A soft hum filled Kai's ears as his eyes slowly fluttered open.
He found himself sitting cross-legged in the center of a pillar of light: a brilliant royal azure beam cascading down from some unseen source above. It shimmered like living flame, wrapping around his body in elegant waves, neither hot nor cold, but pulsing with a power that felt ancient and boundless. The energy swirled around him in rhythmic spirals, as though the light itself were breathing.
As the pillar of light began to fade, dissolving gently like mist caught in morning sunlight, Kai blinked a few times and looked around, his senses still swimming. The familiar sound of lapping water reached his ears. The scent of cool stone and lake air grounded him. He was back.
The smooth, flat rock in the middle of the lake stretched out beneath him once more, undisturbed and serene under a pale blue sky. The distant shore remained still, shrouded in the faint morning haze.
Kai looked down at his hands, his breath catching. Royal azure energy now enveloped his body, tracing vein-like patterns from his fingertips to his forearms, wrapping around his body like ethereal armor. It flickered and danced, alive with purpose. His mouth parted slightly in awe, and for a moment, all he could do was stare at this new form....this new self.
"Quite the entrance, young one." came a smooth, cool voice behind him. Kai startled, his head snapping around toward the sound.
Standing near the edge of the rock, her wings tucked in and her arms crossed loosely over her chest, was Saphielle. Her snow-white feathers glowed subtly in the daylight, a quiet contrast to the powerful energy still ebbing from Kai. Her expression, as always, was measured: calm, composed....but there was a faint crease between her brows. The barest trace of concern.
"How do you feel?" she asked, her sapphire eyes narrowing slightly, scanning him for any sign of instability. Kai grinned wide, rolling his shoulders with a newfound bounce, his energy practically vibrating off him. "Like I just drank a hundred cups of black coffee," he said, stretching his arms. "No, really, I've never felt this...awake in my life."
Saphielle's eyes lingered on him for a moment longer. Then she glanced away, muttering almost inaudibly to herself. "On your first try, no less..." The flicker of concern that crossed her face was quick, just a flash, but Kai caught it before she returned to her usual calm. Without addressing it, she straightened and gestured toward him with a subtle nod. "Stand up. Let's test this power."
Kai rose to his feet, amazed that he was feeling no fatigue, only a vibrant pressure building within him, like a coiled spring waiting to be unleashed. "What do I do?" he asked, cracking his knuckles. "Summon your weapon."
Without hesitation, Kai reached out with his energy. The air shimmered, and with a resonant hum, his broadsword materialized in his hand: his HEX. Its jet-black blade glowing with a deeper, fiercer royal azure hue than ever before. The edges buzzed faintly, as though the weapon itself was eager. "Now," Saphielle said, her tone more serious, "hold it up. Channel your temporal energy, a significantly large amount, into the blade and into yourself."
Kai nodded. He held his sword high. A surge shot through him like a tidal wave. In an instant, energy exploded outward, swirling in massive arcs around his body. A vortex of royal azure power spiraled from the sword and wrapped around him like a tempest. The rock beneath him groaned with the force. The wind tore through the stillness of the lake, kicking up waves and ripples. His hair whipped around his face as the glow intensified.
Saphielle took an instinctive step back, shielding herself with a wing. "Now listen to your weapon," she called out over the roaring energy. "Focus. Try to hear its Satya Nama." Kai frowned. "Its what?"
"It's true name, every weapon forged from condensed temporal essence bears one. Close your eyes. Reach into it. Call out to it." He hesitated. It sounded absurd, like something out of one of his fantasy novels. But with a small breath, he shut his eyes and focused. He called out with his mind. Umbra...
Nothing...just the howl of his own energy. He tried again, this time reaching deeper and deeper. Umbra....talk to me. Tell me your true name. At first, there was silence. Then... a voice. Faint. Whispering. Soft, but undeniable. ".....Rex....Umbrarum."
