The darkness clung to Zane like a second skin as he descended the stone staircase, each step echoing softly in the void. The air was heavy, thick with an unnatural stillness that pressed against his chest, making every breath feel deliberate. The staircase stretched endlessly downward, its five-meter width swallowed by shadows, the faint glow from above barely illuminating the worn edges of the steps. Zane's boots tapped rhythmically, his movements steady but cautious, his sharp eyes scanning for any sign of the blue crystal orb Instructor Marius had described. The green timer hovered above his head, its glowing digits mocking him: '9 years, 6 months, 12 days'. The number gnawed at him, a puzzle he refused to accept at face value.
'Ten years to climb down a staircase?' Zane thought, his brow furrowing as he took another step.
'No way. Instructor Marius would've told us to pack food, water, something. Unless… time works differently here, like Zoic's time differs from Earth's.'
He paused, one foot hovering over the next step, his hand brushing the rough stone wall for balance. 'But why ten years? Instructor Marius called this 'simple.' There's a trick here.' His mind churned, replaying the instructor's words.
Zane turned, his boots scuffing the stone, and began climbing back up, his steps deliberate, testing a theory.
'Up is down. Worlds inverted.' Marius's incantation echoed in his mind, each word sharp and deliberate. 'He didn't need to chant it so loudly, not with his power. I'm sure Awakeners of his caliber don't need incantations for show—they need only to act, and reality bends. So why say it where we could all hear?'
Zane's lips curved into a faint smirk as he climbed, his hands brushing the walls, feeling for changes in the air. 'I see, he wanted us to memorize it. It's a clue.' His mind pieced it together, the words slotting into place like a lock clicking open. '"Left is right, worlds inverted, up is down, sight distorted, everything in opposite direction." It's literal. To go down, you climb up. Don't trust what you see—nothing is as it seems.'
Zane's steps quickened, his heart steady but his mind racing.
"Let's test it," he muttered, counting each step as he climbed. He'd descended eighty-two steps before stopping, but now, as he moved upward, he passed two hundred, then two hundred fifty. The staircase didn't end, didn't loop back—it stretched on, defying logic. This could only mean one thing: 'I'm going down by climbing up,' he realized, his smirk widening.
'Clever, Marius. Real clever!' He wondered about the other trainees—Onilia, Nenis, the nervous whispers on the plain. Had they caught on, or were they still trudging downward, lost in the illusion?
Hours passed, the staircase unchanging, the darkness a constant weight. Zane's legs burned, but he pressed on, his focus unyielding. Finally, a faint glow appeared ahead, cutting through the gloom like a beacon. An altar stood at the top—or bottom?—of the stairs, carved from smooth, black stone, its surface polished to a mirror-like sheen. In its center sat a blue crystal orb, pulsing faintly, its light casting soft ripples across the walls. Zane slowed, his boots scuffing to a stop. He stood before the altar, his eyes narrowing as he studied the orb. 'Too easy,' he thought, his hand hovering over it. 'There's always a catch.'
He grabbed the orb, its surface cool and smooth in his palm, and turned to walk away in the opposite direction. After a few steps, the air shimmered, and another altar appeared, identical to the first, but holding a red crystal orb. Zane's eyes flicked between the two orbs, his grip tightening on the blue one in his left hand. 'Worlds inverted. Sight distorted.' He reached out with his right hand, snatching the red orb. The moment he held both, a strange heat pulsed through his fingers. The blue orb in his left hand flickered, its color shifting to red, while the red orb in his right turned blue. 'Of course,' he thought, his jaw tightening. 'Nothing's what it seems.'
He tossed the blue orb aside, its light winking out as it rolled into the dark, and kept the red orb in his left hand. 'If up is down, then the opposite is the answer.' He turned, descending the stairs this time, his steps steady but alert, the orb's faint glow lighting his path. Hours passed, the staircase spiraling into the void, but Zane's focus didn't waver. His thoughts drifted to Ariel, safe on Earth. 'I'll get through this. For her.'
The darkness parted, revealing the massive iron gate from before, its pitted surface looming like a sentinel. It creaked open, as if inviting him out, but Zane hesitated, his instincts screaming. He turned to walk away, testing the trial one last time, but a gust of wind roared behind him, the same relentless force that had dragged him in. "Not again," he growled, planting his feet, his hands clawing at the air. The wind was stronger this time, unyielding, pulling him toward the gate. He stumbled through, the iron slamming shut with a clang that echoed in his bones.
Zane stood on the other side, the orb still in his hand, its red glow steady now. The alien plain stretched before him, Zoic's red-tinted sky swirling above. 'Marius, you bastard,' he thought, a grim smile tugging at his lips.
