The courtyard had changed.
Stone panels once used for meditation and silence were now lined with glowing runes. Elder inscriptions shimmered faintly, pulsing with the hum of awakened Essence. Over fifty Drifters stood in formation, shoulder to shoulder, beneath the cold morning sun.
The trial yard of Naiathe had come to life.
A bell rang—deep, ancient, echoing like thunder pressed into metal. The voices fell. From a raised platform ahead, the six instructors of Mistfall stood tall, their long robes painted in quiet tones of azure and ash. At their center was Instructor Laen, eyes sharp as frostbite.
"Today," Laen said, "we measure potential. Not hope, not dreams—only Essence."
He gestured to the obsidian slab behind him. Slender and rectangular, it towered over the platform like a sleeping giant. The Eclipser. A relic of the old world, gifted only to the high dojos.
"You will walk forward. The stone will react. It cannot lie. It cannot be fooled. We'll see what flows through your soul."
Whispers rippled through the gathered Drifters.
"This is it," Shion muttered beside Itsuki, arms crossed loosely. "We're finally being measured."
"About time," Kairo smirked, stretching both arms behind his head. "I was starting to think we were just here for meditation chants and rainy breakfasts."
Takumi gave a short, amused laugh, but his eyes didn't leave the stone. "This is where the line gets drawn."
Itsuki said nothing. He stared at the Eclipser, as though it were staring back.
The instructors began calling names.
One by one, Drifters stepped up to the stone, placed their palm upon it, and held their breath.
The first boy—nervous, lanky—placed his palm on the surface. The runes glowed faintly, then died down. "Tier Zero," the instructor called. "Essence dormant."
His shoulders sank.
A girl with bright red hair came next. The stone pulsed a soft violet.
"Tier One. Active Essence."
The girl's face lit up in disbelief. Her friends hugged her. One of the instructors nodded in approval.
As the line shortened, reactions varied—disappointment, surprise, quiet pride. A few Drifters even stepped away teary-eyed.
"Not everyone gets to awaken," Laen said, more to the air than anyone in particular.
Then came a ripple of tension.
"Inara Vex," a voice called.
The girl who stepped forward was small, serious-eyed, and barefoot. Her presence was still—but piercing. When she touched the stone, the Eclipser blazed with a rich emerald hue that crackled at its corners.
"Tier Two. Nature-type," the instructor said. "Emerging form: Vineborn."
Drifters murmured in awe.
"Nature-type already?" someone whispered.
"Inara just changed the game," another said.
Moments later, Kalen Row, a boy from the edge village of Orrinspire, stepped forward. The Eclipser glowed again—silver this time, with razor-sharp pulses.
"Tier Two. Essence Blade strain."
More whispers.
"Two Tier Twos already," Shion said. "Not bad for a batch this size."
Kairo raised a brow. "Looks like we're not the only weirdos after all."
"Not weird," Takumi replied, rolling his shoulders, "just quiet."
"Itsuki Naoya."
The name sliced the air.
He stepped forward without pause. The silence grew. A few Drifters leaned in.
Itsuki placed his palm against the Eclipser. For a breath, nothing happened.
Then the stone shimmered—not in color, but in sound. A low, harmonic ring that didn't match any of the others echoed outward. Strange glyphs, ones none could read, danced across its surface before fading into nothing.
The instructors exchanged glances.
"…Tier One. Unidentified strain," Laen announced slowly. "Essence active."
Some frowned. Others were curious.
"That didn't even glow," someone mumbled. "Is that… good or bad?"
Itsuki said nothing as he stepped back in line.
Kairo went next.
The stone lit up dark blue with rotating glyphs that resembled stepping paths.
"Tier One. Rare strain: Voidstep."
Takumi followed.
The Eclipser flared orange like an open flame—wild, spiraling upwards before fading.
"Tier One. Essence Flare."
Shion was last. His reading was strange—soft white, fading in and out of sight, as if caught between two worlds.
"Tier One. Rare strain: Spectral Refrain."
More murmurs. Some of the Drifters turned to look at the four friends. Not with awe. Not yet. But with wariness. A silent question burned in the air: Who are they, really?
"I thought this batch would be dull," one of the instructors whispered.
Laen didn't answer. His gaze was on the boys.
The rest of the readings passed quickly. A few Tier Zeros. More Tier Ones. Two more Tier Twos—one with frost-based potential, another with gravity manipulation just beginning to stir.
When the last name was called, Laen raised his hand.
"The first trial is complete," he said. "You now stand as measured souls."
The Eclipser dimmed, returning to lifeless obsidian.
"Rest. In an hour, the second phase begins. You'll face each other—one on one."
The trial yard scattered into quiet movement, some heading toward the benches under the awnings, others back into the dojo halls. But a few pairs lingered—exchanging glares, sharpening focus.
Itsuki stood at the edge of the courtyard with Takumi, Shion, and Kairo.
"Y'all saw that girl? Inara?" Kairo said. "If I get matched with her, I'm tapping out. Nature-types make my hair itch."
"You mean your Essence," Shion replied.
"No. My hair."
Takumi smiled. "I hope I do get her."