His eyes flung open, but they were not the same. His left eye had ignited, transformed into a blazing orb of royal azure fire, glowing with such intensity that the very air shimmered around it. Kai lifted his sword high once more. And with a voice that rang through the skies, he roared:
"Primus Gradus: REX UMBRARUM!"
The vortex surged, a deafening thrum echoing like a celestial bell. The lake rippled violently. The world itself seemed to pause as time bowed before the reborn warrior.
The tremors of unleashed energy gradually settled, the vortex quieting into a swirling cocoon of royal azure light that hovered close to Kai's skin like a protective mantle. The lake's surface, once wild and broken by the storm of raw temporal force, began to still again, save for a few slow ripples emanating from the rock at the center.
Kai stood at the heart of it all, sword raised, chest rising and falling with exhilarated breaths. His right hand gripped his broadsword, Umbra, its blade pulsing, still humming with power. But then something shifted. A weight in his left hand. Kai blinked, lowering his sword slightly to glance down. His eyes widened.
In his left hand, he now held a dagger, blade black as a void, the shape, an exact replica of his broadsword. Deep violet cross guard with a navy blue hilt and a jet-black pommel. It was the same blade he'd wielded during the Trials of Ascension, the one that had marked his first true test as a Time-Keeper. Only now, it had changed, its aura had matured. Empowered. The dagger throbbed in tune with the broadsword, as if both weapons now shared a heartbeat with him.
A sudden pressure built in his chest, a coiled rush of energy spiraling higher and higher. It wasn't pain. It was exhilaration. His veins roared with power, his breath came quicker. His entire body felt like a conduit of living flame. His aura ignited again: this time brighter, broader, roaring outward like a tidal wave of light. It stretched high above him, five times the size it had been before. The rock beneath his boots cracked from the sheer force of it.
Kai grinned wide, his heartbeat hammering like war drums. "Well what have we here?" he laughed, unable to contain it. "With two weapons....my energy output is doubled....no, it feels much higher than that." His energy surged again, arcs of azure lightning crackling off his frame. The dagger's blade flickered with anticipation, while Hex vibrated in his right hand, alive with purpose.
"Kai." Saphielle's voice cut through the hum of energy like a silver arrow. Kai froze, mid-laugh. He turned his head, sheepish. She stood a few paces away now, one hand on her hip, the other raised to shield her face slightly from his aura's radiance. Her wings had flared slightly behind her from the sudden burst, but now they settled once more. Her face remained composed, but there was a firm edge to her gaze.
"I know that it's exciting," she said calmly, "to taste power for the first time like this. But do not forget..." Her eyes narrowed just a fraction. "power without control is just chaos in a different shape." Kai's grin faded into a guilty wince. "Right... umm, sorry." He closed his eyes and took a breath, attempting to rein in the blazing force around him. But before he could even begin, something unexpected surged forward in his mind. A flood of images.
Kai staggered slightly as they rushed through him: flashes, flickers, like memories that weren't quite his. He saw himself in battle, a dozen variations of himself moving alongside him through scenes of chaos. Azure silhouettes danced across scorched fields and stone arenas. They looked like him, somewhat, the translucent clones were shimmering with temporal light, each bearing translucent blades akin to the ones he had, executing attacks in near-perfect unison.
Even though the silhouettes had the same outline as him, their features were vague, almost like they were incomplete holographic projections of himself. He gasped softly, something felt strangely familiar about the flurry of images racing in front of his eyes.
As the images unfolded, he watched one version of himself dive into a swarm of shadowy enemies, his movements fluid, precise. Then came the final vision: him, standing still amid countless foes, their weapons raised. He closed his right eye in the vision and concentrated all his energy into his left. The glow of his eye intensified, and in the final heartbeat before the vision cut out, a wave of pure azure energy exploded outward.
Reality snapped back into place. Kai stumbled back a step, blinking rapidly. The dagger in his hand dimmed slightly, as if acknowledging the end of the transmission. Saphielle's voice floated toward him again, quieter this time. "Just had a vision right now didn't you? did you understand what you saw?"