'This is one nasty test. One wrong move, and you're trapped forever. That ten-year timer… it's how long you'd wander if you didn't crack the code.' He glanced at the orb, its light pulsing like a heartbeat. The trial wasn't just about composure—it was about seeing through the lies, trusting your mind over your eyes. Zane straightened, his resolve hardening. Whatever came next, he'd face it head-on.
Zane blinked, and the suffocating darkness of the staircase vanished. The red-tinted sky of Zoic arched above him, its alien hues swirling like a storm held at bay. He stood alone on the same plain where the trainees had gathered moments ago. The other trainees were gone, their absence leaving the plain eerily quiet, save for the faint hum of Zoic's strange winds. In his left hand, the red crystal orb pulsed faintly, like it carried the weight of the trial itself. Zane's legs ached from hours of climbing—down, then up, then down again—and his mind buzzed from unraveling Marius's twisted puzzle. He exhaled, his breath steady despite the fatigue, and scanned the empty field, wondering where the others were.
High above, in a floating observatory overlooking the plain, the Master sat at a polished table, a steaming cup of tea in his hand. His silver hair glinted under the dim light of the chamber, his eyes wide with something close to disbelief. The red orb in Zane's hand glowed on the massive screen before him, a live feed of the plain. He nearly fumbled his cup, tea sloshing dangerously close to the edge.
"Now, isn't this a sight?" said the woman beside him, her voice smooth but laced with surprise. She poured more tea, her movements graceful, her eyes fixed on the screen. "He's beaten the Zodiacs' record by a wide margin. A shame he's from a lesser planet like Earth. Imagine if he'd been born on a stronger world."
The Master didn't respond, his gaze locked on Zane's image, his fingers tightening around the cup. The woman's words hung in the air, but his silence spoke louder—shock, curiosity, maybe even a flicker of respect. He wasn't the only one stunned.
Below, Instructor Marius appeared a few paces from Zane. His eyes zeroed in on the red orb, and his jaw tightened, a rare crack in his stone-like composure.
"Zane, what the hell did you do?" he demanded, his voice sharp, almost accusing, as he stared at the orb. 'How?' he thought, his mind reeling. The trial's time dilation was brutal: one day on Zoic equaled ten years in the orb chamber. The Zodiacs, the Master's legendary children, had set the record—six hours in Zoic's time for the fastest, the first son. Yet Zane, this troublemaker from a backwater planet, had emerged in mere seconds. 'Seconds.' Marius shook his head, struggling to find words.
"Forget it," he muttered, waving a hand. "I'll hear your explanation when the others arrive."
Zane raised an eyebrow, his sharp eyes catching the flicker of shock on Marius's face. 'What's with that look?' he thought, sinking onto a nearby rock, its surface cool against his aching legs. Hours of climbing and mental gymnastics had left him drained, but he kept his posture steady, the red orb resting in his lap. Marius's stare was unnerving, like he was trying to peel back Zane's thoughts, and it made his skin prickle. He shifted, rolling the orb between his fingers, its glow casting faint shadows on the ground. 'I just followed the clues. What's the big deal?'
Marius's shock had a clear root, one Zane couldn't yet grasp. The trial was no simple descent—it was a gauntlet of four stages, each designed to break the unworthy. The first stage was the gate itself. Those who hesitated, like Zane, saw the timer—ten years, a warning of the stakes. Those who walked in blindly missed it, stumbling into the trial unaware.
The second stage was fear, but not abstract concepts—tangible things, animals, elements. For some, the stairs crawled with snakes, their scales glinting in the dark. For others, insects swarmed, legs skittering over stone. Some faced fire, flames licking the steps, or water, the staircase submerged in a drowning tide. The key was realizing it was all illusion, a test of composure. Zane, fearless except for Ariel's safety, had bypassed this stage entirely, his mind unclouded by phobias.
The third stage was the incantation—Memorizing and decoding it were the only way to navigate the warped space, to climb up to go down. The final stage was the orbs. Blue or red, a choice that seemed simple but hid a trap. Most would grab the blue orb, as instructed. Zane, guided by the incantation's logic, had chosen the red orb after the colors swapped, trusting the opposite of what he saw.
'How did he get every stage perfect—and so fast?' Marius thought, his eyes narrowing as he watched Zane on the rock, the red orb glowing like a taunt. The trial was meant to filter out the weak, to test resolve and wit under pressure. Yet Zane had sliced through it like a blade through cloth, his instincts and intellect aligning in a way that left even the Master speechless above.
Zane felt Marius's gaze, heavy and probing, and shifted uncomfortably, his fingers tightening around the orb. 'What the hell is his problem? Quit staring; I'm not into men.' he thought, his exhaustion mixing with unease.