The fall did not end quickly.
Kael's body slammed against jagged stone again and again as he tumbled through darkness, breath torn from his lungs with each impact. His senses spun wildly, unable to orient, unable to judge distance or depth.
The warmth inside him reacted instantly.
It wrapped around his bones like invisible armor, reinforcing joints and spine just enough to prevent them from shattering outright. Pain still exploded through him, sharp and immediate, but it did not destroy him.
Instead, it taught him.
Every impact carved the sensation of strain directly into his skeleton.
Kael hit the ground hard.
The breath rushed out of his body in a strangled gasp as he skidded across cold stone and finally came to a stop. For several long moments, he could do nothing but lie there, chest heaving, vision blurred by darkness and pain.
Then the ground trembled.
Not violently.
Deliberately.
Kael forced himself onto his elbows.
The darkness around him was not empty. Faint red lines glimmered beneath the stone floor, pulsing slowly like veins beneath skin. They spread outward in geometric patterns, forming massive arrays that vanished into the distance.
A domain.
Not natural.
Built.
The warmth inside him stirred with unmistakable familiarity.
Recognition.
Kael pushed himself upright with a low groan. His body screamed in protest, yet when he tested his limbs, nothing felt broken.
That alone should not have been possible.
He took a careful step forward.
The stone beneath his foot rang solid and dense. Ancient. Reinforced by something beyond ordinary material.
Devil construction.
The thought came naturally now, without confusion or fear.
This place was not a trap meant to kill him.
It was a place meant to endure him.
Kael inhaled slowly, forcing his breathing to steady.
"Bones endure," he whispered.
The words felt heavier here.
As if the space itself agreed.
Light bloomed suddenly.
Not bright, but sufficient.
The red lines beneath the ground flared brighter, illuminating massive pillars rising out of the darkness. Each pillar was carved with layered symbols, spiraling upward like coiled laws frozen in stone.
Kael approached one cautiously.
The moment his fingers brushed the surface, pain lanced through his arm and straight into his skeleton. He hissed and stumbled back, heart racing.
The warmth surged defensively.
But this time, instead of rejecting the pain, Kael let it flow through him.
He gritted his teeth and placed his hand back against the pillar.
The pain returned instantly.
Sharper.
Deeper.
It did not burn flesh.
It scraped bone.
Images flooded his mind.
Devils standing within these halls, enduring similar trials. Bodies breaking and reforging repeatedly. Skeletons collapsing under pressure and being discarded without ceremony.
This place was not meant for mercy.
It was meant for filtering.
Kael's knees trembled.
He pulled his hand away, breathing hard.
"This is a forge," he murmured.
The warmth pulsed once.
Confirmation.
He moved deeper into the underground domain.
The space expanded outward in impossible ways, corridors branching into vast chambers and narrow tunnels alike. Some areas were collapsed, crushed by time or battle. Others remained pristine, untouched for ages beyond counting.
Kael sensed presences.
Not alive.
Not dead.
Residual.
Fragments of intent clung to the air, impressions left behind by beings who had walked these halls long ago. None of them reacted to him directly.
They watched.
Judged.
Kael welcomed it.
Eventually, he reached a central chamber.
It was circular, its walls smooth and unadorned. At the center stood a stone platform identical to the one he had encountered above ground, only far larger.
This one radiated pressure.
Kael felt it the moment he stepped inside.
His bones screamed in response.
The warmth surged instinctively, but Kael raised a trembling hand.
"No," he whispered. "Not like before."
He stepped onto the platform.
The pressure descended instantly.
Kael dropped to one knee, teeth clenched so hard his jaw ached. The force did not crush him outright. It pressed inward, compressing every bone in his body simultaneously.
He felt microfractures form.
Felt them spread.
Then felt them knit back together under immense strain.
Kael screamed despite himself.
The sound echoed endlessly through the chamber.
Time lost meaning.
The pressure increased in slow increments, never enough to kill him outright, always enough to bring him to the edge. His vision blurred repeatedly. Darkness crept in and retreated again.
The warmth flooded his body continuously, feeding energy into damaged areas, forcing regeneration at a pace his body was never meant to sustain.
Bones cracked.
Reformed.
Cracked again.
Kael lost count of how many times he nearly passed out.
Each time, something inside him refused.
Not will.
Law.
Devils endured or they were discarded.
When the pressure finally eased, Kael collapsed fully onto the stone platform.
He lay there unmoving, chest barely rising, eyes unfocused.
Minutes passed.
Then hours.
Slowly, sensation returned.
His body felt heavy.
Dense.
As if every bone carried weight far beyond its size.
Kael pushed himself upright with effort and immediately noticed the difference.
The movement was slower, but far more controlled. The tremor that once accompanied exertion was gone.
He struck the platform experimentally with his fist.
The stone cracked.
Kael stared at it, breath catching.
Bone Forging.
Early stage.
Completed.
A voice echoed through the chamber.
Not the familiar presence from his dreams.
This one was different.
Ancient.
Neutral.
"Subject meets minimum structural integrity."
Kael stiffened.
"Who's there?" he demanded.
Light gathered at the far end of the chamber, forming a vague humanoid outline made of fractured stone and red lines.
A construct.
Not alive.
"Designation: Foundation Warden," it intoned. "Function: Evaluation and correction."
Kael swallowed.
"Correction of what?"
"Deviations," the construct replied. "You qualify as incomplete."
Kael's jaw tightened. "Incomplete how?"
"You possess blood law without skeletal law stabilization," the Warden said. "Continuation without correction results in collapse probability exceeding acceptable thresholds."
Kael laughed weakly. "So you plan to kill me?"
"Negative," the Warden replied calmly. "You have passed preliminary screening."
Relief washed through Kael, brief but real.
"Then what happens now?"
The construct raised one arm.
The chamber shifted violently.
Stone plates slid aside, revealing a deeper passage leading downward. From it, Kael sensed something far heavier than anything he had encountered so far.
A core.
A true remnant.
"Proceed," the Warden said. "Next phase initiates complete Bone Forging."
Kael's breath hitched.
"Complete," he repeated.
"Yes."
"And if I fail?"
The construct paused.
"Then your bones will remember," it said. "Briefly."
Kael stood in silence.
Above him was heaven's pressure.
Behind him was no retreat.
Ahead lay pain far beyond what he had already endured.
The warmth stirred.
Not hunger.
Anticipation.
Kael clenched his fists and stepped forward.
"If this world insists on testing me," he said quietly, "then I will pass every test it sets."
He descended into the darkness.
Far above, heaven's agents scoured the surface, unaware that Kael had slipped beyond suppression.
Far below, something ancient opened its eyes for the first time in millennia.
And it recognized him as kin.