The world of Vanterra did not sleep.
Even in the silence of night, life stirred—quietly, unseen, but always moving. Aiden stood on the edge of the encampment, staring into the dim line of trees that bordered the eastern ridge. The wind carried the whisper of leaves, the distant howls of unknown creatures, and something else—something he couldn't yet name but felt in his bones.
He hadn't slept in two days.
Not because he couldn't—but because every time he closed his eyes, he saw it. That look on his sister's face before the accident. The way the light left her eyes in the hospital room. And now, in this world, he saw her in every shadow.
He clenched his jaw. "This world isn't going to break me."
The Mark of Ascension on his chest still throbbed faintly, pulsing like a second heartbeat. Since the last encounter with the Soul Eater, something had changed. He was no longer afraid of the energy within him. He had started to trust it—just a little. It was raw and violent, yes, but it obeyed him. Listened to him.
Still, what unnerved him most was how much of it... wanted to be used.
Behind him, the camp stirred. Dalia was up already, organizing their travel packs. She always moved efficiently—silent, deliberate. She had been through more than most, yet rarely spoke of it. Aiden admired her for that.
"You're not sleeping again," she said without turning.
Aiden didn't answer immediately. "I don't think I can afford to. Not anymore."
Dalia paused, then turned to face him. "If you don't rest, you'll collapse before we even reach the trial gates."
"I'll be fine." He tried to keep his voice level. "What about Kael?"
"He's prepping the runes. Says we'll pass through the Dust Vale by nightfall if we make good pace."
"Good." Aiden turned back to the trees. "We need to keep moving. The longer we stay in one place, the more we risk drawing attention."
Dalia walked to stand beside him. "You're still carrying it, aren't you? The guilt."
He said nothing.
"I know the look," she continued. "I carried it too. For years. But this world doesn't care about guilt, Aiden. It only cares whether you survive."
"I know," he said quietly. "But that doesn't mean I forget."
A rustle from the forest broke the moment. Aiden's body tensed instantly. He raised his hand, and in a breath, a stream of violet-black energy rippled into his palm, crackling silently like restrained thunder.
Dalia already had her dagger drawn. "Could be a scout."
"Or worse," Aiden replied, eyes narrowing.
From the darkness, a figure stepped out—but it wasn't a beast or enemy.
It was Rin.
Clothed in a cloak of twilight blue, with tribal markings now etched into her skin in luminous ink, she looked different. Older. Sharper.
"Rin?" Dalia stepped forward. "You made it out?"
The girl nodded slowly. "Barely."
Aiden lowered his hand, but didn't release the energy. "Where's the rest of your squad?"
Rin's eyes dropped. "Dead. Ambushed by voidbeasts two nights ago. I was the only one who made it back."
Aiden felt his gut twist. Voidbeasts. They were the product of corrupted energy—creatures twisted by exposure to forbidden magic. If they were surfacing again, it meant the veil between the worlds was thinning.
Something ancient was stirring.
"Tell me everything," he said.
Rin took a breath. "They weren't just random attacks. Someone's guiding them—controlling them. We intercepted a signal. There's a rogue Ascended hiding in the Frostspine Mountains, feeding them energy."
Aiden exchanged a look with Dalia. "A rogue Ascended? That's suicide."
"Maybe," Rin said. "But he's powerful. I saw what he did to Kaer's unit. He didn't just kill them. He unmade them. Like they never existed."
Aiden's grip tightened. He remembered the words of the hooded figure from his first day in this world:
"Here, the strong survive, and the weak are forgotten."
Now, it felt like that warning was coming full circle.
"We can't ignore this," Aiden said. "If there's someone out there strong enough to bend voidbeasts to their will, then they're either trying to collapse the balance... or they've already started."
Dalia sheathed her blade. "Then we move. Tonight."
But Rin raised a hand. "No. We need allies. The Trial Gates are one thing, but beyond them... there's the Hollow Spire. And that's where he's headed."
Aiden frowned. "You're sure?"
Rin nodded. "The signal was clear. He's looking for the Core."
The Core. The mythical relic said to hold the original essence of the System—pure, unshaped, and limitless. If someone gained control of it, they wouldn't just ascend.
They'd rewrite the world.
That night, as the stars pulsed overhead, Aiden found himself staring into the flames of their campfire. The others had drifted off, their breathing soft and even. But his mind was still spinning.
Memories from Earth tugged at him—his old life, his family, the weight of promises made and never kept. He remembered his little brother's face the day he left for college.
"You're gonna do big things, Aiden," his brother had said. "Just don't forget us when you make it."
"I didn't forget," Aiden whispered to the night.
The Mark on his chest pulsed softly. For a moment, he wondered if it remembered who he used to be. Or if that version of himself was already gone.
From the shadows, a voice stirred. Not the hooded man—but something else.
"You think you are still the boy from the old world. But that version of you died the moment you accepted the mark. What remains... is only potential."
