The announcement landed like a thunderclap in the middle of the academy's post-tournament lull. All first-year initiates were to assemble at the Northern Spire for the final phase of their yearly evaluation: the Rift Simulation. The news was met with a mixture of terror and exhilaration. This was it. The true test. The reason they had all come to the academy.
For Ren, the news was a cold, heavy stone in his gut. He had not been near a Rift since the day his world had ended. He had faced down powerful cultivators, cunning artificers, and his own inner demons, but the thought of facing the raw, chaotic energy of the Aetherial Abyss again stirred a deep, primal fear he had long since buried.
He walked with his year-group towards the Northern Spire, a monolithic tower of black iron and shimmering crystal that hummed with a contained, immense power. As they approached, the air itself grew heavy, charged with a familiar, terrifying energy. It was the scent of ozone, of static, of reality stretched thin.
"So, this is the whelp's first true test," Zephyrion's voice echoed in his mind, devoid of its usual scorn, replaced by a cold, ancient curiosity. "The chaos of the Abyss is where the Raijin were born. It is our natural element. Do not fear it, boy. Breathe it."
The students were led into a cavernous, circular chamber. The walls were lined with complex GAMA arrays and observation decks filled with instructors, including a grim-faced Elder Tian. In the center of the chamber, suspended between two massive, rune-etched pylons, was a shimmering, unstable tear in reality. It was a controlled, stabilized Aether Rift, no larger than a doorway, but it pulsed with a malevolent, purple light that seemed to drink the warmth from the room.
Instructor Borin stood before the gate, his scarred face set in hard lines. "Listen up, maggots!" he roared. "This is the Rift Stabilizer and Simulation Chamber. In a moment, we will lower the containment field just enough to allow Aether Beasts of Initiate-level threat to emerge. Your squads will enter the arena. Your task is simple: survive, and eliminate all hostile entities. This is not a spar. This is not a game. The beasts are real. The danger is real. Your grade depends on your performance. Your life depends on your teamwork."
The students were divided into squads of five. Ren found himself assigned to Squad 9, alongside four other students he barely knew. Across the chamber, he saw Anya being placed with a team of other top-ranked initiates. Lin Fei was with his usual cronies.
The chamber's massive blast doors sealed shut with a deafening clang. A low, powerful hum filled the air as the containment field around the Rift weakened. A low, guttural snarl echoed from the shimmering portal, a sound that sent a jolt of ice through Ren's veins.
The first Aether Beast emerged. It was a creature the size of a large wolf, but its body was a grotesque fusion of chitinous plates and raw, sinewy muscle. It had too many legs, and its head was a featureless wedge of bone with a maw that split open to reveal rows of needle-like teeth. A "Rift-Stalker," a common pack hunter. Another followed it, and then another, until a pack of five stood on the arena floor, their heads turning, their multiple eyes glowing with a feral, hungry light.
"Squad 1, engage!" Borin commanded.
The first squad, a team of well-coordinated nobles, moved in. The battle was a chaotic flurry of light and sound. The students, for all their training, were clearly terrified. Their Aetheric attacks were sloppy, their teamwork frantic. They defeated the beasts, but it was a messy, costly victory, with two of their members being carried from the arena with serious injuries.
Squad after squad went in, each facing a new, random assortment of Initiate-level threats: nimble, bird-like "Aether-Shriekers," heavily armored, beetle-like "Chitin-Crushers." The results were much the same. The students survived, but their performance was clumsy, inefficient, and driven by fear.
Then, it was Squad 9's turn.
"Your turn, Ren," one of his squad mates, a nervous boy with beads of sweat on his forehead, stammered. "Try not to… you know… trip them."
Ren didn't answer. He walked onto the arena floor, his eyes fixed on the shimmering portal. As his squad took their positions, the Rift pulsed, and a new beast emerged.
It was not a pack hunter. It was a single entity, larger than the others. It resembled a great panther, but its fur was a shifting, chaotic mass of shadow and violet energy, and its eyes burned with a cold, intelligent malice. The air around it grew cold, and the very Aether in the room seemed to curdle in its presence.
In the observation deck, Instructor Borin swore under his breath. "A 'Void-Tainter'! What is a conceptual beast doing in a low-level simulation? Its threat level is closer to that of an Aether Master!"
Elder Tian leaned forward, his knuckles white as he gripped the railing.
The Void-Tainter ignored the other four members of Squad 9. Its cold, intelligent eyes scanned the group and locked directly onto Ren. It recognized him. It recognized the echo of the primordial storm within his soul. It let out a low, guttural hiss that was not a sound, but a wave of pure Aetheric dread, and began to stalk towards him.
It was the same kind of beast, Ren realized with a dawning, soul-crushing horror, that had emerged from the Rift that had destroyed his home.