He looked up at her, eyes still wide, not from fear, but from understanding. "I think..." he murmured, glancing at both weapons in his hands. "I think it just showed me what I can do." She tilted her head, observing him keenly, but said nothing. Not yet. She was letting him piece it together.
Kai steadied himself, his aura finally dimming to a quiet glow. But within, the storm had only just begun. Saphielle stepped forward, folding her wings neatly behind her as the last remnants of Kai's surge faded into silence. The lake was still once more, its surface reflecting the softened glow of Kai's aura, the pale morning light, and the quiet command in Saphielle's voice as she finally spoke.
"That vision," she said, her gaze never leaving him, "was no accident." Kai tilted his head, catching his breath, still feeling the thrum of energy in his veins. "You mean that wasn't just... I don't know, my brain short-circuiting from too much power?"
A faint curve touched Saphielle's lips, almost a smile. Almost. "No. When a Time-Keeper evolves their HEX, when a weapon transcends its prior state, it responds. It recognizes your growth, and in return, it shows you what that growth has forged."
She stepped closer, her tone shifting subtly, more instructive and precise. "The vision is a kind of resonance. A glimpse into your potential. What your new abilities look like, how your energy behaves when pushed past its previous limits. It is the HEX's way of guiding you, teaching you what words alone cannot."
Kai blinked, glancing down at the dagger in his left hand, then to the broadsword in his right. "So both of them showed me...what I could do now." She nodded once. "And now, we see how much of it you truly understand." Her voice sharpened, just a fraction. "We spar."
Kai's eyebrows shot up. "Wait. Wait, wait, hold on...." He held up both weapons, taking a step back. "Look, don't get me wrong, I'm all for testing out cool new powers. And sparring with you? Totally intimidating, but kind of awesome." He ran his left hand through his wind-tossed hair. "But I just went through what felt like a spiritual, magical, hyperenergetic rebirth or something. I'm pretty sure I earned a nap."
Saphielle raised a single white brow. "You can nap later." He groaned, gesturing toward the rock beneath his feet. "I'm not saying never. I'm saying later. Like after some pancakes and twelve hours of sleep. My legs are buzzing, my brain is fried, and I'm ninety-percent sure my left eye is still glowing. Can't we just-"
"No." She interrupted smoothly, her voice like frost gliding over still water. "You're in a rare flow state, Kai. You're attuned to your HEX. Your aura is flowing unrestrained. If you let it settle now, the connection between your mind and these new abilities will dull. Not disappear, but fade. You may not be able to tap into them again with the same clarity."
Kai stared at her, jaw half-open. "You're kidding me. There's a cooldown on this?" "There's a window," Saphielle corrected calmly, stepping into a ready stance, arms relaxed at her sides. Her wings rustled faintly as a gentle breeze stirred the feathers. "And we're still inside it. But not for long."
Kai exhaled hard, shoulders sagging as he looked up at the sky. "Why are all of you like this? You and Selara and Zyren....none of you believe in breaks."
"Zyren does, but me and Selara? We believe in momentum," she said softly. "And discipline." Her eyes narrowed slightly, their sapphire depths cool and unwavering. "This isn't punishment, Kai. It's preparation. I'm not asking you to win. I'm asking you to learn before the clarity fades."
He was silent for a beat, then muttered under his breath, "...Why are you always right?" Saphielle didn't answer. Kai gave one final groan, shaking his arms loose. "Alright, alright. Let's do this." He cracked his neck once, then raised both weapons into a ready stance. "But if I pass out mid-fight, I expect you to carry me back to my Solarium."
Saphielle allowed the faintest hint of a smirk to return. "If you pass out, I'll make sure to toss you into the lake instead. Cold water tends to help with clarity too." Kai snorted. "Noted."
And then, in a blink, the space between them crackled to life. The next test had begun.