The next day, Heaven Defying Academy's central bell tower chimed loudly—a deep, ancient sound that rippled through the land and echoed across Saitanraj Kingdom.
Dong! Dong! Dong!
All students across the vast academy grounds stopped what they were doing. The sound wasn't just a normal chime—it was the signal.
The time for the First Trial had come.
Inside the main assembly hall, thousands of new students gathered in rows, dressed in varying states of robes—some crisp and proud, others still worn from travel. Excitement and nervousness buzzed through the air.
Standing at the front was an elder none of them had seen before.
He was lean, bald, with a long silver beard and a staff that floated next to him. His eyes glowed with violet light.
"I am Grandmaster Jing," he said, his voice sharp yet calm. "Today marks the first step of your journey. You are not here merely to learn. You are here to transcend."
The murmuring ceased.
"This trial shall determine your path in the Academy. It shall reveal your inner nature, talents, and even… hidden memories."
Whispers broke out. Hidden memories?
Yuvan stood among the crowd, alert, his fingers unconsciously clenching into fists.
He remembered the fire. The voice. The vision. Something ancient was following him. Watching.
"Silence," Grandmaster Jing snapped, and the murmurs died instantly.
Behind him, the hall walls shimmered. A gate appeared, wide and shimmering with cosmic light, like a portal to the stars.
"This is the Trial Gate of Ancients. Each of you shall walk through. What you experience within is shaped by your own soul. Some will face monsters. Others, their fears. A few of you… may not return."
A few gasps escaped. One girl fainted on the spot.
But Jing merely smiled. "Enter as you are. Exit as you are forged."
One by one, students stepped through.
Screams echoed. Some stumbled back out in seconds, bruised and broken. Others returned calm, eyes deepened by unseen truths.
Yuvan's name was called.
He stepped forward.
As he neared the gate, it pulsed brighter than before. The crowd noticed and began to murmur again.
"Why is it glowing more now?"
"Is he a genius?"
"Or cursed…"
Yuvan stepped through the gate.
Within the Trial Realm
Yuvan found himself in a world of pitch-black skies and floating white lotuses over an endless ocean.
A voice spoke.
"Your soul trembles… Do you wish to know who you are?"
Suddenly, countless memories—not his—rushed into his mind.
A blade piercing the heavens. A woman weeping in the void. A young child holding a broken talisman. A titan slumbering beneath a thousand suns.
"You carry fragments… of something forgotten."
Yuvan dropped to his knees, holding his head. His veins glowed gold.
Suddenly, the ocean roared.
A massive creature rose from the depths, cloaked in stardust and breathing lightning.
"Face the First Guardian of the Forgotten Flame."
A trial of combat.
A trial of fate.
Yuvan stood, eyes glowing, hands clenched.
"I may be nothing now," he said, "but I will surpass everything."
He stepped forward to meet the beast.
And so, his real trial began.