---
Gravewinter was a forgotten place, not marked on any map.
A land of endless gray hills, where even birds refused to fly.
Kael stood at the edge of a collapsed ridge, staring down into a crater of stone and ash.
The book pulsed violently.
> [Relic Anomaly Detected]
▸ Underground Structure, Vire Origin Confirmed
▸ Caution: Residual Will Unstable
He descended.
Dust coated his boots.
Echoes followed with each step.
And buried in the heart of the crater, hidden beneath burned layers of soil, he found it…
> A door made of obsidian and bone.
It opened without a touch.
---
The hall beneath was shattered.
Collapsed ceilings. Melted chandeliers.
But the symbols on the walls still glowed faintly, runes of the Court Vire, half-buried in time.
Kael walked in silence.
Until the walls closed behind him.
And darkness spoke.
---
> "You return not as heir… but as stranger."
> "You carry our blood, but do you carry our will?"
Flames lit in a perfect circle around him.
Twelve crimson thrones flickered into view, empty.
But shadows sat upon them, formed of smoke, bone, and memory.
Kael's breath froze in his lungs.
> "The Court…" he whispered.
---
Then, all twelve shadows spoke at once.
> "Let the Trial begin."
He was flung into memory.
Into vision.
Into judgment.
---
He saw himself as a child, crying in the snow outside the orphanage.
He saw himself stealing bread, fighting back, failing, bleeding.
He saw himself screaming in pain in the forest, poison in his veins, alone in the pond…
> "You were broken," said one voice.
"You were unchosen," said another.
"You were forgotten," said a third.
Kael clenched his fists.
> "But I lived."
The shadows paused.
> "And that is why you are here."
---
Suddenly, the center of the circle opened, revealing a stone crown, half-melted, cracked… but still burning faintly red.
The Trial's final question echoed:
> "Do you seek vengeance… or rebirth?"
Kael stepped forward.
> "I seek to remember.
And then… I'll choose."
The shadows nodded.
And the crown pulsed.
---
When Kael awoke, he stood at the edge of the crater again.
But something was different.
A red sigil now pulsed faintly on his right hand, a mark that hadn't been there before.
The book glowed in response:
> [Crown Sigil, Vire Authority: Dormant]
▸ Unlocks hidden commands upon Sovereign Will Lv. II
Kael stared at his hand.
Then at the sky.
> "One day… I'll sit in that throne again."
> "But not until I earn it."
---
End of Chapter 29
---