Chapter 6: Always a Price
They spilled out onto a windswept plateau, the air still crackling with residual energy from the collapsed portal. They were no longer in the Kryll Desert. The sun beat down on a landscape of rolling, green-and-yellow plains, crisscrossed by high-speed magnetic rail lines—the Hinterlands. Miles ahead, cutting into the horizon, was the dark, monolithic shape of a fortress built into the side of a massive mountain range.
Kenji collapsed onto the soft earth, vomiting from the dimensional shock and sheer terror. "We're not... we're not in the desert anymore."
"Welcome to the Hinterlands," Silas said, rising to his feet, his breathing ragged. He pointed toward the distant fortress. "That, Source, is where the others are waiting. We have arrived."
Reiyo was weakened and exhausted, but the sight of the fortress—a tangible destination promising answers—was enough to keep him upright. "They know we're coming?"
Silas turned, and the exhaustion on his face was replaced by a grim resolve. "They knew we were coming before you ever touched that knife. That entire Library event—your escape, the portal—it was the first phase of your test."
Reiyo stared, the cold dread returning to his stomach. "Test?"
"The people who built that fortress understand the volatile nature of the power you carry," Silas explained. "They don't recruit weak-willed fools or reckless murderers. They recruit Masters. And the only way to prove you can master the Unwritten Scars is to submit to a process that proves you deserve control."
He led them toward a worn stone path that began snaking toward the fortress. The magnetic rail line beside them hummed with latent power, carrying high-speed cargo to the distant capital.
"They will not simply welcome you," Silas continued. "They will put you through a Trial of Scrutiny. You proved you can fight the Authority and use the power for destruction. Now, you must prove you can use it for control and truth."
Silas stopped, his purple eyes fixed on Reiyo. "The purpose of the Trial is simple: it will rip away your current self and force you to confront the source of the Scars—that original, lost essence within you. The one the Authority hunts. The one that still remembers the life you suppressed."
The prospect was terrifying. Reiyo had spent sixteen years fighting to keep the confusing remnants of Xan buried. Now, the cost of survival was voluntarily digging up the past that could destroy his sanity.
"If I refuse?" Reiyo asked, his hand instinctively going to the hilt of the now-quiet knife.
"If you refuse, we leave you here," Silas said, without a hint of emotion. "You'll be exposed, hunted by the Aetherium, and you'll eventually lose control of the power, dooming us all. The price of their protection is full submission. You must surrender the knife, and walk into the Trial alone."
Reiyo looked at the distant, silent fortress, then at Kenji, who was still too shaken to speak. The knife, for all its terror, was his only shield. But the promise of control, of finally understanding why he was a Source-Bearer, was too strong to ignore.
"Tell me what I have to do," Reiyo said, his voice flat with acceptance. "What is this Trial?"
Silas smiled, a thin, chilling expression. "The Trial is simple, but absolute: You will be immersed in a chamber designed to force your soul to the surface. You must find the memory of Xan, accept the truth of the Scars, and surface with your sanity intact. If you fail, you become a permanent host for the power, and they will terminate you."