The fall ended without impact.
Starless found himself standing.
Stone stretched outward in a perfect circle, vast beyond reason.
A colossal colosseum carved from pale ivory rock rose tier upon tier, its walls etched with ancient symbols that seemed older than memory itself.
Towers curved inward like watching giants, enclosing the arena beneath an open sky that glowed with a muted gold light.
No sun burned there, yet everything was illuminated.
The air was calm.
Too calm.
Around him, hundreds of figures stood scattered across the arena floor. Some whispered. Some trembled. Some stared upward as if afraid to blink.
Blood stains still marked a few uniforms, reminders of what had been left behind. The silence pressed heavier than the screams ever had.
Then Starless noticed them.
A group stood together near the center. Their posture was straight. Their breathing steady. Their eyes clear.
Academy students.
They were calm in a way that felt unnatural, as if fear had already been burned out of them. Every one of them wore the same armor.
Deep crimson plates layered across their bodies, polished and clean. The red was not decorative. It was ceremonial. Heavy. Earned.
Starless looked down at himself, then back at them.
His heart skipped.
He had expected chaos. Confusion. Panic.
Not this.
Whispers rippled through the crowd as more eyes noticed the armor. Some took a step back.
Others felt something colder than fear settle into their bones. These were not survivors by chance. These were prepared.
Starless swallowed.
So this was the other side.
The sky darkened without warning.
The golden glow dimmed, replaced by a vast shadow that rolled across the colosseum like a closing eye. The air vibrated. Stone hummed beneath their feet.
Then the voice spoke.
It did not come from above or below. It came from everywhere.
"Welcome to thy new world."
The words were calm. Absolute. Final.
Every breath froze.
"Awakeners."
The colosseum seemed to listen with them.
Starless felt it then. The truth settling in his chest like a weight he could never set down again.
This was not a test.
This was a beginning.
The silence did not break.
It deepened.
The voice returned, slower now, heavier, as though the world itself leaned closer to listen.
"To proceed to the next stage and venture…"
The words carved themselves into the air.
"What is thy sacrifice to thy freedom?"
A ripple moved through the arena.
Some fell to their knees. Others clutched their chests, breath hitching as understanding dawned too late. Freedom had a price. It always had.
The academy students did not flinch.
They smiled.
Not wide. Not cruel. Calm smiles born of certainty. They already knew the answer. They had known it long before the doors closed behind them, long before blood stained the halls.
Their red armor gleamed softly beneath the dim sky, untroubled.
Starless saw it and felt something twist inside him.
So they were ahead.
The air shifted.
Stone groaned.
The voice spoke again, and this time it was different. Sharper. Aware.
"Yet hear this, Awakeners."
A pressure pressed down on the colosseum, subtle but absolute.
"The rules are not stone."
A pause.
"They adapt."
The academy students' smiles faltered, just slightly.
"For some among thee sought passage not by trial, but by knowledge stolen before its hour."
The silence turned brittle.
"Thus a rule unseen is now born."
The voice lowered, old and deliberate, each word weighed as if chosen across centuries.
"You seek victory to prove thy worth, yet if a dog be content with a bone, and a king is never content with a kingdom…"
The sky darkened further.
"Which of thee is the master, and which is the stray?"
No one moved.
Starless felt the question sink into him, deeper than fear, deeper than survival. This was not a riddle meant to be solved quickly.
It was a mirror but deep down he thought to himself. " I'm scared what if I actually die here?. I need help to solve this problem. I'm smart enough to solve it but I'm trembling now ,from fear. I'm actually scared."
And somewhere within the colosseum, something watched to see who would break first.
The silence was shattered.
Murmurs rose like a tide, voices overlapping, fear bleeding into confusion. Some argued.
Some begged. Some shouted theories into the air as if volume alone could save them. The calm of the colosseum fractured, and panic seeped through the cracks.
Starless stayed still.
A shadow stepped into his view.
A boy with black hair stood before him, close in age, close in build. Too close in resemblance for comfort. The boy raised his hand, palm open, a cautious smile on his face.
Starless did not take it.
He glanced at the hand once, then looked past him.
"Sit down," Starless said flatly.
The boy blinked, then chuckled softly and lowered himself beside him without complaint.
The ground trembled.
The voice returned, sharper now, impatient.
"Thy time is short."
The air tightened.
"Two minutes thy left."
A wave of panic crashed through the arena. People shouted louder. Some cried. Others dropped to their knees, hands clasped together, whispering prayers that tangled and broke.
Starless turned his head slowly and stared at the boy beside him.
