The flames around Ashland roared
to life.
They weren't hot—not in the way fire should be. No heat blistered his skin, no sweat prickled from his forehead. Yet a pressure surrounded him. Like standing in the eye of a storm that hadn't chosen its direction yet.
The Gatekeeper stood just beyond
the ring of violet fire, unmoving, monumental. Not tall in any human sense, but vast in presence—like he was more there than anything else in the world.
Ash's legs trembled. His instincts screamed.
"This isn't right," he muttered.
"I'm not ready. This isn't what the Trial was supposed to be—!"
The Gatekeeper tilted his skull-like head.
"Supposed to be? You think the Path of the Primordial Binder is for the prepared?"
"This is not a Path for the trained. It is for the broken. The desperate. The ones too stubborn to die."
"Good," it said. "You qualify."
And then the ground collapsed.
[SYSTEM NOTICE]
Trial Commencing: "Inheritance of
Ash and Bone"
Environment: Shadowlock Domain |
Dead Layer I
Restrictions: Skill Use Disabled
| Summon Access: Locked
Objective: Endure. Learn. Survive.
Time Limit: [Unknown]
Death Consequence: [Soul Fragmentation – Revival Not Guaranteed]
Begin.
Ashland fell through the darkness
for what felt like forever.
No light. No sound. Just windless
descent and pressure. He didn't scream this time. He couldn't. His lungs refused to draw breath. He couldn't even feel his heartbeat.
Then the darkness ended.
He slammed into earth—hard—and
bounced once before skidding to a halt across glassy, black terrain. Pain
exploded in his ribs. His mouth tasted copper. One of his teeth felt loose.
Ashland groaned, rolling over with a hiss.
The sky above was no longer starless. Now it bled color—sick shades of green and indigo, churning like gas through ruptured dimensions. It gave no warmth. Only unease.
"Get up," he whispered to himself. "Get up, Ash. This isn't where you die."
He forced himself to his feet,
staggering.
The terrain stretched out in every direction. It wasn't flat—more like a shattered plain of hexagonal stones rising and falling like broken tiles. Obsidian towers jutted from the ground like spines, some crumbling, others pulsing faintly with the same violet energy he'd seen around the Gate.
There was no sign of the Gatekeeper. No sign of the other Chosen. No sign of anything.
Until something moved.
He heard it first: a clicking, like nails on stone.
Then came the shape—long, low to the ground, with too many legs. Its body was sleek obsidian like the terrain itself, blending perfectly into the black. But its eyes…
Twelve of them. All glowing green.
[System Alert]
Hostile Entity Detected:
Species: Shardcrawler (Lesser
Mutation)
Tier: F-
Behavior: Predatory
Vital Reading… Analyzing Threat Level…
Outcome: You will die if you do not run.
Ash didn't need to be told twice.
He bolted.
The Shardcrawler hissed behind him, the sound shrill and alien, like grinding glass. It pursued on rapid, skittering legs, gaining speed with terrifying momentum.
Ash leapt over a cracked stone. His foot caught. He fell, twisted midair, and crashed shoulder-first into a jagged slope. He didn't stop to groan—just scrambled forward, ducking behind a
narrow pillar.
Crash!
The monster slammed into the stone behind him, splitting it in half. Splinters of black crystal flew past Ash's face.
[System Tip]
You cannot defeat this creature through physical combat.
Use the environment. Observe. Adapt.
Ash's eyes scanned frantically.
The creature was fast, but it was heavy. Its legs had shallow joints—no vertical range. That meant poor climbing.
The terrain. There had to be a way.
Then he saw it.
A thin fault-line across a ridge—hairline cracks forming a shallow bowl of loose rock above a slope. If he could bait the creature under it…
Ash ran.
He vaulted over rubble, the crawler screeching behind him. He angled toward the ridge, ignoring the fire in his lungs, the screaming in his legs.
He reached the outcrop, ducked behind a jagged boulder—and screamed:
"COME ON, YOU SPINELESS GLASS
RAT!"
It worked.
The crawler lunged after him, claws clicking across stone.
Ash reached up—there! A narrow spear of obsidian, embedded like a lever. He braced both hands on it and pulled.
Nothing.
Pulled harder.
Still nothing. The crawler was almost below him now—
"MOVE, DAMN YOU—!"
A sudden pulse. Not from the stone. From himself.
A flicker of violet light ran up his arms. The pillar groaned.
Ash yanked with everything he had—and the spear snapped.
The ledge collapsed.
A cascade of broken obsidian rained down on the Shardcrawler as it reached the base of the ridge. Its screech cut off mid-note. The rocks buried it in a thundering avalanche.
Dust settled.
Ash dropped to his knees, panting, covered in sweat and cuts and dust. His vision swam.
He'd done it.
Not by strength. Not by skill.
But by thinking.
And the System responded.
[Trial Update: First Hazard
Overcome]
Trait Acquired: [Battle Instinct
I]
Trait Description: A natural sense for assessing threats and terrain. Minor increase to reaction speed and
environmental awareness.
Progress: 1%
Unlock Condition for Summon
Access: 15% Trial Completion
Ash grinned through bloodied lips.
"Come on, then," he whispered.
"Let's see what else you've got."
[INTERLUDE: COUNCIL OF WATCHERS –
OBSERVATION CHAMBER 1199-B]
High above the mortal realm, somewhere beyond time, veiled by runes older than empires, ten figures watched
Ashland Vale's progress.
They sat in thrones shaped from elements—ice, flame, metal, crystal, and stranger things. Each cloaked, faceless, but undeniably powerful.
"The Binder awakens," one said, voice like chimes in wind.
"So soon," murmured another. "The
System has not chosen a Binder-Class in over eight centuries."
"And he is unaligned," a third noted. "Raw. Dangerous."
"Yet he thinks," said the fourth.
"He sees more than the others did."
A pause.
"Shall we end it early?"
Silence.
Then the fifth, the tallest among them, spoke:
"No. Let the Trial play out. Let him earn it. If he survives… he may become more than a threat."
[BACK TO ASH | SHADOWLOCK DOMAIN]
The next hours were a blur.
Ash wandered. Fought to stay awake. The terrain changed the deeper he went—black stone gave way to fractured roots, glowing with strange light. He found a stream of liquid silver that burned to the touch. He avoided it. He marked paths with scratches and small piles of rocks.
He didn't sleep. He didn't eat.
The realm didn't allow it.
Then came the second test.
It wasn't a monster this time.
It was a mirror.
Standing in the middle of a field of crystalline grass, a lone obsidian mirror towered over him—twice his height. Smooth. Silent. Reflecting not his body…
…but his fears.
He saw it instantly.
His brother, Cael, eyes empty. His corpse, rotting. His hands covered in blood.
"You let me die," the vision whispered.
"You stayed behind. You watched me go through the Gate. You didn't even try to follow."
Ashland fell to his knees.
"No," he whispered. "That's not how it happened."
"You're weak, Ash. You'll always be weak. Even the System chose late. You think you're special? You're nothing."
Tears burned at the corners of his eyes.
Then he clenched his fists.
"Even if that's true," he said, voice shaking, "I'm still here. And I'm not stopping."
"Not until I find out what happened to you."
He stood.
And the mirror cracked.
[Trial Update: Second Hazard
Overcome]
Trait Acquired: [Unyielding Will
I]
Mental resistance to illusion, despair, and soul-pressure effects increased.
Progress: 6%
Ash looked at the shards of the broken mirror.
And for the first time since arriving in the Trial Realm… he smiled.
"I think I'm starting to get it."