CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.
Their footsteps echoed down the narrow stone stairwell. The air grew colder with each step.
Kenji wiped sweat from his brow, the void energy flickering around him like a cracked neon light.
"How much deeper?" he asked, short of breath.
"We're halfway to the Core," Akira answered, not even glancing back. "Three more levels after this."
BOOM!
The explosion from above rattled the stairs. Small chunks of debris bounced off Boulder's granite shoulders.
"They're moving faster than expected," Boulder muttered, his stone fingers curling into fists.
WHIRRRR!
Yuki's silver eyes lit up as she scanned the shifting space around them. "Dimensional anchors are spreading.
Seventy-five percent coverage. We've got maybe two hours before the lockdown is complete."
"Two hours for three trials?" Kenji said.
"If we're lucky," Mei added, stumbling slightly. She caught herself on the wall, her breath ragged.
Kenji reached out to steady her. "You alright?"
"Just tired." She didn't meet his eyes. "Using my power upstairs took more than it should have."
SCRAPE.
The staircase ended at a massive door. This one was different. Mirrors covered every inch of it.
But the reflections weren't right. In one mirror, Kenji saw himself as a child, eyes wide with fear. In another, older, scarred, and cold.
"Great," he muttered. "Mind games again?"
"The Trial of Resolve," Akira said. He stepped back. "It forces you to face whatever scares you the most."
"And if I fail?"
"Then we all die," Boulder said bluntly. "No point dressing it up."
CLICK!
The door opened on its own. Beyond it was a circular chamber. The walls were smooth black glass.
Fog coiled around the floor, swirling like it had a mind of its own.
"I already hate this place," Kenji muttered.
"It gets worse," Yuki replied, stepping in behind him.
SLAM!
The door vanished into the wall, like it had never existed.
"Of course it does that," Kenji said under his breath.
WHISPER.
Voices floated in the fog—just out of reach, not quite words, but still enough to make Kenji's skin crawl.
"Welcome, void walker."
The voice came from everywhere. Nowhere. The fog thickened, shapes dancing in its folds.
"I am the Guardian of Resolve. Are you prepared to face what you fear most?"
"Do I have a choice?"
"There is always a choice. Turn back. Let someone else carry the weight."
WHOOSH!
The fog pulled together, reshaping itself. Suddenly, Kenji stood in a replica of the training chamber above—except it wasn't empty.
Akira's body lay still, his spatial magic sputtering out like broken threads. Yuki was frozen mid-movement, silver eyes lifeless.
Boulder had collapsed into a pile of rubble. Mei wasn't there at all. Just... gone.
"This is what happens when you fail," the Guardian said. "Everyone who trusted you dies."
Kenji's hands trembled. "This isn't real."
"Isn't it? You already know you're not strong enough. You've seen your power slip out of control. You know people will die because of you."
The vision shifted. Now he stood in his hometown. Or what was left of it. Collapsed buildings.
Cars overturned. The sky warped and cracked like shattered glass. The air felt wrong, like the world was off-balance.
"Your family's house is that way," the Guardian said, pointing down a broken street. "Want to see what's left?"
"Stop it."
"You did this. Your failure to integrate the dimensions reality collapsed. Billions dead. And all because a seventeen-year-old thought he could rewrite the rules."
Kenji dropped to his knees. His void energy surged erratically, sparking around him like lightning trying to escape a storm.
"I can't do this," he whispered.
"Finally, honesty," the Guardian said. "So? Run? Let the Council win? Let the end come slowly instead of all at once?"
BOOM.
Another explosion. Closer. The walls of the chamber cracked.
"They're almost through the first level!" Boulder's voice echoed ,muffled, distant, like it was underwater.
"Kenji!" Yuki's voice came next. "Whatever you're seeing... It's not real!"
But it felt real. The destruction. The guilt. The weight pressing down on him like gravity had doubled.
"What if they're right?" Kenji whispered. "What if I fail?"
"Then you fail. So what?"
The voice changed. Softer. Younger. Kenji looked up and saw Mei standing in the fog, except younger. Seven years old, maybe. The age she'd been when she first escaped the Council.
"So what if you fail?" the child-Mei said. "At least you tried."
