I averted my eyes from the crowd, but the echo of the fights kept vibrating inside me — a remnant of thunder trapped in my chest. Imi's image rose whole in my mind, yet with every step she seemed farther away, as if the Festival were pulling me forward while pushing me away from her at the same time.
The harsh heat of the Red State still burned behind me when I stopped before the dark exit tent. Two Sentinels, wrapped in black cloaks like living coal, guarded the passage as if they were part of the structure itself — motionless, severe.
Then a scream cut through the air.
I turned on reflex.
A man burst out from between the tents, running crookedly, gasping, like an animal that has already accepted it will die but still tries to flee anyway. The bag hidden beneath his tunic nearly slipped from his arms.
— Thief! — a Sentinel shouted. — Stop him!
He came straight toward me.
I didn't think.
My body reacted before I understood why — before I remembered the way Imi clawed at the air trying to breathe, too thin, too weak.
My forehead glowed.
A translucent, unstable hue.
The energy surged up my arm like a hot shock. My fist moved without technique; it was pure instinct, urgency, desperation disguised as reaction.
THUM.
The thief flew.
Literally.
As if the ground itself had spat him back out.
Two Sentinels arrived immediately. One restrained him with force, the other stared at me as if I had spat fire.
— Not bad, kid.
The fugitive thrashed as if that could change anything.
— What are you going to do to me?! — he screamed, his voice raw.
— Be quiet — the Sentinel growled, dragging him away. — We just want answers. Resisting… speeds up the judgment.
He tried to say something else, desperate:
— You don't understand! I needed it!
But he vanished between the tents before he could explain.
I looked away when the screams began.
They always began.
— For someone to risk that… — I murmured — he must've stolen something very valuable.
A deep bell tolled.
Low.
Final.
I felt my body protest when I moved. My shoulders were heavy. My thoughts, heavier.
I looked back — the Red State boiled as always.
But I was no longer part of that rhythm.
It was time to move on.
I walked until I found the shortest route. I slipped through narrow houses until I reached it.
The Road
The crowd fell away quickly. Only the noise remained, low and constant.
Emptiness settled between my thoughts like dust no one cleans.
When the border appeared on the horizon, it looked like a dark blade dividing the world. Cold. Metallic. Tilted, ready to swallow.
Entry into the Black State
The Black State rose like a living wall.
The air changed before anything else — dry, cold, hard.
Black towers climbed at perfect angles, shadows that devoured light. The streets gleamed like worked obsidian, and a subterranean hum vibrated beneath my feet, like machines breathing.
As I descended, I realized even the echo of footsteps felt… watched.
I inhaled slowly.
The place didn't react to those who passed through it.
It merely waited for those who stood out.
I held firm.
I followed the crowd to the circular arena of dark stone. There were no speeches, no symbols, no ceremonies. Everything was silent, precise, cutting.
I let out an almost ironic sigh.
— At least there's no speech — I murmured. — They must waste too much energy hunting criminals to talk pretty.
Someone behind me exhaled heavily, humorless.
A dry crack echoed down the stairs.
The entire structure answered with a vibration — an announcement of arrival.
A red glow leaked through the gaps. Pulsing. Alive.
The Devanador emerged.
The black mantle flowed over his body like liquid shadow, in no hurry to take shape. On his forehead, the psychic stone pulsed — too alive.
It didn't shine.
It observed.
— This is a test. Everyone in Chiulrom passes through this. Resist… or reveal yourselves.
The voice didn't come from his mouth.
It came from the arena.
From the walls.
From the ground beneath our feet.
No one answered.
I exhaled softly.
The air felt denser there.
His stone… it wasn't common. The fissures followed no pattern. The rhythm varied. The vibration faltered — like a heart that decides when to beat.
My stomach tightened.
To my left, another candidate swallowed hard. I heard it.
The Devanador's fist stopped in midair.
Too much Chi.
Too wrong.
He descended the stairs. Step by step. Without haste. Without doubt. Each step seemed to mark the time of someone who never needed to run.
Halfway down, he veered aside.
Not toward me.
He stopped before the first candidate.
I glanced sideways.
— You — said the Devanador. — Name.
— Zin, sir.
The boy's voice trembled. Slightly. But it trembled.
— Why are you here?
— T-to… to be a Sentinel, sir.
Zin was breathing too fast. His fingers moved without realizing it.
I noticed.
So did the Devanador.
— Stand still — he said, without raising his voice.
Zin obeyed. Poorly.
The Devanador's gaze slid.
It stopped on me.
— And you, young one… — the voice came too calm. — What are you looking at?
I straightened instinctively.
— Nothing, sir. Just—
— No need — he cut in. — You'll do that here.
Silence.
Zin swallowed hard.
The Devanador turned back to him.
— Very well. Let's begin.
A Sentinel fitted the cube to the back of Zin's neck.
Click.
Cold.
— Do not move. Do not speak. Do not breathe heavily — said the Devanador, not even looking at him. — Instability does not pass.
The fist rose.
The Chi descended.
The cube hissed.
Zin gasped.
— S-stop—
— Noise alters the cube — said the operator.
The vibration increased. The display flickered. Symbols ran — then aligned.
The Chi withdrew.
Zin collapsed to his knees, trembling.
— Approved — someone said.
He was pulled back before he even understood.
The Devanador turned.
Now, toward me.
He stopped in front of me.
The closeness froze the air.
— Name?
I swallowed.
— Ark.
The word came out smaller than I wanted.
— Louder.
— Ark.
Silence.
