The chamber sat at the end of a narrow hall, half-submerged beneath the stone. The air was damp.
Green flames flickered from torches held by silent figures. Yuxians, though unlike any we'd seen before, fully covered in layered, refined material. Even their masks were darker than the rest, harder to focus on, as if our eyes weren't meant to settle on them.
They stood motionless, blending perfectly into the background. Their presence felt more like shadows than people. Their gaze didn't shift.
Jackal and I stood in front of the threshold. Elicia was beside us.
"Well," he muttered, glancing at the door, "this really gives off friendly vibes."
"It's the marking chamber," she said. "The rite begins here. You'll be called in one at a time."
Jackal looked at me. "If I come out rabid, just run."
I grinned. "If you come out rabid, I'm pushing you back in."
He stretched his arms overhead, took a long breath, then turned to Elicia. "Alright. Let's get it over with."
Elicia nodded once. "You first."
He stepped forward and vanished into the chamber, the torchlight swallowing him without a sound.
The door shut.
And then, there was only silence.
I stood in the quiet, waiting. Time slowed. The green light danced across the walls, soft and warped.
Behind the door, I heard the low rhythm of chanting. Not words I understood. Not words I think even they understood. It sounded ancient, carved from a time long before this city. It reverberated in my bones like the beat of something old remembering itself.
I glanced at Elicia.
She was calm. Still. Watching the fire.
I spoke without looking at her.
"Whatever's been keeping us… calm. It's starting to fade."
Her head twitched, just slightly.
She didn't respond. Didn't look at me.
But I wanted her to know I wasn't someone to take lightly. And well, considering how much time I'd spent with Jackal this past week, maybe I also liked putting a little fear into things.
After a pause, she said, "They'll call you when it's time."
Nothing more.
She went quiet again.
So I waited.
The chanting behind the door deepened, layered now with something else beneath it, like the low hum of a wind that wasn't there. I didn't know how long I stood outside, but eventually, the sound stopped.
Silence returned, thick and total.
Then the door opened.
Jackal stepped out.
He looked different. Not in form, but in feel. The air around him had changed. His usual grin was still there, crooked and alive, but his eyes glinted with something deeper. Something carved in.
He stretched his neck with a pop. "Well, that was something."
"That's all you're going to say?"
"Oh, I could say more," he said, stepping past me, "but I think I'll let you experience it yourself."
Elicia gave me a nod. "Your turn."
I walked toward the threshold. The silent figures didn't move. The green flames barely flickered as I stepped through.
The door closed behind me.
The chamber was dim, thick with heat and incense. A raised stone platform stood in the center, carved with the same solar and lunar sigils we'd seen outside. Surrounding it were the same cloaked figures, their heads bowed. The chant began again as I approached low and drawn out, syllables from a language too old to belong to anyone living.
One of them stepped forward.
From beneath their sleeve, they pulled a thin needle-like rod, carved from bone or something older. It glowed faintly at the tip.
They didn't ask. They didn't warn me.
They marked me.
I felt it as soon as the tool touched my chest just over the heart. Heat, sharp and clean, like something being etched not just onto skin but into essence. My body tensed, breath held, as the symbol of Solarity was burned into me.
And then, nothing.
No resonance. No reaction.
Even the robed figures, monks or whatever they were, gave off what sounded like a confused grunt.
Then one of them spoke. Not in that ancient chant, but in Yuxian I could understand.
"It didn't work. It got repulsed."
"Try again," another said.
They did.
Same motion. Same pressure. But I felt it even deeper this time, like the heat had found something buried further down.
"Keep trying."
Again. And again.
Each attempt scraped something loose inside me. Not pain exactly, but friction, like two truths grinding against each other.
After what felt like ten times, the mark finally settled. A faint glow pulsed once over my chest… and then faded.
Complete.
Afterwards, they surrounded the bath filled with black, dark water.
One of them pointed at me, then gestured downward. The meaning was clear.
I took off my clothes and stepped forward.
The water was still. Oily. Too still.
I lowered myself into it, slow and steady, until it closed over my head.
And there, something clicked. I felt it. Like the mark had been sealed, not just carved, but activated. Like it had sunk deeper into me, now bound beneath the skin.
Then, a pop up appeared.
A window?
[New Trait Unlocked]
[Constellation Marking]
Description: One is ready for the ritual of the twins.
I guess that got etched into me, so deep that it reached the system.
I dressed in silence. The robed figures said nothing. Their chant had faded, replaced by a heavy quiet that somehow felt louder. Elicia waited outside the door when I stepped out, her gaze briefly flicking to my chest, as if confirming the mark had taken.
Jackal was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. He gave me a look, like he was wondering how much more ceremony this place had left in it.
We walked back through the winding tunnels, neither of us speaking. The city still felt the same, polished, quiet, but something in me had shifted.
When we reached our chambers, Elicia stopped just before the door.
"Rest. The final training begins soon."
She left without waiting for a response.
Jackal flopped onto the bed. I sat down, hand briefly brushing over my chest.
The mark still burned.