The chamber was silent.
Beneath the academy's central spire, deep within a vault laced with divine sigils, stood a circular room carved of Blackstone and humming crystal. Seven pods were embedded into the floor like sleeping coffins, each glowing faintly with glyphs — one cluster for every academy.
Kieran and his team stood before their assigned set.
The air was charged. Not with fear, but anticipation so sharp it felt like lightning waiting to strike.
A facilitator in silver-trimmed robes stepped into the circle's center. His voice was calm but echoed with subtle resonance, like sound carried through memory.
"The Dreamforged Arena is not a location. It is a reality molded from divine remnants — a field shaped by your instincts, your will, and the weight of power. These vessels will guide your minds across the boundary."
He gestured to the pods. "You may feel pressure, disorientation, or loss of time. That is expected. Inside, you will experience full perception — and full danger. Death is simulated. Pain is not."
Rei clicked his tongue. "Sounds cozy."
Calla smirked. "You'll scream first."
Selene was already studying her pod. "No difference from a battlefield. Just cleaner."
Talon gave a quiet nod and flexed his injured arm, now healed. "Let's not die screaming, then."
One by one, they stepped in.
The pods closed with a soft hiss, glass folding down like a whisper. As Kieran lay back, he felt the faint hum beneath his spine — not just vibration, but something deeper. A resonance that pulled at his soul.
His shadow twitched, curling against the glass.
Then the glyphs flared, and the world dissolved.
---
There was no up or down. No breath. No weight.
Kieran floated in a void painted in slow-moving starlight.
Then the dream shifted.
---
He landed hard on the fractured ground.
The arena was surreal — a shattered landscape with floating platforms, dream-logic geometry, and a sky like cracked obsidian glass. Trees made of bone and gold sprouted in the distance. Rivers shimmered with molten light.
Calla landed beside him, then Rei, then the others.
They stood, each fully conscious and whole, their gear as it was, their powers humming faintly at the edge of thought.
Kieran looked up.
A massive sigil burned in the air like a sun.
Then a voice, deep and mechanical, echoed through the arena:
"Round One: Initiated."
Across the terrain, a team of seven figures shimmered into view.
Selene narrowed her eyes. "They look ready."
Rei cracked his knuckles. "So are we."
Kieran said nothing. His shadow moved, just a second too slow.