Bani slumped heavily against the damp stone wall, his breathing ragged and shallow. Around him, the corridor was a charnel house of cosmic slaughter; blood pooled across the floor in dark, iridescent ribbons, surrounded by the razor-sharp, broken shards of dissipated shadows.
Thirteen.
One, three, five, thirteen disaster-class beasts had fallen to his blades. Colossal behemoths, lethal Luna wolves, and entities of nightmare had hunted him through the labyrinth, but they had underestimated his intellect. He was cunning, always finding the angle, always outmaneuvering raw power. More importantly, the grueling crucible of the abyss had forced his evolution—he had finally ascended to the rank of a **Highmage**.
After dragging in a few deep, stabilizing breaths to let his mana core settle, Bani pulled himself upright. Wiping the grime and blood from his cheek, he turned his back on the carnage and marched off in the exact opposite direction.
The long, claustrophobic stretch of corridor abruptly opened up, giving way to a cavernous, imposing hall. The moment his boot crossed the threshold, the massive stone entrance slammed shut behind him with a final, echoing boom, sealing tight.
A strange, unnatural resonance hummed through the flagstones—a magnetic pull that whispered directly to his nervous system, gently and persistently coaxing him toward a raised stone stage in the center of the hall.
Lacking his usual iron-clad mental fortifications, his mind clouded for a fraction of a second. Subconsciously, his feet carried him forward until he stepped directly onto the center of the stage.
The moment his heel settled, reality snapped back into focus. *Wait—what have I done?*
*CLACK.*
A sharp, metallic shriek echoed through the hall as a shimmering, translucent barrier erupted around the perimeter of the stage, sealing him inside a cage of concentrated, hostile energy.
Bani didn't panic. He was a master of the dark; shadows were his domain, his escape route, his second skin. In a fluid motion, he dissolved into a pool of ink, attempting to slip straight through the floorboards.
*SPIT.*
The shadows violently rejected him, spitting him back out into the open air. He tumbled across the stone stage, slamming hard into the barrier wall.
*ZAP!*
A searing wave of condensed mana surged through his body the second his fingers grazed the energy field. A violent shockwave flung him backward, tumbling him across the center of the stage.
He scrambled back to his feet, gritting his teeth as he checked his numb hands. There was no way out. The shadows were barred, and the perimeter was a death trap.
"What in the hells have I gotten myself into?" he muttered, gripping his daggers.
Before he could formulate a second thought, a voice crashed down upon the hall. It didn't just travel through the air; it vibrated inside his skull.
> *"Let those who name themselves worthy stand unbroken before the storm."*
> *"Those who endure shall be given that which is earned by blood."*
>
The syllables carried a staggering, crushing weight, akin to heavy iron chains being dragged across jagged stone, threatening to buckle his knees.
Bani narrowed his eyes, his muscles coiling like steel springs as he stared up at the glowing, ancient text materializing out of the thin air. "What trial?" he challenged, his daggers humming with dark mana as he dropped into a battle stance.
*"Welcome, spawn of the void, avatar of the Void King. Your presence has been expected."*
Bani's brow furrowed deep into a scowl. *Spawn of the void? Avatar of the Void King?* Why was this ancient, labyrinthine automated system waiting for *him*? And what did it mean by calling him a descendant of the void?
The disembodied voice offered no pause for his confusion.
*"A trial has been prepared for you, designed to forge you for what is to come. Stand ready—for failure means absolute death. Even though... you are a mere gimmick of the real avatar."*
A strange, discordant flash tore through Bani's mind at those words. For a fraction of a second, a jarring sensation flickered across his consciousness: the charming, golem, strolling the empire's bustling streets widened his eyes in shock... and deep beneath the earth, a massive, primordial cocoon in a forgotten cave stirring ever so slightly, or perhaps it was just a trick of his imagination.
*RUMBLE.*
The floor beneath his feet fractured. The stone stage dropped open like a trapdoor as gravity multiplied tenfold, violently dragging Bani down into a yawning, pitch-black chasm.
As he plummeted into the dark abyss, the voice followed him, echoing off the closing walls.
*"In a single moment, your trial begins. One cannot hope to succeed when one is not in his prime..."*
A massive, overwhelming surge of raw mana slammed into his body. Every micro-tear in his muscle fibers mended, every drop of fatigue vanished, and a blazing, supernatural vitality flooded his veins, burning brighter and hotter than ever before.
But the sheer influx of power was too much, too fast.
A heavy, sickening vertigo gripped his brain. The edges of his vision blurred, spinning violently out of control, until absolute darkness swallowed him whole.
*" Your trail has begun"*