The next day.
The words tasted strange on Jin's tongue as he set his bowl down at breakfast. "I want to join the Aegis Sect."
The silence that followed was thick enough to choke on. His mother's spoon hovered halfway to her lips, dripping stew onto the worn wooden table. His father's hands stilled around his teacup.
Elara recovered first. "The recruitment trials are in three weeks," she said carefully, as if discussing the weather rather than her son's potential departure. "At Silverpeak City."
Jin kept his eyes on his father. Karl's fingers traced the rim of his cup—a habit he had when weighing difficult decisions. The scars on his knuckles stood out white against his sun-darkened skin.
"You'll need a token to participate," Karl said at last.
Jin blinked. He hadn't known that.
His mother rose abruptly, her chair scraping against the dirt floor. She crossed to the hearth and pried up a loose stone beneath it. When she returned, she dropped a bronze medallion onto the table with a heavy clink. The Aegis Sect's mountain-and-shield emblem gleamed dully in the morning light.
"You've had this all along?" Jin's voice cracked.
Elara's smile was bittersweet. "Since before you were born."
Karl exhaled through his nose. "The trials test three things: strength, will, and talent." His gaze dropped to Jin's hands—to the faint red marks still visible beneath his sleeves. "You'll need to control that."
Jin's fingers curled instinctively. The shard's heat pulsed in response, a sleeping ember waiting to be stoked.
---
The road to Silverpeak City wound through valleys thick with blue pine. Jin traveled light—a bedroll, his father's old hunting knife, the token tucked securely in his inner pocket. The shard rested against his chest, wrapped in leather and tied with twine.
He practiced each night when he made camp. The visions came easier now—fragments of the fire-wielder's techniques dancing behind his eyelids. His control improved from sparks to sustained flickers, though the flames still died quickly, leaving his fingertips raw and aching.
On the fifth evening, he crested a hill to see Silverpeak's walls rising in the distance. The city sprawled at the base of a jagged mountain, its white stone towers catching the last of the sunset. Even from here, Jin could make out the banners of the Aegis Sect snapping in the wind—deep blue with their silver emblem.
A group of travelers overtook him on the road, their chatter bright with excitement.
"Heard they're taking only twenty disciples this year"
"My cousin said the talent test involves the Stone of Echoes"
Jin kept his head down but listened closely. One phrase stuck in his mind like a burr:
"The Azure Vault's heir is competing. They say he's already an early stage initiate realm elementalist."
The name meant nothing to Jin, but the weight behind it did. He touched the shard through his shirt, its warmth a steady presence.
The city gates loomed ahead, guarded by men in blue-trimmed robes. One glanced at Jin's worn clothes and raised an eyebrow.
"Business in Silverpeak?"
Jin met his gaze evenly. "Sect trials."
The guard's laugh followed him through the gates.
---
The recruitment grounds buzzed with activity. Hundreds of hopefuls milled about—noble scions in silk, village boys like Jin, even a few older men with the hard eyes of seasoned fighters. At the center of the plaza stood three stone platforms, each bearing a different test;
A massive boulder for the strength trial, a winding staircase known as the steps of the asura that vanished into clouds for the test of will, the stone of echoes; a smooth, mirror-like slab for testing talent
Jin's fingers found the token in his pocket. Around him, whispers swirled like leaves in the wind:
"That's the Azure Vault heir, look at his robes"
"Heard a girl from the Callaghan family set the Stone alight last year, with early level talent"
"I heard a local named Shawn shifted the boulder 3 metres"
"I heard the sect master himself could only shift the boulder 100 metres when he joined the faction"
A gong sounded. The crowd hushed as a grey-bearded man in Aegis Sect robes stepped onto the central platform.
"Trials begin at dawn," he announced. "Remember, only those who pass all three will be considered." His eyes swept the crowd, pausing briefly on a tall youth in azure silks before flicking over Jin without recognition. "Rest well. Tomorrow determines your future."
As the crowd dispersed, Jin caught sight of his reflection in a nearby water barrel—a dusty village boy in homespun clothes, surrounded by cultivators' heirs.
The shard burned against his chest.
Tomorrow, they would all see