He tilted his head slightly.
He studied me for too long. Eyes that didn't blink, as if time behaved differently for him.
— Do you know what happens here?
— I know enough.
The smile that appeared was minimal. Too organized to be human.
— And why do you want this? — the voice came low, cruelly calm. — Do you want to be a Sentinel, boy?
I took a deep breath. My chest hardened, as if my body prepared before my mind.
— No.
— I want to be a Devanador of the Order.
Something changed between us.
Not visible.
But present.
The silence lasted long enough for me to notice my own breathing.
He tilted his head slightly.
— Missions are not easy.
His eyes scanned my body like someone examining a dull blade.
— And you don't look like someone who comes back whole.
— I… I try — I murmured.
He laughed. Short. Empty.
— Yes. You really do, boy.
He turned aside, already bored.
— Very well. Let's begin.
The other candidate was pulled forward first. The cube was fitted.
Click.
Cold.
The fist rose.
The Chi descended.
The cube hissed.
The boy gasped.
— Noise alters the cube — said the operator.
The vibration increased. The display flickered.
Zin began to tremble. His fingers contracted. His jaw locked. For a second, his eyes rolled back — not in pain, but in absence.
Symbols ran — then aligned.
The Chi withdrew.
The boy fell to his knees, shaking.
— Approved — someone said.
He was dragged away before he understood.
My turn.
The cube was fitted to the back of my neck.
Click.
The band tightened across my forehead.
Cold ran down my spine.
The operator behind me monitored the display with every pulse, every minimal tremor.
The Devanador raised his fist over my forehead.
His Chi descended like liquid light — translucent red, pulsing.
The band captured it.
The cube hissed.
Symbols began to run.
The air contracted around me.
The vibration touched my scalp.
Pressure.
A growing pressure pushed my forehead inward, into myself.
The light approached in layers.
It burned the eyes before touching the mind.
When it touched…
It wasn't pain.
It was invasion.
Invisible fingers opening my head from the inside. Turning it over. Searching for cracks.
My body reacted before I did.
Sweat streaming. Short breath. Heart racing.
I tried to stay firm.
My energy struggled.
The cube vibrated — as if it were dying.
Symbols shattered on the display.
One flashed red.
Too aggressive.
Too fast.
My memories exploded.
My parents laughing — and that hurt more than any blow.
Heavy air in my chest.
Imi running on a school trip — too light for her age.
The stains.
The illness.
The promise.
Each memory ripped out with brutality.
The Devanador's Chi withdrew abruptly.
Silence.
Not of relief.
Of accusation.
The display crackled.
A red tear cut through the symbols.
The operator tried to adjust.
The cube ignored him.
— There is interference — he murmured. — It shouldn't… not like this.
Interference.
My stomach sank.
The cube still hummed.
An older Sentinel approached. Looked at the display. Pulled his hand back, as if it were too hot.
Stepped away.
— Unstable.
— No… the cube—
— The test does not fail, young one — he said. — You failed.
My chest locked.
The arena seemed to narrow.
Murmurs rose. Someone laughed. Another looked away.
An arm grabbed me.
— Out.
The corridor swallowed me.
I pressed a hand to the wall.
— Unstable… — I laughed softly. The sound came out ugly, strangled.
The ground trembled faintly.
They looked at me differently.
Not like judges.
Like those who avoid.
Zin trembled. Nearly broke. Even so, he passed.
I replayed every second in my head. The breathing. The posture. The silence.
I couldn't find where I'd erred.
— Imi… — I whispered.
My wrists tightened.
My stomach clenched.
Not from fear.
From lack.
The Room of the Defeated
They shoved me inside.
I fell to my knees on the cold floor.
The door slammed shut with a thud that ripped away any immediate hope.
Bluish light flickered, irritating, almost mocking.
The constant hum poked at my ears.
— The weak are discarded — murmured the Sentinel outside. — Order is everything.
I took a deep breath, leaning my back against the wall.
I forced my breathing to stay steady.
The room was too small, too cold.
Half shadow, half waiting.
A movement nearby.
Dragging footsteps.
Someone breathed deeply, as if afraid even of their own sound.
— Hey… — the voice came low, almost a thread. — Did you see the result?
I closed my eyes.
I wanted silence.
Any silence.
But I answered anyway, still staring at the floor.
— No — I murmured. — They don't explain anything.
Another defeated candidate, leaning against the opposite wall, let out a short, dry laugh.
— They didn't explain mine either.
I took a second before replying. My voice came out heavier than I intended.
— They don't need to — I murmured. — I think we'll have to accept it.
The other didn't disagree.
No one would.
The room returned to its hum.
And its weight.
Then I lost myself in my thoughts.
I lost.
And if I don't find a path…
I lose the last person I have left.
I can't allow that.
Time passed — minutes? hours? impossible to tell.
A scream exploded in the corridor.
— Let me in! I did everything right! Why am I here?!
— You did too much — replied the Sentinel. — And here… those who want too much fall.
Then silence.
But something inside me woke up.
Cold.
Lucid.
Determined.
Not common Chi.
Something else.
The door opened.
Two Sentinels.
— Get up.
I stood. Expressionless.
— Where to? — I asked.
— White State — one of them replied.
The name entered my mind like ice.
— The land where only the strong continue — he said. — And the weak… are erased.
I nodded, as if accepting.
But inside?
My Chi didn't spread.
It concentrated.
Like something learning how to bite.
I left the room with measured steps.
I didn't know what would happen.
But I was ready to tear my way through it.