The obsidian bridge went on forever into the void. Underneath it, constellations seeped into black seas, stars dissolved into quiet. Jairaj marched steadily ahead, the tattered cloak billowing, the black crown shard in his hand smoldering with intent.
Behind him, Samaira floated with her hand aglow in blue light, holding the stamp of the Astral Oracle. Her voice, little more than a whisper, resonated across the emptiness:
"Mind your p's… K'Tharion doesn't test your strength. He tests your mind."
Jairaj hesitated. He had battled gods, monsters, space titans and soul titansbut a titan of the mind? A lord of illusions, of memory, of logic itself? This would be a war not of sword or muscle, but of will.
A resplendent gateway towered before themwhirling geometric patterns adorned with runes older than the stars. A pupil-like eye in the center opened, violet-glaring.
"Your mind enters mine now," a voice both inside and outside of him.
"Let's see if the logic of a human can cut through the endless spiral of insanity."
Welcome to K'Tharion's Domain
Jairaj stepped through the portal, and instantly reality fractured.
He was on a battlefield.
Then blinked.
He was in the library.
Then blinked.
He was a child, weeping before a burning village.
Memories, nightmares, lies, truths everything swirled like a storm. K'Tharion's world had no order. Up was down. Time was not sequential. Thought became solid.
A floating duplicate of Jairaj appeared with him, laughing madly.
Are you me, or am I you?" the illusion taunted.
All of a sudden there were dozens of him all around: a tyrannous Jairaj, a shattered Jairaj, a quiet monk Jairaj, a dead Jairaj.
They began whispering.
"You're the bad guy."
You left her.
"You will fail."
You were never deserving.
Jairaj collapsed on the ground, clutching his head. The vacant space convulsed about him.
But then…
A voice broke through Samaira's memory, a whisper in the midst of madness:
"If your mind is the battlefield, then your heart is your anchor. Find it."
The Puzzle of Self
The illusions became a cosmic game board. At its center, a question lingered:
"Who am I?"
Jairaj did take a deep breath. He replied:
I am the King with no crown.
The warrior who never did choose war.
The orphan who made gods kneel.
I am Jairaj. I am incomplete… but I am alive.
The false versions screamed as they shattered into stars. The chessboard folded into a cube and melted.
Silence.
And there stood a giant a creature composed of twisting equations and stream-of-thoughts. K'Tharion, Thought Titan.
You solved my first puzzle. But you have more to accomplish.
The titan expanded his mind, and in an instant Jairaj was within a never-ending labyrinth of options.
Every corridor was a decision he took or didn't take. Kill or not kill. Save or abandon. Betray or protect.
The Impossible Choice
K'Tharion thundered:
Make your ultimate choice. Save your own soul… or save Samaira's.
Two paths stood before him. One featured a mirror on it a reflection of himself crowned, alive, and whole. The other featured Samaira burning in the Spiral Sun, her body sacrificing itself to seal the Void.
Tears filled his eyes.
I. he exclaimed.
Then he smiled, calmly.
"I don't select. I recreate the maze."
He called for the crown fragment.
VOID DECREE: REFRACT REALITY.
The maze cracked, the rules shattered, and K'Tharion stumbled.
"You DARE!"
Jairaj remained standing.
"I play no game of yours, Thought-Titan. I make my own."
He stepped into a third path one he had made. One in which he and Samaira both existed.
K'Tharion shrieked and disintegrated into thought-dust.
Consequences
The domain disintegrated. Jairaj woke up on the black bridge, gasping for air. Samaira was by his side, safe.
"You passed," she said softly.
No, he replied, his eyes blazing. "I didn't pass. I conquered."
Above him, the second Void Sigil burned into his palm.
Two down. One to go.
Then: The Trial of the Heart Titan, Velmoria.