Darkness. Absolute, suffocating darkness. There was nothing else, no sound, no light, no hint of the world Solen had known. Just an emptiness that pressed against him, heavy and silent.
Then suddenly, he heard a voice.
"Synchronization complete Parameters acknowledged"
The voice was different from any he had heard in his life, it was neither male nor female, neither harsh nor gentle. It resonated directly inside his mind, echoing in his head that felt both in a way that felt both ancient and precise.
"Trial designation: pending"
A pause. Solen felt his chest tighten. His heartbeat increased, as if the darkness and the space he was in was itself increasing it.
"Trial chosen"
The words cut through whatever he was thinking. Solen's eyes, widened in confusion, he could see nothing, yet his mind perceived a motion, a subtle shift in the surrounding.
"Dormant soul recognized… Solen Veynar"
A soft pulse rippled through the darkness. Something materialized in the emptiness before him — a translucent screen floating in front of him. Text appeared in front of him, glowing faintly.
[System Activated]
Abilities Provisioned: Soul Devouring (starter version, low efficiency, high drawback)
Feature Enabled: [Personal Insight]
Quest Objective: Survive the trial, gain understanding of historical echoes.
And then the darkness cracked.
The darkness had shattered to bright sunlight. Solen's surroundings had shifted violently, for a second, it felt like falling and standing at the same time.
Sand beneath his boots. Feeling of intense heat on his skin. A harsh wind carrying the dry scent of the desert. Before him stretched the endless dunes of a desert.
As he looked straight into the sun, he stumbled slightly. He couldn't help but blink again and again, not because the intense light from the sun had temporarily blinded him, but because the sun was different from the one he remembered.
Instead of being deep dark Blue, it was yellow with a reddish hue. It was just like it was supposed to be before the fall of the gods.
Solen couldn't help but swallow. He knew — somewhere deep down — that this was not the world he had known, not truly.
***
The wind passed through the dunes, carrying with it grains of sand and the heat of a sun that felt too harsh for any living thing. Solen's boots sank into the loose grains of the desert as he tried to keep moving forward.
'Great. Just my luck, trapped in some endless desert. Why can't things ever be normal?' Thought Solen as he gazed forward.
Somewhere, in the quiet sands of the desert, a thought pressed into his mind — the thought was strange, yet not entirely foreign.
'The Pale has chosen me.'
He frowned. 'Why me? I'm no one special. Just some street rat barely scraping by.'
But the feeling lingered, undeniable. Perhaps the pale had seen the spark of cunning that had kept him alive on the streets, or the stubbornness that refused to bow to hunger or misfortune. Whatever the reason, he had been marked.
All humans feared the Pale, for it was very difficult for a human to survive and complete the trial given by the pale, a shroud of mist born when the gods fell and the cycle of souls broke. Its reach had once been a rumor whispered only by the brave or desperate, yet its power was real and now it was within his reach.
'That is, if I am able to survive the trial. Fantastic.' He thinks to himself.
He wiped the sweat from his brow. "Survive, Solen. Just survive. One step at a time. We will think about power later."
Death here meant permanent death in the real world too. No second chances, no "maybe later. Just die or live.
"Good luck, Dormant Solen. Trial initialization begins."
The voice of the Pale echoed softly in his mind, cold and distant, yet impossibly alive.
Solen clenched his fists and whispered under his breath, almost to himself, "No… my trials began the moment my family died. This-this is just the next step."
The desert stretched endlessly around him, making him worry for what was to come.
"Alright… trial, then. Let's see what you've got."
The trial had begun.
***
The sun hung low over the dunes, casting long, wavering shadows across the sand. Solen's boots sank into the loose sand with every step, the heat still radiating against his face, relentless and unyielding. His throat was sore from thirst, his skin slick with sweat, but still he pressed on.
Ahead, a faint glimmer of hope rose against the horizon — the edges of a settlement, sharp against the golden desert. Solen didn't know why he was certain of it but he had for some reason, know the way in which he should move forward. It was as if somewhere deep inside, a quiet voice guided him. He simply knew the way.
"Well, I guess it could have been worse", he muttered under his breath, brushing a hand over the sweat stinging his eyes.
The grain of desert sand that were flowing into his eyes as he walked forward, were uncomfortable. But the pull that he felt towards the town never wavered — every movement, every small step in the unknown terrain, was one step of him being nearer to his goal.
The settlement slowly took shape before him. Sunbaked rooftops and crumbling stone walls rose from the desert, their appearance making him happy and relieved. A few metal towers caught his eye. Thin layers of smoke flew out of the city, likely from the various places, fire was being used in the town.
Even at this distance, the town pulsed with life — the steady footsteps on stone streets, fragments of conversations, that he could barely hear and the distant creak of wooden doors.
He swallowed and adjusted the strap of his lantern, that had somehow followed him into the trial. 'Alright… just get to the gates, blend in, and survive. One step at a time.'
The closer he got, the more confident he felt. And finally, the gates of the town were in front of him, sturdy and old, welcoming and unyielding all at once.
Solen paused a moment, taking a deep breath. The desert lay behind him, but the unknown stretched ahead. "Haah...Let's see what's waiting for me here"
And with that, he stepped forward, crossing the threshold into the settlement.