The gateway shimmered behind Kael, sealing shut with a whisper of wind and light.
He had passed the Trial of Refraction—had stared down his own twisted echoes, and walked forward without shattering. But as he stepped into the new realm, he knew this next phase would not test what he might become.
It would test what he already was.
The world before him was unlike any he'd seen in the Veil or beyond it. A sky of pale violet stretched far above, marbled with crimson clouds that pulsed like veins. The ground beneath his feet was cracked obsidian dust, scattered with broken shards of metallic glass.
And in the distance… a colossal ruin.
It floated above a crater, suspended midair like a ship shattered in time. The fragments of towers, bridges, and domes spun slowly, orbiting the crater's center—where a faint red light blinked in rhythm with Kael's heart.
A broken star.
Not just destroyed. Wounded.
Kael narrowed his eyes.
This wasn't just a new domain. This was a graveyard of something divine. And if his instincts were right, the next trial awaited him at the star's core.
As he began walking across the jagged terrain, the silence around him grew heavy. There was no wind here, no life, only the dull thrum of latent cosmic energy.
His boots crunched glass as he advanced.
The deeper he moved into the field of destruction, the more vivid the visions became. Faint silhouettes flickered in the air—scenes etched into the fractured space itself.
He passed a woman cloaked in starlight, cradling a dying child as flames raged around them.
Then a man with six wings of black fire, screaming in fury as he was impaled by spears of light.
Then a god, or something close to one, torn apart by a mass of writhing void-tentacles, its dying gaze directed at Kael as though it recognized him.
He stopped.
"These are echoes," he muttered. "Memories of what happened here."
"Correct."
The voice didn't come from any direction. It resonated from the ruins themselves.
Kael turned slowly.
A shape was forming ahead, just before the crater. Not a monster. Not a copy.
But a presence—tall, robed, face hidden by an obsidian mask shaped like a shattered moon.
"You have come far, Nullborn," it said.
Kael's hands clenched. "Who are you?"
"I am what remains of this world's Warden." The voice carried no malice, only fatigue. "Once, this was a Star-Tomb. A sanctuary for those slain in the Eternal Convergence. But the seal was broken. The remnants of its power fractured. And now, it lingers… seeking one strong enough to reclaim it."
Kael stepped forward. "You mean me."
"Perhaps." The Warden extended an arm, and the entire floating ruin began to tremble.
"This trial is not of strength alone."
"It is of burden. Of pain. Of memory."
The world shifted.
Kael staggered as reality blurred around him. The obsidian ground vanished beneath his feet. The sky became flame. And suddenly—he was elsewhere.
No. He was… before.
Back in the void between worlds.
Only… different.
He stood on a shattered platform, his younger self kneeling in chains—back when the Ascension Code first marked him. He saw himself scream, eyes wild, as the Mark carved into his chest.
"Stop it!" Kael shouted, turning toward the image. "This isn't real!"
But the memory kept playing.
He saw the elders who had abandoned him. The clan that deemed him worthless. The betrayal that burned in his blood.
The pain.
It wasn't just showing him what had happened. It was forcing him to relive it—every strike, every cold stare, every desperate cry for someone to just acknowledge that he mattered.
He collapsed to one knee.
The phantom chains returned, heavier than before.
He gritted his teeth, but his limbs trembled.
"You were broken," the Warden said, voice echoing in the storm. "And yet you rose. But pain unacknowledged becomes poison. This trial demands you face it."
Kael screamed, and the chains shattered in a burst of white flame.
The world twisted again.
He was in the Hall of Echoes.
He stood over Zira's body.
Blood everywhere.
But this hadn't happened.
Zira wasn't dead.
His mind raced—was this a possible future? Or a lie?
The voice came again.
"This is what awaits if you falter. If you deny what you are becoming. You carry power now, Kael. But with power comes weight. If you do not learn to carry it—
—you will bury those you love beneath it."
Kael clenched his jaw.
"I won't let that happen."
"You won't always have a choice," the Warden whispered.
The illusion cracked.
Kael stood alone again before the crater, breath heaving.
He was shaking.
Not from fear.
But from truth.
The Warden stood still, silent.
Kael stepped forward.
"You think this is enough to break me?" he said, voice low.
"I've been broken. Left to rot. Used. Forsaken. But I didn't die there."
He raised his hand.
Voidfire erupted from his palm, no longer wild or desperate—but controlled. Balanced.
"I'm not afraid of my pain anymore."
The Warden watched silently, then nodded once.
The crater opened.
From its depths, a single shard rose—a crystalline piece of the Broken Star, pulsing with ancient energy.
Kael stepped forward and grasped it.
The moment he touched it, the universe screamed.
Images poured into his mind.
A thousand battles.
A million deaths.
A war that never ended.
And through it all, a single thought:
"Ascend… or be consumed."
Kael dropped to one knee, eyes burning with silver light.
The shard sank into his chest, merging with the Mark.
A new symbol carved itself over his heart.
[Trial of the Broken Star — COMPLETE]
[You have absorbed a Fractured Echo of a Celestial Remnant.]
[Your body has begun to harmonize with Stellar Essence.]
[New Trait: Echo-Bound Resilience — You resist cosmic and soul-based attacks. Your memories cannot be altered. You absorb fragments of divine remnants to strengthen your core.]
[Ascension Progress: 23.7%]
Kael rose slowly.
Changed.
Not just stronger.
Wiser.
He turned toward the sky.
The next trial was coming.
And this time, it would test not his past…
…but his future.