Aiden's eyes snapped open. He was alone—yet he could feel the presence wrapping around him like a coiled serpent. It was inside him. The System itself, perhaps. Or something deeper.
"Then let me reach that potential," he said. "Whatever it takes."
The wind whispered back.
Then you must let go... of everything that chained you to the past.
He didn't reply.
Because he knew the truth.
He wasn't ready to let go. Not yet.
Not until he found the one who summoned the voidbeasts.
Not until he found the Core.
And not until he rewrote the ending fate had chosen for him.
The morning came slowly, dragging with it a mist that clung to the ground like the memories Aiden tried to forget. The world was painted in silver and gray, each tree and stone along the path out of camp seeming to whisper secrets he couldn't yet understand.
Aiden walked ahead of the group. He wasn't trying to lead. He just needed to feel like he was moving forward.
The forest felt different now—less threatening, more… watchful.
Dalia caught up to him, her cloak pulled tightly around her shoulders. "You should have slept."
"I wasn't tired," Aiden lied.
She didn't press him. They both knew sleep hadn't come because it couldn't. Not with the information Rin had brought. Not with the looming truth that they were heading into the Hollow Spire to face something possibly beyond even his awakening power.
Rin trailed behind, quiet. Kael had joined them again after studying the runes for the journey ahead. The boy spoke little, but Aiden noticed the way he always glanced over his shoulder now. Like something haunted him from behind.
They walked for hours before they saw the gate.
It rose out of the ground like it had grown there—massive stone pillars bound with glowing script, ancient and alive. The Trial Gate. It was the first real checkpoint every Ascended had to pass through before stepping deeper into the world of Vanterra. And it wasn't a simple test.
It judged you.
Not your strength. Not your mind. But your truth.
"Only one may enter at a time," Kael said, checking the runes carved into the pillars. "If more step through, the gate will collapse."
Aiden took a breath. "Then I go first."
"No," Rin said quickly. "Let me. I've done this before. I can tell you what to expect."
But Aiden shook his head. "I have to do this. Whatever's on the other side… it's meant for me."
Rin hesitated, then gave a small nod.
Aiden stepped forward and laid his hand on the gate. For a moment, nothing happened.
Then the runes blazed to life.
The air cracked open.
And the world pulled him in.
When he opened his eyes, he was standing in a wide stone chamber—silent, empty, and filled with blinding light.
A voice boomed from above, neither male nor female. Timeless.
"State your name."
Aiden swallowed. "Aiden Cross."
"State your sin."
The question hit like a blade.
Sin?
He hesitated. "I—I don't know."
The light dimmed. A mirror appeared before him, hovering.
And in that mirror, he saw himself.
But not the version standing here in Vanterra.
He saw the boy in the hospital. The one who refused to answer his mother's call the night she needed him. The one who missed the final moments of his sister's life because he was too afraid to face the pain.
He saw the coward he used to be.
"I ran," he whispered. "I ran when I should've fought. I gave up on everything I cared about."
The mirror cracked.
"And now?"
Aiden looked up, pain flooding his chest. "Now I fight for every moment I lost. For every person I failed. For everyone who didn't get a second chance."
Silence.
Then the light changed—shifting from white to deep crimson.
The ground shook.
And from the mirror, a second Aiden stepped out.
Identical in every way. Except his eyes—they were empty.
Void.
"Then prove it," the voice said. "Defeat the version of yourself that never changed."
The doppelgänger moved first—fast, brutal. It struck with a blast of pure shadow, and Aiden barely dodged.
He gritted his teeth and let the energy rise within him—the raw, untamed power of the Mark. It swirled around him like a storm, responding to his will.
They clashed again. Blow for blow. Energy cracked against energy, the room shaking with each impact. Aiden's doppelgänger was relentless—like every doubt, every weakness, every failure given form.
"You're nothing," it hissed. "You weren't strong enough then, and you're not strong enough now."
"I wasn't," Aiden growled, his hands glowing brighter. "But I am now."
With a roar, he launched forward, channeling all his focus into one strike—a pulse of pure will, forged from pain and the determination to never be that version again.
The shadow exploded into light.
Silence returned.
The mirror shattered.
The chamber faded.
Aiden stumbled as he emerged back through the gate, gasping for breath. Dalia caught him before he fell.
"What happened?" she asked.
"I faced the part of me that was still afraid," he said. "And I let it die."
Rin gave him a strange look—half proud, half shaken.
"You passed," Kael said softly. "You're ready."
Aiden stood, stronger now, his body humming with energy—but it wasn't just power.
It was clarity.
He no longer doubted why he was here.
"I'm going to the Hollow Spire," he said. "I'm going to stop the rogue Ascended."
Rin nodded. "Then we'll follow you. But just know—what's waiting there? It's more than just an enemy."
"What is it?"
She looked away. "A piece of the world that was broken. Just like us."