The door behind Kaien sealed without sound.
He stood alone in a corridor that curved gently forward, lit only by the dim glow of glyphs along the floor. They pulsed slowly beneath his feet, like the heartbeat of something sleeping just below the stone.
He walked in silence.
Chamber Two felt distant already, like a half-remembered dream. The mirror's question still pressed against his thoughts, but he had nothing to give it. No name. No label. No clean answer.
What are you?
The mirror had cracked.
And that, more than anything, lingered.
He reached the next chamber without being guided.
The room was smaller than the one before. Its walls curved tighter, and its ceiling felt lower. The glyphs here were more densely packed, winding around each other in spirals that overlapped like roots in deep soil. Their glow was softer. Pale violet, pulsing gently.
There were benches built into the walls again. Fewer now. Only two dozen.
Kaien moved to the far corner and sat alone.
There was no voice this time. No announcement. No instructions. Just a heavy silence that carried weight.
He let it settle.
His eyes drifted across the chamber.
Most of the other candidates sat still. A few whispered to themselves. One quietly traced a sigil into the air with his fingertip, eyes locked forward like the pattern might keep him from breaking.
Kaien let his gaze pass over them. He did not know their names. He did not need to.
Until one drew his attention.
A girl sat three rows across. She wore plain gray. No crest. No emblem. No family colors. Her boots were old. Her cloak frayed at the edges. But the way she sat perfect posture, eyes half-closed, hands resting loosely on her knees made her stand out.
She was still in a way no one else was. Not rigid. Not tense. Just still.
Balanced.
The glyphs beneath her feet pulsed differently. Not brighter. Just… cleaner. No hesitation in the response. No flicker. No resistance. As if the stone recognized her and made room without needing to ask.
No one else seemed to notice.
But Kaien did.
She had passed Chamber Two already. That much was clear. Whatever the mirror had shown her, it had not cracked. It had not slowed her.
She opened her eyes for a brief moment and looked toward the ceiling. Not upward. Just into the light. Like she was waiting for it to speak again.
Kaien looked away.
The pressure behind his ribs stirred. Not a warning. Not a threat. Something quieter.
She wasn't marked like the heirs. She wasn't dressed like the nobleborn. But she didn't carry the air of desperation that clung to so many unaligned candidates either.
She was something else.
And she was not afraid.
A name was called across the chamber. Not hers. Not his. Another candidate stood and left through a curtain of stone and cloth.
The chamber settled again.
Kaien sat back against the cold stone wall and closed his eyes for a moment. The silence around him was full. Not empty. Not dead.
Waiting.
Listening.
He exhaled through his nose and listened with it.
The glyphs did not speak.
But the air did.
Something about the path ahead had changed.