Itsuki looked at the sky. A few clouds had started to gather again. The wind was rising—slow, but sure. The air had changed, like the world was watching them.
Maybe it was.
The trial yard was quiet now, save for the occasional breeze brushing across the scorched stone floor. Bits of charred dust still floated through the air from the aftermath of Itsuki's test. Repairs had already begun—Essence Menders carving swift sigils into the ground to mend the fractures—but the atmosphere was far from calm.
Now, the second phase had begun.
The 1v1 Drifter Duels.
Sensei Amari stood centerfield, voice calm yet commanding. "Each match will be one minute. No lethal intent. Show your control. Your instincts. Your limit. First pair—Takumi Leo... Inara Vel."
Takumi rolled his shoulders, stepping forward with a quiet confidence. His crimson cloak fluttered slightly behind him, the Essence lingering on his skin still fresh from the capacity trial. His eyes scanned the field, then his opponent.
Inara Vel.
A tall, quiet girl with auburn braids and earth-toned robes. She was barefoot, toes brushing the dusty arena floor like she belonged to it. Her presence was serene, her aura calm—but even from where the others stood, they could sense something pulsing around her. Nature itself seemed to respond to her breath.
"Vel... isn't she one of the forestbound?" Kairo muttered, arms crossed beside Shion and Itsuki.
"Yeah," Shion replied. "She's from Oathroot. I've heard whispers—she doesn't pull her punches."
Takumi met Inara at the center. She nodded once in greeting.
"No hard feelings?" she said softly, her voice like distant wind over grass.
He gave a confident smirk. "Only if you give me a reason to."
Sensei Amari raised one hand.
"Begin."
The world moved.
Takumi's Essence flared—bright red threads igniting around his limbs as he surged forward with a blazing step. Heat crackled, his fists surrounded by volatile sparks. Essence Flare—his gift—fused movement and force into bursts of blinding, concentrated strikes.
But Inara didn't move.
Instead, she exhaled.
And the earth answered.
Vines whipped upward from cracks in the arena, twisted and bark-bound, spinning into a wall just before Takumi's strike landed. His blow met it with a shockwave—BOOM!—sending a tremor across the yard. Splinters of vine exploded outward.
But she was already gone.
Roots curled behind Takumi's feet, dragging him back half a step. He flared Essence again, burning them to ash in a flare of heat—but it was enough. Inara emerged from the side, one palm outstretched, coated in glowing green.
She struck.
Takumi slid back several meters, his boots skidding across the arena floor, the ground singed in a trail behind him.
The onlookers stirred.
"She's matching him…" one instructor whispered.
"She's reading him," another said.
Itsuki watched intently, arms folded. His gaze flicked between their stances—noting the calm rhythm of Inara's breathing, the way she was synchronizing to Takumi's movement tempo.
"She's not just controlling nature," he murmured. "She's blending with it."
Takumi grinned, lips split wide.
He was enjoying this.
"You're good," he said, flames pulsing down his arms. "But I'm not done."
He charged again—but this time, with rhythm. One-two, left-right, baited strike, feint. The heat around him shimmered, warping the air as he leapt skyward and came down like a falling star.
Inara raised both palms.
With a silent call, a tree erupted—a spiraling mass of bark and leaves shot from the arena floor, catching his strike mid-air and launching him backward.
Takumi crashed, rolled, and sprang up again with a laugh.
The crowd was alive now.
Instructors leaned forward.
"Are these two really Tier One Drifters?" one said.
"They're fighting like Tier Threes."
The ground began to crack beneath Inara's bare feet, thin vines coiling like serpents along her arms now, forming makeshift gauntlets of bark and thorn. Her eyes were focused—determined—but still not aggressive. She was defending. Testing.
Takumi's flames ignited fully now.
He didn't flare randomly—his Essence moved with purpose, coiling into spirals at his fists and calves, timed like piston bursts. He struck forward, each step reinforced by explosive speed, every punch timed to keep pressure on Inara.
For a brief moment, it seemed like he might break through.
But then she dropped to one knee, palms against the ground.
Roots exploded outward, a dome of interwoven natural armor rising around her like a fortress.
Takumi struck it again and again—flames searing bark, steam rising from each impact.
And then—
"Enough!"
Sensei Amari's voice rang out like thunder.
The dome split apart, and the two Drifters froze mid-motion.
The arena was half-ruined. Scorch marks, gouges, shredded vines, molten stone and burst roots lay everywhere. Silence fell, broken only by the whistle of the wind.
One of the instructors murmured, "We'll need a new arena if they keep fighting like this..."
Takumi exhaled sharply, walking forward, then extended his hand to Inara.
"You got me sweating."
Inara smiled softly, brushing a leaf from her braid.
"You made the trees nervous."
The crowd chuckled.
Both of them walked off the field, quiet but glowing with unspoken respect.
Itsuki, Kairo, and Shion watched them return.
"Okay," Kairo said, blinking. "That was kind of insane."
"Tier One, huh?" Shion added, smirking.
Itsuki didn't speak. He simply grinned.
Because deep inside, he knew—
This was just the beginning.