The forest thinned as the mountain trail steepened, light breaking more easily through the thinning canopy. A steady wind carried the scent of flowering trees, crisp mountain air, and something sharper — like steel and sweet tea coiled into a single breath.
Lyren paused beneath a stone arch carved into the cliffside. Her face was pale, her wound still healing, but her stance straightened as she adjusted her robes.
Kahel followed her gaze.
Before them stretched a long staircase of pale jade, winding up the cliffside like a spine. On either side, delicate white petals drifted down from trees whose branches were veiled in mist.
At the top of the stairs, through the haze, loomed the outer gates of a great sect.
Carved into the white stone above the entrance were three characters:
Ethereal Bloom Valley.
Kahel let out a low breath. His legs already ached from the climb, but the weight in his chest was heavier. There was no turning back from here.
"Welcome to the edge of the middle world," Lyren said, stepping forward.
He glanced at her.
"You live here?"
"Lived. Until I left for my trial." She didn't look back. "Whether they let me return... we'll see."
Kahel hesitated. "You think they won't?"
She gave a faint, bitter smile. "Cultivation sects don't reward failure. They tolerate weakness even less."
They climbed the staircase in silence, mist curling around their feet. Each step pulled them higher into the mountain's breath. Kahel could feel the qi in the air now — not just warmth, but structure. The air itself had rules here, boundaries shaped by powerful forces. Even the clouds obeyed them.
As they neared the top, Kahel's scroll pulsed faintly again.
Lyren noticed. "That thing… what is it?"
"I don't know," Kahel said. "It was my mother's. The symbols glow sometimes. And when I cultivate near it... things change."
"You're carrying a legacy you don't understand," she murmured. "Dangerous."
He nodded. "I've noticed."
The gates of Ethereal Bloom Valley were elegant but imposing — not a fortress, but a presence. Dozens of disciples in green and silver robes walked the courtyards beyond, most carrying swords or scrolls. Some knelt in meditation beneath flowering trees. Others sparred with measured grace.
At the entrance stood two guards, both older outer sect disciples with sharp eyes and silver-trimmed sashes.
Lyren bowed faintly. "Disciple Lyren Yue, reporting from trial."
One of the guards — a tall woman with narrow eyes and a long scar across her jaw — raised an eyebrow. "You were expected back four days ago."
"Wounded during a beast ambush," Lyren said. "This boy saved me."
Kahel stood straight. He was aware of how he looked: travel-worn, blood-stained, clothes simple and scorched.
The other guard — a stocky man with a bored expression — looked him up and down.
"Name?" he asked.
"Kahel," he replied.
"Affiliation?"
"None."
"Spirit root?"
Kahel hesitated. "...I don't know."
The man scoffed. "Then why are you here?"
"Because I asked him to come," Lyren said firmly. "And because you owe me for returning alive."
The guards exchanged a look.
The woman shrugged. "Fine. But no outsiders past the trial stones. If he wants in, he earns it."
Kahel frowned. "Trial stones?"
Lyren touched his shoulder. "Every disciple must touch a trial stone to enter the valley. It reads your talent — your affinity, potential, elemental leanings. If the stone accepts you, the sect does too."
"And if it doesn't?"
"You're turned away. Or worse."
They walked through a narrow courtyard lined with flowering trees that shed pale lavender petals. At its center stood a circular platform surrounded by engraved lanterns. In the middle of the platform stood a single, upright stone slab carved with runes — simple, elegant, quiet.
It pulsed with slow, living light.
Kahel stepped forward.
"Place your hand on it," Lyren said. "It will judge your fate."
He looked down at his hand. Dirt in the nails. Ash still clinging to the skin.
Then he touched the stone.
The world held its breath.
At first, nothing happened.
Then — light.
But not the usual glow Lyren had seen in others. Not golden. Not white.
Gray. Pale. Cold.
Mist coiled from the base of the stone. The air dropped in temperature. A dull hum filled the courtyard. The petals on nearby trees stopped falling.
Then they began to burn.
Silently, slowly — every petal that touched the ground near Kahel blackened and turned to ash.
Gasps echoed around the courtyard as disciples stopped their training to watch.
The trial stone glowed brighter — then cracked slightly down the center.
Kahel stepped back, hand tingling.
Lyren stared at him, eyes wide.
"That's... not supposed to happen," she whispered.
A moment later, a ripple of qi filled the air — someone powerful had noticed.
Footsteps echoed from across the platform.
An elder approached — robes dark green, hair bound in silver, face stern and sharp like chiseled jade.
"You," the elder said, voice like a blade in the wind. "What is your name?"
"Kahel."
The elder stepped closer, eyes on the cracked trial stone.
"Where did you get the flame you carry?"
Kahel hesitated. "I don't know. I was born with it, I think."
"That flame is not of this world," the elder said coldly. "It should not exist in a minor plane."
Kahel squared his shoulders. "But it does. In me."
The elder raised a hand.
For a heartbeat, Kahel felt pressure close around him — not physical, but spiritual. Like the air itself wanted him to kneel.
He didn't.
The elder's eyes narrowed.
Then, slowly, he lowered his hand.
"Take him to the Proving Garden," the elder said. "If he survives three days, let him stay. If not, return his ashes to the wind."
As Kahel was led away, Lyren started to follow — but the elder blocked her.
"He must walk alone now."
"He saved my life."
"And now he must save his own."
Lyren clenched her fists, but stepped aside.
As Kahel disappeared into the inner court, a wind stirred the ashes of the petals he left behind.
And far above, from a balcony of white stone, a young woman with silver eyes watched it all.
She turned to the elder beside her.
"That boy," she said softly. "He carries something ancient."
The elder nodded. "And it may burn all of us before long."