The night never ended.
Not really.
Hours had passed—or what felt like hours—but the sky above Elias and Kaela remained that same dim shade of bruised gray, like time itself had stalled. The fog had thickened, curling through the trees like fingers dragging across skin.
Elias crouched low behind a cluster of mossy rocks, heart still pounding. He'd burned through half his energy just dodging and pulling people out of danger. His tunic was torn, his hands scratched raw from hauling bodies.
But they'd survived.
A small group of seven had made it out with them. Two others had powers strong enough to hold their own. The rest were civilians in spirit—frightened, trembling, or shell-shocked beyond use.
Kaela sat on a fallen log nearby, her sword across her lap, eyes fixed on the shadows. "They're not chasing us," she murmured.
Elias was already noticing that.
"They're watching instead," he muttered, eyes narrowing. "Like they're waiting."
She looked over at him. "What do you mean?"
He opened his mouth—then hesitated. Insight didn't give him answers. It gave him data, impressions, probabilities. His mind had to do the rest.
Still, something about those creatures was off.
Zombies weren't supposed to hesitate. The undead didn't observe.
But tonight, Elias had felt eyes on him. Not wild, bloodthirsty eyes—but measured ones.
They're studying me.
He shook the thought off and focused. With a breath, he activated his ability again. The faint glow of Insight returned, casting soft blue glyphs across his vision. Each person nearby lit up in his mind—health bars, threat levels, stability scores.
Kaela's glow was steady. Strong. No surprise there.
But when he turned toward the tree line—
[Entity Detected: Bonekind Scout]
[Status: Passive Observation Mode]
[Aggression: Dormant. Curiosity: Elevated.]
Elias's stomach dropped.
"They're out there," he whispered. "Watching us. They know about me."
Kaela frowned. "How?"
"I don't know. But my ability just scanned one of them. It's… waiting. It's not even hostile."
"That's not creepy at all."
He stood, brushing off dirt and blood. "We need a plan."
⸻
They moved by late dusklight—Elias, Kaela, and the others, weaving deeper into the forest. He didn't know where they were going. There were no signs, no paths, no sun. But something pulled him northwest, toward the jagged ridge he'd glimpsed during their fall.
As they walked, Elias's mind turned over the same pieces again and again.
Why were the monsters organized?
Why was he marked by the Realm?
And why did it feel like he'd done this before?
That last question clung to the back of his mind like smoke.
They found an abandoned watchtower before the next wave hit. Crumbled stone and rotted wood, but the top was defensible. Kaela climbed up first, then hauled the others after her. Elias stayed behind to cover the rear.
The others were exhausted. A few cried softly once they reached the tower. One kid—a freckled boy named Devon—kept muttering, "It's a dream, it's a dream," over and over.
Kaela knelt beside him. "You're not alone. You made it. That means something."
Elias watched her for a moment—how her roughness softened when needed, how she didn't flinch at blood or tears.
He wondered what her world was like before this. Before the Realm.
He didn't ask.
Instead, he turned his attention back to the trees.
Insight.
The air shimmered again.
Dozens of red outlines lit up in the forest, hidden behind bark and brush. None moved closer.
Not yet.
[Bonekind: Unengaged]
[Hunger Ones: Dormant – Awaiting Signal]
He exhaled.
"This is a test," he muttered aloud.
Kaela glanced over. "What?"
"We're not here to be hunted. Not exactly. We're being measured."
"Like prey?"
"No," Elias said slowly. "Like… candidates."
⸻
Later, while the others slept or watched from the tower's ruined ledge, Elias sat alone by the fire. His fingers curled around the hilt of the sword he'd found—a basic thing, chipped and dull.
But inside him, something stirred.
He called it Ashbrand.
He didn't know how he knew the name. It had been there when the flames first licked across his vision, when instinct and desperation fused into a single strike during the chaos.
He closed his eyes.
Ignite.
The world shifted.
Flames erupted from his right hand—not hot, but alive, spiraling around the blade as it changed form. The weapon's edges blackened like coal, heatless orange embers flickering in runes along the metal.
Power filled his limbs.
His muscles tightened. His senses sharpened. His pain faded. For one breathless moment, Elias Cain felt like a weapon, forged for something more than survival.
But the fire didn't just empower him. It fed on something.
Willpower. Focus. Memory.
He extinguished it with a thought, breathing hard.
Kaela dropped down beside him. "That's new."
He didn't answer right away.
"I think it's part of me," he finally said. "Not just a power the Realm gave me. More than that. Like I was born with it, and this place just… woke it up."
She nodded slowly. "Same here. Bladestorm feels too natural. Too mine."
They sat in silence for a while.
Then Kaela whispered, "Do you think we were chosen for a reason?"
Elias looked up at the strange sky, where no stars shone.
"I think we're part of something much bigger than survival."
And across the trees, unseen by the others, a single Bonekind Scout watched Elias with hollow eyes.
It tilted its head.
Then, somewhere far beyond the forest, in the Realm's inner sanctum, something ancient stirred.
"The Insight Bearer evolves."
"Let the next Trial begin."