Aren's hands were trembling but he clenched them tight like he wanted no one to see.
The guard didn't care. None of them did. His voice was flat when he spoke again.
"The rule is simple. You either come out as Hunters or you don't come out at all."
The man said it like it was nothing. A rule on a board. A truth written in stone. But Aren felt his stomach twist.
Obviously it was simple for him to say, standing out here with a weapon on his shoulder. But for the ones about to step inside… it was not simple at all.
The gate pulsed again, a dark circle breathing like some giant heart. Aren thought it looked hungrier this time, waiting for them.
Ji-ho leaned toward him with his voice quiet so only Aren could hear. "Let's meet at the other side. You'll see. We'll both make it through."
Aren looked at him. For a second he wanted to believe it. He wanted to nod and mean it. Ji-ho's smile was weak but it was real. The boy had nothing and still tried to hold onto hope. Aren felt something heavy inside his chest.
He didn't answer.
The guard barked again. "Move!"
Their group began to walk. Boots against steel. Aren forced himself to keep pace, his eyes fixed on the Eclipse. Each step felt like it pulled something out of him. His fingers dug into his palms, hiding the way they shook.
Ji-ho walked just ahead of him now. His shoulders looked too thin for the armor he wore. Before they reached the circle, Ji-ho glanced back once. His lips moved, barely above a whisper.
"I don't want to die."
And then the light took them.
The Eclipse swallowed Aren whole.
Darkness hit first, not the kind you see at night but the kind that feels alive, crawling against your skin.
He stumbled forward and the ground beneath him was wrong. It wasn't the cold steel floor of the hall anymore. It was soft, damp, like wet soil.
Aren opened his eyes wider. What he saw froze him.
This was not Earth.
The sky was a color he had never seen before–green and black, shifting like oil on water.
Trees twisted in impossible shapes their roots crawling across the ground like snakes. The air smelled of ash and rot. There was no sound. No wind. No birds. Just silence pressing down on him.
Aren stood frozen. His legs did not listen. His fingers were stiff and curled into his palms until his nails cut his skin. His breath came slow but steady. He forced it to be steady. He knew panic would only feed this place.
Aren had no weakness. He had survived the world outside the Walls. He had survived hunger, betrayal, loss. He had survived knowing he could not protect the people he loved. He had survived fear. He was ready for whatever the trial was going to through at him.
He was only seventeen. No one should have to go through what he had. Life had grown him up before his time. Made him hard, made him sharp, made him smart. Every hardship had been a teacher even if the lessons hurt.
But then a whisper slipped through the silence. It wasn't a voice he could place. It was his sister's voice.
"Aren… you left me."
His heart stopped for a second after hearing his sister voice here. He heard coughing now, harsh and wet.
He did not need to turn his head to know whose cough it was. His sister. That sound was burned into his bones.
It had kept him awake night after night in their small, broken apartment. Hearing it here… it was like someone had torn open his chest and poured salt into it. Still, he did not run. He did not scream. He stood with his jaw tight, thinking.
Because Aren was not a fool. He knew the Eclipse trial was not about strength of body. It was not about swords or guns. It was about the mind. It wanted him to break himself, so it did not have to.
But knowing did not make it easy.
Because knowing something in your head was not the same as feeling it in your heart. For Aren, the heart was winning.
His throat tightened. His lips parted but no sound came out. His voice felt stolen.
Then he saw her.
She stood just ahead of him, thin and pale, exactly as she had been the last day he saw her.
Her hair clung to her cheeks, her arm clutched to her stomach. When she looked up, her eyes were too large for her small face.
"Why did you leave me?"
Aren's knees almost buckled. His body leaned forward without meaning to. He wanted to run to her, to hold her, to promise he never meant to leave. But he stayed rooted to the ground as if the soil itself had swallowed his feet.
He clenched his teeth. He forced his fingers to move, one by one, until they twitched. It was small but it was something.
"No," he whispered though his voice cracked. "You're not real."
Her eyes started getting wet. Tears slid down her face. The sight stabbed him deeper than any blade could.
"Brother…" she coughed again while bending as if her chest would break. "Help me."
Aren's chest heaved. His arms shook now, every muscle tight. He tried to move forward again but the forest around him shifted. The trees bent closer their roots snaking over the soil and blocking his way.
It was not just his sister anymore. Shadows began to form around her, shapes of people he knew. The neighbors who had starved outside the Wall. The man who had been shot trying to steal bread. His mother's tired face.
They all stared at him. Silent. Accusing.
Aren's heart slammed against his ribs. His breath grew faster and uneven. Sweat slid down his temples.
It felt like the air was thinning like he was drowning even while standing.
He shook his head violently. "Stop… this isn't real." His voice was rough and almost broken.
But the shadows stepped closer. One by one.
"You left us," a deep voice said. "You survived while we died."
"You ate while we starved."
"You were weak. You did nothing."
Each word hit harder than the last. His chest burned. His knees trembled. His fingers were trembling so badly now he could not hide it.
Of course Aren knew these were lies. Obviously the Eclipse was twisting his memories, digging through him like a blade.
He understood what it was doing. He saw through it. His mind did not bend. His body wanted to. But the mind controlled the body. And that was Aren's strength. His mind, sharper than the trap. Smarter than the fear. He had no weakness but one.
And that one… his sister.
He closed his eyes tight. But that was worse. In the darkness behind his eyelids the voices grew louder, filling his skull until it felt like it would split apart.
His breath came ragged. He bent forward while clutching his chest. He wanted to scream but no sound came out.
Aren forced his eyes open again. His vision blurred. His sister was closer now, her small hand was reaching out to him.
"Come with me," she said. Her voice was soft, tender, almost kind. "It won't hurt. Just let go."
For a moment, Aren almost believed her. He wanted to. The weight on his body was too heavy. The pain in his chest too sharp. His arms fell weakly to his sides. His knees bent. His body was sinking, inch by inch.
The forest closed in tighter. The shadows leaned closer. The air pressed down heavier.
His lips trembled. His heart felt like it was cracking open.
The Trial was pulling him under.
And in that moment, Aren thought–maybe he really could not win.