The sanctuary wasn't much.
A shattered temple clinging to the edge of a floating isle, suspended in a pocket of warped space that shimmered like heat haze. Below them, an endless abyss twisted with astral winds — stars bled sideways, and constellations blinked in reverse.
Kaien stood at the edge of the platform, peering down.
"You're sure this place is stable?"
Varen chuckled behind him, folding his arms. "Stable is a matter of perspective."
"Right. Because that's reassuring."
Kaien turned as Varen approached, dragging a ripple through the air. He walked like the space around him bent to accommodate his steps — as if gravity negotiated with him first.
"Your Riftcore is active," Varen said. "But it's raw. Wild. Your instincts are sharp, but instincts alone won't save you."
"Then teach me."
Varen tilted his head. "Fine. First lesson: space is not still. It breathes. It moves. You don't control it — you listen to it."
He flicked his fingers, and a tear opened beside them — a clean slit in the air. Not violent, not loud.
The tear hummed like a heartbeat.
Kaien stared. "I've made rifts before, but not like that."
"Because you tear. I ask."
Varen gestured. "Try."
Kaien exhaled. Closed his eyes. Focused. He felt the Riftcore pulse in his chest, the rhythm of it syncing with the void around them. He reached—
SNAP!
The space in front of him splintered in jagged glass-like shards.
Varen raised an eyebrow. "Too much force. You're treating space like a wall."
Kaien grunted. "Because it feels like one."
"Only when you're afraid of falling through."
They trained for hours — maybe longer. Time slipped strangely here.
Kaien learned to pull steps from folds in space. To fold a rock from one hand to the other. To bend his fall, slow a blade, or create thin slashes where motion could cut without contact.
He failed. A lot.
By the end of the cycle, his arms trembled and his head buzzed like a collapsing field.
"You're pushing me too fast," Kaien muttered, panting.
"No," Varen said softly. "I'm preparing you too slowly."
He turned, gaze cold now.
"The Council is already tracking your signature. The Rift sings when you're near. You'll need more than instinct to survive the Nullhound."
Kaien looked up sharply. "That thing's real?"
"It's already moving."
A long silence stretched between them. The stars above blinked in and out like dying embers.
Kaien clenched his fists.
"Then what's next?"
Varen pointed to a floating platform drifting beyond the sanctuary's edge. A smooth obsidian slab, surrounded by fractured aether.
"Your first challenge."
The platform rippled — a mirror-like rift above it shimmered… and Kaien stepped into a copy of himself. An echo.
Same build. Same face. But its eyes gleamed silver, like the Rift itself.
"That's your reflection," Varen said. "Not physical. But very real."
The echo tilted its head.
"It fights with everything you think you've mastered."
☼ Combat Training: Kaien vs Rift-Echo
Kaien moved first — folding space to his side, appearing with a blade of cut aether. His echo responded before he struck, predicting his angle and phase-shifting away.
They clashed again — not with brute strength, but bending logic.
Each time Kaien attacked, the Rift-Echo responded with a better version of the same move — shorter folds, tighter slashes, sharper angles.
He gritted his teeth, frustration building.
Then… he listened.
To the breath of space. To the pull of gravity.
He dropped low, feinted right — then didn't fold space, but folded his own momentum.
The echo couldn't predict it.
CRACK!
His fist connected, and the echo rippled out of existence like smoke.
Kaien stumbled back, gasping, sweat clinging to him despite the void's chill.
Varen nodded once, pleased.
"You learned something."
Kaien glanced at his hand. It was still trembling — but steadier now.
He could feel the Riftcore pulsing calmer than before.
"I listened."
Varen smiled. "Good. Now listen harder. Tomorrow—"
His eyes narrowed toward the edge of the sanctuary.
A low, inhuman growl echoed across the space fold.
"…we test you against something that won't go easy."
End of Chapter 5.