Kael arrived at the Broken Stair just before dusk.
The place was well-named. Once a stairway to a great watchtower, now it was a crumbling ruin of half-sunken steps, scattered columns, and moss-covered stones. It sat at the edge of Hollowmere's boundary line—where the old city gave way to the wilder, untamed world beyond.
He wasn't alone.
At least two dozen others loitered among the stones. Some sat alone, heads down. Others formed tight-knit circles, whispering low. A few were clearly too clean, too well-fed—likely sent by back-alley families with money but no connections. They stood apart, uncomfortable.
Kael blended with neither group.
He found a place near a broken pillar and waited.
Time passed.
The last sliver of sunlight dipped behind the jagged rooftops. Then, without warning, a pulse of heat spread through Kael's coat. He reached for the disk.
It glowed.
So did the others.
Before anyone could speak, the world shimmered.
A pulse of power—silent and suffocating—rippled through the clearing. The ground beneath them cracked, and stone shapes began to rise from the earth, forming a circle of pillars. At the center, a hollowed platform emerged, carved with runes that swirled like smoke.
A voice echoed—deep, genderless, cold.
"The gate is open. Prove your worth."
No figure appeared.
Only the path.
One by one, the disks lifted from their owners' hands, flew into the platform, and embedded themselves in the runes.
One by one, the candidates followed.
Kael waited.
He wasn't sure if this was a test, a trap, or some kind of mass sacrifice. But if it led somewhere beyond the ash and hunger of Hollowmere, then maybe—just maybe—it was worth the risk.
When it was his turn, the disk tugged forward.
He stepped into the ring.
The world dissolved.
Kael landed on his knees, coughing dust. He was no longer in the city.
The sky above him was red—too red. The clouds churned like boiling blood. The ground was black stone, carved into a labyrinth of shallow trenches filled with thick, slow-moving mist.
All around him, screams echoed.
Real? Illusion? He couldn't tell.
Then he saw them—figures stumbling through the maze, panting, bleeding, dying.
The test had begun.
Kael moved.
He stayed low, hugging the walls. His instincts told him this wasn't about speed. It was about survival.
Some of the others ran blindly through the maze. One girl tripped on a shallow trap and vanished beneath the mist with a choked scream. A boy turned a corner and was immediately pulled into the darkness by something with too many limbs.
Kael moved slower.
Smarter.
He plucked leaves from a twisting vine along the wall—bright blue with flecks of gold. He crushed one, sniffed it, and recoiled.
Poison. But familiar.
He dug into his pouch and mixed it with a pinch of root powder. Smeared along a cut, it would slow bleeding and counter paralysis. Crude, but it worked.
A shadow fell across the path ahead.
Kael tensed.
Another candidate—tall, limping, blood on his side. He collapsed against a wall, wheezing.
"Leave… me…"
Kael hesitated.
Then crouched beside him, pulled out his herbs, and got to work.
He didn't speak. Just ground, mixed, and applied. He didn't know if the boy would live. But that wasn't the point.
Sometimes, the right decision wasn't the safe one.
When Kael finally emerged from the mist, he was one of the last.
Half the disks had shattered.
Only twelve candidates remained.
A cloaked figure stood at the far end of the clearing. Their face was hidden, but their voice carried weight.
"You may return home. If your disk remains whole, you will be contacted."
Then they vanished.
Just like that.
No names. No explanations. No glory.
Kael looked down.
His disk was cracked—but intact.
That night, back in the corner of a half-collapsed tenement, Kael lit a stolen candle and unwrapped his meager bandages. His fingers were still stained from the blue-gold vines. His arms ached from helping the wounded boy. His feet blistered.
But he had something new.
Hope? No.
Not yet.
Just… the absence of despair.
He turned over the disk.
Someone had carved something into the back.
"Verdant Hollow. Come alone."