The first thing Obinna noticed was the silence.
It wasn't the soft, respectful kind of silence that settled in after speeches or prayers. This one clung to the Council Chamber like smoke — thick, restless, breathing with tension. The great chamber, once dim and mysterious, now pulsed with power. The nine thrones flickered with faint symbols — ancient scripts that shimmered in different colors, reacting to their chosen champions.
He stood at the Fire-Feathered Gate's edge, its charred symbols still glowing behind him. His chest burned with residual heat — or was it pride?
Across from him, the champions of other realms were arriving.
The first was a girl no older than sixteen, wrapped in layers of transparent silk, her white hair flowing unnaturally as if submerged in water. Her steps made no sound, and her eyes held the tired weight of memory. When she bowed, droplets fell from her fingertips and evaporated before hitting the floor.
"Mirror-Water Realm," the chamber whispered.
The second was a brute — skin like cracked earth, muscles corded with dust. Each of his breaths sent tiny stones rolling off his shoulders.
"Iron-Earth Realm," someone muttered.
Obinna swallowed. Whatever pride he'd felt faded. These weren't dreamers. They were weapons.
The Ikoro Drum struck once.
Its echo burst through the space like a whip of thunder.
A seventh throne shimmered into view — one not previously present. Blackened bone and ash. A sickle carved into the backrest.
The others fell into uneasy silence.
"The Reaper's Realm... has seated a champion."
Obinna's heart skipped.
He'd seen the Reaper before — in dreams, in flickers, in Chapter 3 when the sky cracked and time slowed around him. A dark figure behind smoke, whispering in a voice both terrifying and familiar. That encounter hadn't left him — it clung to his spine, shaped his thoughts. The Reaper had marked him.
If that realm now stood among the Council, it meant death walked in daylight.
Then the walls cracked.
Not metaphorically — literally. A rift tore open at the edge of the chamber, and a woman cloaked in feathers of shifting gray walked through. Her eyes were blindfolded, yet she stepped with perfect ease.
Behind her came warriors.
Not just humans — but beast-champions. A leopard with six tails. A man with tusks and a serpent coiled around his waist like a belt.
The Whispering-Wind Realm and Beast-Blood Realm had arrived together.
Obinna could feel it — something was building. Not just politics. Not just a council.
A test.
---
Later, in the rooms assigned to them, Obinna sat on his bed, watching the flickering wall. The chamber was alive — a spiritual artifact that displayed memory echoes from the Realm of Fire. He saw warriors rising from ash, villages burned to purify plague, priests who prayed by walking barefoot through embers.
It all felt... familiar.
Then came the knock.
A boy stood there, only slightly older, with tattoos of ancient script across his forearms and cheeks. He grinned.
"They said the Fire boy was stubborn. I want to test it."
Obinna blinked. "What?"
The boy drew a knife that shimmered like oil over water.
"Council's quiet tonight. Want to liven it up?"
Obinna didn't answer with words. He grabbed the nearest chair and hurled it. The boy ducked, laughing, then launched forward.
They crashed through the spiritual walls — which adapted immediately, reshaping into a battlefield of ash and heat. Their fight drew others. From different rooms. Different realms.
Before long, champions were clashing, some cheering, others brawling.
And in the shadows above them, something watched.
The Reaper.
Not his full form — just a wisp of cloak. A smile carved into fog. Watching. Waiting. Just like in Chapter 3.
---
END OF CHAPTER 6
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MINI DICTIONARY
Ikoro Drum – A divine object used to summon chosen ones across the Realms.
Reaper's Realm – A forbidden realm tied to death, fate, and spiritual judgment.
Memory Echoes – Scenes projected by spiritual artifacts to teach or remind champions of their Realm's past.
Beast-Champions – Half-human warriors bonded with spiritual beasts, often from the Beast-Blood Realm.
Ash Field – A conjured battlefield tied to the Fire Realm, where heat and flame memories become physical.