The next morning came with a quiet stillness that was almost unnerving. It was cold, way colder than it had been the day before. When Xaden looked out the cafeteria windows, he saw the clouds had grown much darker.
Xaden wasn't surprised by the dramatic change in weather. In fact, the somewhat manageable climate they had was quite a treat. Living on Terra, they had all grown accustomed to harsh, unpredictable weather that changed as quickly as the blink of an eye, although the Vale did help protect them from the worst of it, like harmful radiation, and even helped tone down the excess.
He barely touched his food. Sorry, he didn't have the stomach for more. Who knew how long the Crucible would last? A heavy gloom had settled on the candidates like the mist, crawling around the ground outside. None of them knew what awaited them in the next stage of Threshing.
Xaden's stomach twisted into tighter knots when he remembered how the first trial had begun with them all falling through the shattered ground. He hoped history wouldn't repeat itself.
His eyes drifted across the room for what felt like the hundredth time. He hadn't seen Leo in a while now...
A sharp, commanding voice cut through the air.
"Candidates."
Whatever sound had formed in the cafeteria died almost instantly.
Sergeant Barrow stood at the entrance, arms folded behind his back, posture rigid as ever. His gaze swept across the room, heavy and unyielding.
"On your feet. Move."
No explanation needed. It was time.
Chairs scraped back. The tension that had been quietly simmering over the past few days snapped into something sharper.
The candidates began to file out, forming a loose, uneven line as Barrow turned and strode down the corridor without checking if they were following.
They were.
They had no choice.
The deeper they went, the quieter it became.
The usual hum of Echelon faded, replaced by something colder. The walls shifted from worn metal to smooth alloy. The lighting dimmed slightly, casting long shadows across the floor.
They stopped in front of a massive set of doors before them—tall, seamless, almost blending into the walls themselves. Barrow placed his palm against the panel beside it.
A low hum echoed as the doors split open, revealing a vast hall beyond, filled with rows upon rows of sleek, capsule-like pods stretched across it, each embedded in the floor in perfect alignment. Soft blue light pulsed faintly from within them, like a slow, mechanical heartbeat.
A ripple of unease spread through the candidates.
"This," Barrow began, deep voice carrying effortlessly across the hall, "is where your next Crucible begins."
A pause.
"You will enter the pods assigned to you. Your positions are based on your rankings."
"Once inside, you will remain still. You must not resist the process."
That didn't sound reassuring.
Silence.
"Move."
The candidates began to spread out, guided by the glowing numbers etched onto each pod. Xaden moved with them, his eyes scanning the rows.
He found his pod near the far end of the hall.
Near the bottom.
Of course.
The glass surface slid open with a soft hiss as he approached. Cold air spilled out. Xaden hesitated for just a fraction of a second, his fingers tightened into fists before he stepped in.
The interior molded slightly to his form as he lay back, the material unnaturally smooth beneath him.
The lid began to close, sealing him in.
"Your Crucible will begin momentarily. Do hold on."
An AI voice announced, just as a timer appeared in front of him.
3
2
1
A white mist began to spread rapidly from the corners of his pod. It curled around him, cool against his skin, slipping into his lungs with every breath. Xaden's fingers twitched slightly. His thoughts slowed. Darkness crept in from the edges of his vision.
Until...
There was nothing.
***
At first, Xaden couldn't feel anything at all. He was in that darkness again, falling, falling, falling.
Until...
He gasped awake, inhaling a mouthful of dried dust in the process. He tried coughing out the dust he had swallowed, his hands on the ground, feeling the sand beneath him.
Wait. Sand?
His fingers dug into the ground, coming back up with a fistful of tiny red sand. Still in a state of disorientation, he checked around himself.
There was nothing but sand all around him, dunes and red cliffs. The sky itself was a dull shade of orange. Xaden got up to his feet, feeling his earlier disorientation slowly begin to fade. His feet dug slightly under the red sands.
Xaden furrowed his eyebrows. He had heard of deserts before. Wastelands where any semblance of life gathered around rare pockets of life—oases.
He waited a bit for the Crucible screen to appear before him like it usually did. Nothing came. He walked around the dunes, observing the area. It was all arid as far as his eyes could see. As he moved, he felt something shift in his pocket. He dipped his fingers inside and brought out a small metal plaque the size and shape of a large coin. On it was a curved symbol, like a U laid on its side
It was a rune, carved into metal, although Xaden didn't remember the name of the rune.
He was still puzzled when the ground started to tremble beneath him. Low at first, then it rapidly intensified. Until a violent surge erupted. The dune ahead of him collapsed inward, sand spiraling down as if something beneath it had just torn through the earth itself.
Xaden staggered back, heart kicking hard against his ribs.
"What the hell—"
The ground erupted.
A massive shape burst from beneath the sand, sending a wave of red dust into the air. Xaden threw his arm up, shielding his face as the force of it knocked him off balance, pushing him to the ground.
He coughed out a mouthful of sand. Through the haze, he saw the beast that was arising.
Its body uncoiled upward, plates of jagged armour grinding over one another with a metallic hiss that set teeth on edge. Each movement sounded deliberate, heavy—like iron dragged across stone. Sand cascaded off it in sheets. Its face was hidden behind a natural shield, smooth and curved like a helm grown from its own flesh. No eyes. No mouth. Just that blank, armored front.
Then the tail lifted. It was a scorpion's arch, slow and certain, the barb catching the light as it hovered high above. Its height was at least 11 feet tall.
"Shit!" Xaden panicked as he hurriedly pushed himself off the ground and bolted away from the scorpion beast. It was a futile venture, though. The beast was so massive that a few steps could've easily overtaken him.
But it wasn't looking towards him.
Xaden had barely gotten a few feet away when the ground burst right in front of him, once again knocking him off balance. He landed on his backside and quickly began to crawl away as another beast emerged from the red sands.
This one was shaped like a massive reptile with brown scales all over its body and a horn poking out from the middle of its head. At first, it stood on four feet before standing on its hind legs. It let out a mighty roar.
Then, the two beasts went after each other, with Xaden smack at the center of them.