The violet light had faded, but the air in the Eclipse Bastion remained charged, as if the ritual's echo still lingered in the stone.
Kaela stood at the center of the circle, her breaths slow and deliberate, hands curled loosely at her sides. Her cloak was scorched at the edges, her eyes gleaming with layered magic. Around her, the other council members had gathered in a loose circle—watching, measuring, absorbing what they'd just witnessed.
Brannic broke the silence first. "Well… that was dramatic."
Torik grunted. "You call that dramatic? She lit up like a rune forge about to explode. Thought we'd lose half the Bastion."
Kaela let out a breath and turned toward them. "I'm fine," she said. "More than fine."
Lucien's gaze never left her. "You've stabilized. The Spiral's deeper now. More connected."
Aelira stepped forward then, her silver gaze solemn, ancient in its weight. "She has passed the gate."
Brannic raised a brow. "Gate?"
The Oracle nodded. "Yes. The first of the sevenfold path to Apex Root. What you witnessed was not the full ascent—only the opening."
Brannic blinked. "You mean there's more?"
Aelira's voice was calm. Too calm. "Six more trials remain. Each attuned to a different aspect of yourselves. Each unforgiving. And each more difficult than the last."
Nyrix, who had been leaning against a dark marble column, straightened. "You didn't mention that part when you dragged us here."
"I didn't drag you," Aelira replied, unblinking. "I warned you. Reaching Stage Four is not a simple elevation. It is not just power. It is transformation. You are attempting to alter the very spiral of your existence. That cannot be done with a single ritual."
The silence that followed was heavier than before. Brannic's arms dropped to his sides. "Seven trials? For each of us?"
Kaela frowned. "So this wasn't Stage Four?"
Aelira tilted her head. "You've only touched the threshold. The rest lies ahead."
Lucien's jaw tightened. "What exactly are these next trials?"
"The Trial of the Unseen Flame was about self-confrontation," Aelira explained. "The second trial... will test how you echo through others."
Kaela looked up. "What do you mean by echo?"
"You'll see," the Oracle said, cryptic as ever. "But understand this—none of these trials can be skipped. Each member of the Concord must face their own path. There is no collective shortcut to true strength."
Korin, Kaela's squad member, stepped forward. "If these are personal trials, does that mean we face them alone?"
"Not all," Aelira said. "Some will isolate you. Others will force you to rely on the very bonds you've tried to hide behind authority. Some trials are meant to break you. Others, to reveal what you've already broken."
Kaela felt her chest tighten, a flicker of memory dancing behind her eyes—the vision of the ruined future from within the Unseen Flame. The Calamity rising. The corpses of her friends. Her squad. Herself.
"So what's the next one called?" she asked, already knowing the answer in her bones.
Aelira turned to her. "The Trial of Echoed Flame."
Behind her, the runes on the ritual circle shifted. What had once been violet flared a haunting orange-red, flickering like voices trapped in fire.
Later – A Private Chamber within the Bastion
Lucien stood at the tall window, hands clasped behind his back, staring at the twin moons. He didn't turn when Kaela entered.
"I don't like surprises," he said.
"You're a Council leader," Kaela replied. "You live on surprises."
He turned to face her, eyes burning faintly with Judgment Flame. "Not when they involve you walking into a death-flame with no warning."
She crossed her arms, leaning against the archway. "Would you have stopped me?"
"Not stopped. But I would've gone with you."
Kaela smiled faintly. "Then it wouldn't have been my trial."
Lucien's voice lowered. "You came back… different."
She didn't answer right away. Then, quietly, "I saw who I could become. What I might become. It wasn't pretty."
He stepped closer. "Then change course."
"No," she said. "I have to become her. Just… without losing who I am now."
Lucien didn't argue. He just nodded once. "Then let's make sure you're not the only one standing at the end."
Elsewhere – Nyrix's Quarters
Nyrix sat cross-legged in total darkness. No candles, no glowstones. Just the cold, silent void.
He stared at his reflection in the blade laid across his lap—a long, curved knife etched with soulsteel. The last time he'd looked this closely at himself was decades ago. He didn't like what he saw then. He didn't like it now.
Aelira's words echoed in his mind.
"This trial will not test just your strength—it will test those you lead."
He hadn't led anyone in years. Not really. He killed alone. Operated in shadows. Trusted no one.
So why did her words feel like a curse tailored for him?
He exhaled and leaned back into the shadows.
"Flames can be extinguished," he muttered. "Echoes… can linger forever."
Ritual Chamber – The Next Day
The entire council stood once more in the atrium, the ritual circle now glowing a low, pulsing amber.
Brannic was scowling. "So we just step in again and hope we don't get cooked?"
"No," Aelira said. "This time, you don't enter alone."
Kaela's brows lifted. "What?"
"This trial requires resonance," Aelira replied. "Each of you will face a moment from your past—a moment when your flame echoed outward, touching another life. You will relive it. Together."
Torik grunted. "What if we don't want to relive it?"
"Then you fail," Aelira said simply. "And your path to Apex Root ends here."
Sera, from Kaela's squad, stepped forward. "Are we going with them?"
Aelira shook her head. "Only the eight council members may enter the flame. You are their tether to this world—but you cannot cross into the next one."
Kaela glanced at the others. Lucien nodded. Brannic cracked his neck. Eylira merely closed her eyes. Nyrix didn't react. Torik adjusted his hammer. Kael Serros, silent as always, raised his chin slightly. And Dr. Riven Halst, the Lifebinder, fidgeted nervously.
Aelira raised her hand. The flame roared to life.
"Then let the second trial begin."
One by one, the council members stepped into the amber blaze.
The chamber pulsed—and the Trial of Echoed Flame began.