Pain taught faster than any mentor.
That was the unspoken rule of Blackhollow Keep, and by the fifth day of training, it had become impossible to ignore. Bruises layered over older bruises. Cuts reopened before they could scab. Sleep came in fragments, broken by aching joints and the distant sound of steel striking stone long after the sun had vanished.
Kael woke before the bell again.
Not because he was disciplined—but because something in him refused rest.
The warmth between his shoulders lingered now even when he was still, like embers buried beneath skin. It never burned. It never spoke. It simply waited.
He sat up slowly, flexing his fingers. Blisters had split during archery drills the day before. Serah had made him shoot anyway.
"Hunters don't stop because they hurt," she'd said flatly. "They stop because they're dead."
Across the room, Borin was already awake, sitting on the edge of his cot with his head bowed, breathing slow and controlled. His hands trembled faintly.
"You alright?" Kael asked quietly.
Borin nodded after a moment. "The ground hasn't settled since last night."
Nyx shifted in her sleep, one eye opening just enough to register sound. "It never does here," she murmured. "That's the point."
Elyra sat upright, back against the wall, eyes open and unfocused. She hadn't slept at all.
"They're arguing again," she said.
Kael frowned. "Who is?"
"The old ones," Elyra replied softly. "The spirits bound into this place. Some of them don't like you."
Nyx snorted. "Join the crowd."
The bell rang.
This one sounded different.
Shorter. Sharper.
Wrong.
The trainees assembled in the lower yard under a sky heavy with cloud. Rain threatened but never came, leaving the air thick and uncomfortable. Captain Maelor stood flanked by the mentors, expression unreadable.
"We lost someone last night," she said.
The yard went still.
"A trainee," Maelor continued. "Collapsed during unsupervised drills. Internal bleeding."
A murmur rippled through the group.
Renn Varn scoffed under his breath. "Weak."
Serah's gaze snapped to him. "Say that again."
Renn closed his mouth.
Maelor waited until silence returned. "This is not punishment. This is reality. Training does not kill you. Arrogance does."
She gestured sharply. "Today you learn restraint."
The word sounded wrong coming from this place.
The morning drills were deliberately uneven.
Weapons swapped mid-session. Commands contradicted. Mentors interrupted without warning.
Kael found himself forced to switch from bow to short blade against a faster opponent. He took a shallow cut across the ribs before adjusting his stance.
Serah watched without comment.
Across the yard, Borin's hammer slipped during a controlled strike. The ground answered too eagerly, stone heaving upward in a jagged ridge that sent nearby trainees stumbling back.
Grend Hollowfist slammed the haft of his hammer into the earth, countering the movement.
"Control!" he roared. "You don't command the ground—you negotiate!"
Borin dropped to one knee, gasping, pain lancing visibly through his arms.
Grend crouched beside him. "Feel that?"
Borin nodded through clenched teeth.
"That's the price," Grend said. "You pay it every time. Question is—who benefits?"
Borin forced himself back to his feet.
Nyx's training was worse.
Her mentor—Kerris, he'd finally named himself—refused to give instructions. He attacked without pattern, sometimes mid-step, sometimes while her back was turned. She vanished repeatedly, each time reappearing slower than before.
"You're burning yourself out," Kerris said calmly as he slammed her into the dirt again. "You run from pressure instead of through it."
Nyx spat blood. "Running keeps me alive."
"For now," Kerris replied.
Elyra's session ended abruptly.
A candle shattered mid-incantation, shards flying outward. She screamed—not from pain, but confusion—as something ripped free from her mind.
Her mentor caught her before she fell.
"What did it take?" the woman asked sharply.
Elyra trembled. "My mother's voice."
The woman nodded once. "Good. You won't hesitate next time."
Kael watched all of it, jaw tight.
This wasn't training.
This was stripping.
Midday brought the real lesson.
The trainees were gathered at the outer edge of the keep, where the land dipped into scrub and broken rock. Captain Maelor stood with Hadrik and two guards.
"A live exercise," Maelor announced. "Controlled conditions."
Renn grinned. "Finally."
Maelor's gaze lingered on him. "Pairs."
Names were called.
Kael and Nyx.
Borin and Elyra.
Renn with Halvek.
The target was revealed moments later—a creature dragged from the brush, bound but alive. Its body was twisted, asymmetrical, as if something had gone wrong during its making. Its eyes rolled wildly, mouth frothing.
"Low-grade aberration," Hadrik said. "Escaped from deeper wilds. Injured. Aggressive."
"Kill?" Renn asked.
Maelor tilted her head. "Contain."
That was all the instruction they got.
The beast broke free faster than expected.
Chains snapped. One guard was knocked aside before anyone reacted.
Chaos erupted.
Renn charged immediately, blade raised.
"Wait—" Halvek started.
Too late.
The beast slammed Renn aside with inhuman strength, sending him skidding across stone. He screamed as something snapped in his arm.
Kael moved without thinking.
Arrow. Not lethal—pinning the creature's shoulder to a boulder.
Nyx vanished, reappearing to sever tendons.
Borin stepped forward, pain flaring as the ground bucked beneath him. He brought the hammer down, careful, controlled.
The beast collapsed.
Alive.
Breathing.
Silence followed.
Renn lay on the ground, cradling his arm, face pale.
Medics rushed in.
Maelor didn't look at him.
She looked at Kael.
"You disobeyed," she said.
Kael met her gaze. "I adapted."
Serah stepped forward. "He prevented a death."
Maelor's jaw tightened. "He broke formation."
"And saved your trainee," Serah shot back.
Hadrik watched Kael closely, eyes sharp.
Nyx wiped her blades. "If that was containment, you should warn people first."
Maelor's voice dropped. "Hunters don't get warnings."
She turned away. "Dismissed."
That night, Renn's cot was empty.
Whispers spread quickly.
"Broken arm."
"Internal damage."
"Out of the program."
Borin sat heavily on his bed. "He rushed in."
Elyra stared at her hands. "He was afraid of looking weak."
Nyx scoffed. "Fear makes people loud."
Kael said nothing.
Later, Serah found him alone on the battlements.
"You're becoming visible," she said.
Kael didn't look at her. "That bad?"
"In this place?" She shook her head. "Dangerous."
She hesitated. "That thing inside you… it responded today."
Kael felt the warmth pulse faintly.
"I didn't ask for it," he said.
Serah's voice softened. "None of us did."
Below them, Blackhollow Keep settled into uneasy quiet.
Training continued.
But something had changed.
They were no longer just trainees.
They were being tested for survival.
And not all of them would pass.