"What's your name," he asked, calm despite the noise.
The boy smiled, unfazed by the chaos around them.
"Jaless."
Friendly. Almost disarmingly so.
Jaless leaned back slightly, eyes drifting toward the crimson-armored students in the distance.
"What do you think the answer is," he asked casually, like they were discussing weather.
Starless did not reply.
He thought.
The noise faded. The fear dulled. One minute passed inside his mind while the world screamed around him.
The riddle echoed again and again, folding in on itself. Dog. King. Bone. Kingdom. Contentment. Hunger. Control.
Then Starless spoke.
"There are two answers," he said quietly. "It cannot be one."
Jaless tilted his head, interest sharpening.
"Paradoxical."
Starless nodded.
"Exactly."
The final seconds ticked away.
Starless closed his eyes.
His lips moved slowly, not loudly, not for show. A prayer, or something close to it.
"The answers are many," Starless said, voice steady. "We can bark like the dog, proving we are content as strays."
His eyes opened.
"Or we reject the question itself."
The colosseum seemed to lean closer.
And somewhere beyond the sky, something waited to hear what freedom truly meant.
The murmuring died out.
One by one, heads lifted.
Everyone stared into the vast sky above the colosseum, as if the answer might already be written there.
Fear wrapped tight around their throats. No one wanted to be first. First meant wrong. First meant erased.
Jaless stood up.
The sound of his boots against stone echoed louder than it should have. He drew a breath, then raised his voice so it carried across the arena.
"It's to beg like a dog," he shouted. "To be content."
Gasps rippled through the crowd.
Some stepped back. Others shook their heads violently. The idea alone felt humiliating, dangerous, final. No one moved. No one dared.
Starless shook his head in disappointment and murmured to himself.
"Now there goes our ticket out of here."
The academy students turned toward him.
Their red armor caught the dim light as one of them spoke, voice sharp and measured.
"Are you sure?"
Jaless smiled.
"Yes," he said without hesitation. "Positively."
A heavy silence followed.
Then voices rose, not from courage, but relief.
"Then you go first."
"Show us."
"Try it."
The words piled onto him, pushing him forward without a single hand touching his back.
Even those who had shouted theories moments ago now retreated, eyes fixed on Jaless as if he were already lost.
Jaless looked around at the ring of faces. Fear. Hope. Desperation.
He exhaled slowly.
And took one step toward the center of the colosseum.
Jaless stopped.
The step forward never came.
Instead, he turned back, walked a few paces, and sat down on the cold stone floor. Slowly. Deliberately. As if he had all the time in the world.
The colosseum held its breath.
Jaless closed his eyes.
Then he barked. Simple, obedient, a humiliation weighed by fear of erasure. His chest tightened with every trembling sound.
A smile spread across his face.
The sound echoed once, then faded into silence.
The sky shifted.
The voice returned, calm and final.
"You thy shall pass."
Jaless opened his eyes.
Relief crashed through the arena like a wave. Laughter broke out, shaky and disbelieving. Smiles appeared where terror had lived seconds before.
One by one, people sat down.
They closed their eyes.
They barked.
Some laughed as they did it. Some cried. Some shook with embarrassment, but they did it anyway.
The sound filled the colosseum, strange and human and alive.
Even the academy students joined in.
The voice spoke again, carrying across every tier of stone.
"Everyone has passed."
The light above the colosseum softened.
And for now, the world was satisfied.
The light shattered.
The sky convulsed, twisting in on itself as if something above had been wounded. The calm voice returned, but it was no longer calm.
It cracked. It screamed. Layers of sound overlapped, ancient and furious, echoing against the stone until the colosseum itself trembled.
"No."
The word tore through the air.
"You have not passed."
Smiles froze.
Bodies stiffened.
The voice rose, no longer measured, no longer patient.
"You imitated obedience. You echoed another's choice. You followed, not answered."
The ground split with a thunderous roar.
"Everyone cheated."
Panic exploded.
Some tried to stand. Some tried to speak. Some screamed apologies into the sky.
The academy students backed away, eyes wide, their red armor suddenly feeling thin and useless.
The voice boomed again, filled with something far worse than anger.
"Thus thy judgment is rewritten."
The colosseum began to sink.
Stone peeled away like falling skin, revealing an abyss of blinding light beneath their feet.
"You shall not be cast lower."
A pause. Heavy. Dreadful.
"You shall be taken higher."
The light surged upward, swallowing the arena whole.
"To the highest colosseum."
Starless felt the world rip away beneath him.
And this time, no one was smiling.