The moment Vermyros was thrown out of the trial, a heavy and unnatural silence filled the entire space.
There was no dragon's roar, no ancient heartbeat, not even the trembling of the ground.
Only one person remained.
Daniel.
He stood where he was and did nothing. His gaze was fixed on the three flames in front of him. Now that he was the only one left, he was thinking about what the final phase of the trial would be.
The air around him cracked like glass. The sky above split apart, the ground beneath his feet shattered, and the world of the trial broke into thousands of pieces like a mirror struck from within.
But he was not thrown out.
His body remained suspended in the void, as if an invisible force was holding him in place.
Then the fall began.
Not downward.
Not upward.
But toward somewhere beyond direction itself.
Absolute darkness swallowed him.
