"So who's going first?" Leonardo asked, crossing his arms and glancing at the crystalline monument that towered before them, humming like a dormant beast ready to stir. The trial ruins radiated faint pulses of light—as though they, too, were waiting for a volunteer.
"I'll do it." Velvet stepped forward, offering a cocky smile and a flick of their hair. "Might as well get it over with. I'm feeling lucky."
Ubel blinked. "You sure? We don't know what this one does yet."
"Yeah, but that's the fun of it." Velvet didn't look back. Their boots hit the stone with a tap-tap-tap as they walked up the ancient staircase, the blue glow of the ruins slowly crawling up their body like veins of light finding their way home.
There was no objection. No vote. No arguments. Velvet always had that particular look in their eyes—the kind that told you they'd already made the decision before anyone else had even started thinking. And besides, the others trusted them.
The moment they stepped through the archway, the ruins groaned with life. The crystalline walls came alive in an eruption of luminous sapphire, cascading over the runes with a hum that buzzed in their bones. Then, like a blink between seconds, Velvet was gone.
The air settled.
"So…" Rajin turned toward Kurona, his arms folded, voice casual. "What's the first thing you're gonna do when you're finally out of all this?"
Kurona blinked. The question hung there. Open. Vulnerable.
"…I dunno," he said after a pause. "I guess I'll figure it out when the time comes."
A simple answer. But something about it sounded honest. Like it hadn't crossed his mind until now.
Elsewhere…
Elias adjusted his coat as the late afternoon breeze rolled through the near-empty streets. The city hadn't changed much. Still sunlit, still quiet. Still heavy with the same silence that had followed him since he came back to the ruins earlier today and found nothing but flickering runes and quiet stone.
Kurona's voice still echoed in his mind.
"I'll tell you when it's over."
But how long was over supposed to be?
He checked the ruins again. Nothing. No sounds. No presence. No footprints. Just the stale smell of old stone and the occasional rustle of wind. So, he did the only thing left to do—he wandered.
Out the city gates. Into the forest. To clear his head.
The air was cooler under the trees. Sharper, cleaner. The leaves rustled above him like a low whisper, branches reaching over one another in jagged conversation.
It was peaceful. For about five minutes.
Then came the stench.
Elias stopped walking. His nose twitched. It wasn't just bad. It was wrong. Thick, metallic. Rotten and burnt, like a corpse left in the sun then dipped in acid.
He crouched. Moved carefully now. One step at a time, toward the smell. Bushes crunched beneath him.
And that's when he saw them.
People. Figures in dark cloaks. Hoods pulled down so low that not even the sun could reach under them. There were four—no, five of them—moving crates toward a narrow cave nestled between two moss-covered cliffs.
What was this?
He thought about calling out. Asking who they were. Maybe they were merchants?
But then he saw it.
A creature. Something once alive. Four-legged, furry—maybe a fox, maybe a wolf—now little more than a shredded carcass, left to rot with wounds that were far too precise and repeated.
Not hunted.
Tortured.
Elias's body screamed at him to leave.
But something stronger whispered go.
He looked at the crates. At the way they were loaded in. How they left them open briefly. He moved quick, quiet—slipping into one, curling his knees to his chest.
The crate slammed shut around him.
And everything went dark.
Back at the ruins…
"Hey, has anyone seen Elias lately?" Ubel suddenly asked, turning toward Kurona with an expression somewhere between genuine concern and mild irritation.
Kurona scratched his head. "Who?"
Ubel stared at him. "Elias."
Kurona blinked. "Hmm… Elias, Elias… Rings a bell."
"The kid!" Ubel's eye twitched. "The one who helped us find the damn ruins in the first place!"
"Oooh, that Elias." Kurona nodded sagely. "You should've just said 'the city tour guy.' I remember now."
"I did!" Ubel growled.
"No, you said Elias."
"That is his name—!"
Leonardo chuckled, stepping between them. "Alright, alright, let's not waste energy on each other. We'll need it soon enough."
Kurona scratched his cheek, a bit sheepishly. "Actually… I was supposed to tell him when we were done with the trials."
Ubel's mouth dropped open. "Are you kidding me?! And you're just now saying this?!"
Kurona shrugged. "It didn't come up?"
Leonardo placed a hand on Ubel's shoulder before the man exploded. "We'll look for him. Velvet can handle their trial without us hovering around. Let's just find the kid."
Velvet opened their eyes to rolling hills of green, scattered with lilies that swayed like they were listening to music only they could hear.
A warm breeze rolled by.
