The arch loomed like the ribcage of a god long dead.
Bone fused with blackened stone. Runes crawled across its surface like veins—glowing faintly red as Kael approached. The talisman around his neck pulsed once, then cracked clean in two.
The gate whispered open.
Kael stepped into the Trial.
The air inside the gate was thick, wet with silence.
He walked a narrow causeway of skulls, descending into a chamber so vast it seemed to swallow sound. At its center waited a crimson pool, unmoving, like frozen blood under glass.
Kael felt it before he saw it: his Blood Core screaming.
And then… he looked down.
At first, he saw only himself—scarred, silent, breathing.
But the reflection blinked.
Then it smiled.
It rose up from the blood like an echo given flesh: taller, darker, draped in veils of bone-armor that bled smoke. Its eyes were pitch voids, burning faintly crimson.
The Hollowed Kael.
"You've come far," it said, voice like cracked ice. "But not far enough."
Kael stepped back. "You're not real."
"I'm more real than what you pretend to be. I am the Kael who didn't flinch. Who didn't hesitate. Who didn't spare."
The hollowed form raised a hand, and images bled from the air—Kael's mercy to the bandit, his trust in strangers, his doubts. Each one twisted and distorted, turning into futures soaked in betrayal and death.
"You'll lose them all," the hollowed Kael whispered. "But I can save them. All of them. Give me the soul… and I'll give you the throne."
Kael staggered.
The temptation clawed at his spine. He could feel the power radiating off the Hollowed version—the weight of gods, the certainty of victory, the blood-forged authority.
But behind it… he sensed hunger. A void that could never be filled.
Kael drew his dagger. "You're not me."
The Hollowed Kael only laughed. "No. I'm what you'll become. Sooner than you think."
Then it lunged.
But the bloodpool shattered like glass at Kael's feet—and he fell to his knees, panting, alone in the chamber once more.
When he emerged, the caravan waited in tense silence.
Sorella stepped forward. "Well?"
Kael looked at his shaking hands. "I passed."
Tarren raised an eyebrow. "You sure?"
Kael didn't answer.
He looked back once at the Gate… and saw the reflection still watching from inside the blood.
It smiled.