.

Not again. Not like Dorran. 

I didn’t think. The chain surged in my hands, surround my entire right arm. I hurled it forward, flame roaring down its length. I only thought it and the chains obeyed, coiling around her wrist just as the Guardian’s jaws surged forward.

Lira shrieked as the heat licked her skin.
“OW! Dammit!” She yanked her hand back, face twisting with both fury and pain. Her eyes snapped to me, blazing hotter than the chain itself. “You?!

“I…” my voice cracked, my arms straining against the pull of the chain. “I’m sorry, I’m still… getting the hang of it!”

The Guardian’s throat flared, molten fireball blooming at the back of its maw. The light washed over us, blinding.

And Lira… Lira recoiled. Not from the beast. From me. The way she looked at me—not as a comrade. Not even a hero. Like a monster she hadn’t seen coming.

Well. Figures. In her eyes, I was still just a scrap picker. A gravedigger meddling with powers far beyond him.

But whether she liked it or not… I was the only thing between her and oblivion.