"That's easy for you to say."
"I made my choice when I was seven," she said. "I could've let them take me. Could've let them erase me. But I ran. I survived. I waited. I was scared every day. I never thought I was strong enough."
The fog moved around her like time-bending. She grew older. Twelve. Seventeen. Then a woman Kenji had never seen, calm, determined, and tired.
"But I didn't stop," she said. "None of us did. We waited thirty years for someone like you. Not someone perfect. Just someone who cared enough to try."
The illusion fell away like dust. The city vanished. The bodies were gone. Kenji stood back in the chamber. The Guardian now appeared as a flickering silhouette.
"You want the truth?" it asked. "You probably will fail. No one's ever attempted this integration. The Council has every advantage. And reality may still collapse."
"That's supposed to help?"
"It's supposed to make you honest. Are you doing this because you think you'll win? Or because it's the right thing to do?"
Kenji took a breath. His void energy surged again, but this time it didn't lash out. It stabilized, like it had been waiting for his decision.
"I'm doing it because I'm the only one who can," he said. "And because my friends are counting on me."
"Even knowing you might get them killed?"
"Especially because of that."
CRACK.The Guardian's shadow smiled and faded.
[Trial Complete: Trial of Resolve][Lesson Learned: True courage accepts the possibility of failure][Reward: Void Affinity +0.3][Current Void Affinity: 4.7][New Skill Unlocked: Unshakeable Will – Level 1]
The fog cleared. The black glass walls turned transparent, revealing the next staircase.
"About time," Akira said, moving ahead. "How do you feel?"
"Scared," Kenji admitted. "But also ready."
"Good mix," Boulder said. "Means you're not an idiot."
CRASH.
Part of the ceiling gave way. Concrete and twisted metal groaned overhead. Shouts echoed from above.
"They're through the first barrier," Yuki said. Her time magic sparked like an overloaded circuit.
"How are you holding up?" Kenji asked.
"I'm fine." Her hands were shaking. The shadows under her eyes had deepened.
"She's burning herself out," Mei whispered. "Every second she uses time magic, she's losing pieces of herself."
"Shut up," Yuki snapped, but her voice cracked.
"You're not fine," Akira said. "None of us are. That's why we keep moving."
CLANK. CLANK. CLANK.
They descended to the third level. The steps were smoother now, worn by decades, or maybe centuries of footsteps.
"What's the next trial?" Kenji asked.
"Sacrifice," Akira said. "It tests what you're willing to give up for the greater good."
"What kind of sacrifice?"
"Depends. It could be power. It could be a memory. Could be..." He glanced at the group. "Could be someone you care about."
Kenji's stomach turned. "You mean I might have to choose between saving you... or completing the integration?"
"Maybe. These trials aren't meant to be fair. They're meant to break you."
Kenji walked in silence. Above, the Council's forces closed in. Below, the Core pulsed with strange promise. Around him, the people he would gladly die for.
"I don't know what my limit is," he said finally. "I guess we'll find out."
THRUM.The Core's heartbeat pulsed louder now. Each beat echoed through his chest. It felt like the world itself was holding its breath.
Mei fell in beside him, walking quietly. "Whatever the next trial shows you... Remember one thing."
"What?"
"You're not alone. Even if it tries to convince you otherwise."
BOOM.Dust rained down on them like snow. The walls shook.
"They're trying to bury us," Boulder muttered. "Force us to the surface."
"They won't succeed," Akira said. But his magic flickered again. Fractured. Weakened.
"The deeper we go, the worse this gets," Yuki said. "The dimensional anchors are choking everything."
"Then we move faster," Kenji said.
THUD.
He stepped onto the landing. Another door waited. This one was carved with images. A mother choosing between two children.
A soldier leaving a wounded friend. A king offering his crown.
"The third trial," Akira said. "Last chance to back out."
Kenji looked at his team. Yuki was unraveling. Mei was just a girl carrying too much. Boulder hid his fear behind strength.
Akira was breaking, holding them all together.
They'd sacrificed everything.
Now it was his turn.
"Let's do this," he said.
CLICK.The door opened, and the Trial of Sacrifice began