"Back again already?" Ethiron's voice came from nowhere, then everywhere. Then there he was—standing beneath a crooked tree.
Velvet grinned, walking up the slope. "You know me. I do these things fast."
Ethiron sighed, the wind tousling his dark robes. "Your second trial will not test your past, nor your future. This time… you will face the present."
The field began to twist.
Elias could feel the movement stop. He dared not breathe.
Then silence.
No more footsteps. No more voices.
He cracked the crate open a sliver.
The world outside was dim and sickly. Torches lit the massive cavern in flickers of yellow and green. And on a stone altar that jutted like a jagged tooth, sat a man—or what used to be one.
His cheeks were sunken, skin pale and stretched like parchment over bone. He sat slouched with his head tilted so far sideways it looked broken. But the eyes…
Grey. Gleaming. Wild.
They sparkled with a madness that was alive.
Vaun'Zareth.
He muttered as he rocked. "The gospel… the gospel… THE GOSPEL SHOWED ME! Yes yes yes!"
Suddenly, he stood and arched backward, arms trembling as he pulled at his own hair.
"YES! THIS IS THE PLACE! The place for the feast! The beast shall rise, rise and howl, howl and devour! All for the first prophet… all for HIM!"
The crowd knelt, chanting low.
"First Prophet, guide us. First Prophet, guide us."
Elias, trembling, whispered to himself. "What the hell… is going on?"
Then Vaun'Zareth's neck snapped straight. His eyes found Elias in the shadows.
"Ah…!" he whispered. Then louder. "AH—AHAHA! A CHILD IN THE CAAAAAAGE!"
He leapt from the altar with a dancer's grace and ripped open the crate.
Elias screamed.
He was dragged out, kicking. Chain clamped around his wrists. Cold, tight. Binding.
"LET ME GO—!"
Vaun'Zareth leaned in close, nostrils flaring as he stared at him like a prophet gazing at a holy text.
"You… You were in the gospel," he whispered. "Yes… yes. It spoke of you, little child."
He lifted a leather-bound tome and began reading aloud, voice trembling.
"At the darkest hour of the night, Vaun'Zareth and his subordinates must supply the beast of the night with endless nourishment, for the feast is to begin. Vaun'Zareth shall pray, kneel, and beg for the new god's arrival, whilst the small child hides in the cra—"
He stopped.
Slowly turned.
"Ah," he said.
His smile widened like cracked porcelain. "There you are."
Elias trembled. "I… I didn't mean to—"
"Are you… a prophet?" Vaun'Zareth cooed.
"Y-Yes!" Elias lied, scrambling. "I'm one of them. One of the prophets!"
Vaun'Zareth gasped. "WHICH ONE?!"
"Lust!" Elias shouted. "I'm… I'm the Prophet of Lust!"
Silence.
Vaun'Zareth stared. His smile faded.
"…I don't see the lust in your eyes," he whispered. "No hunger. No desire. No ache for blood. No fever for praise. No LUST for the new god!"
He twitched violently.
"Bring me… my favorite toy," he hissed.
A follower stepped forward, holding something wrapped in silk.
"No—NO PLEASE—!"
The screams began.
The wind had quieted.
The sun was behind the mountains.
Ubel suddenly stopped mid-step and gagged.
"Gods… you smell that?"
Everyone froze.
That stench. It was here too. The same reek of rot and ether.
Ubel pressed a hand to his mouth. "It's coming from there." He pointed toward a cave hidden by thorns.
Leonardo drew his weapon. "We go in."
They advanced. One by one. Silent. Grim.
Leonardo slowed to match Kouneli's pace.
"How did your trial go?" he asked gently.
Kouneli didn't answer.
Leonardo pressed again. "Are you okay?"
Kouneli snapped. "You wouldn't understand what happened in there, alright?! You can't."
He pushed ahead, walking faster. Leaving Leonardo to stare after him, troubled.
Kurona slunk beside him, whispering with a grin, "Sooo… what's it like being the grand student of Maestro Evengarde?"
Leonardo exhaled. "He's… fine. Overdoes it sometimes."
He remembered Evengarde standing tall in his combat lectures.
"Every style. Every form. I have mastered them all. But! What matters is not technique. It is choice. A blade is just a pen. You decide what story to write."
They reached the end of the cave.
Hundreds of cloaked figures knelt before a jagged altar.
And atop it—
Elias. Bloodied. Screaming.
Vaun'Zareth, wild-eyed, raised his hands to the heavens, laughing.
Leonardo stepped forward, bile in his throat. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO HIM?!"
Vaun'Zareth looked down at them.
Then grinned.
"More sinners… come to be judged."