The order came at dawn.
"Into the Hollow Forest again," Master Daran announced before the assembled initiates. His voice carried like iron dragged across stone. "But this time, you will not hunt alone. You will enter in groups. You will face creatures the residue has twisted beyond recognition. Kill them, and you may carve further strength. Fail, and you will feed the forest."
His burning eyes swept the group before lingering, briefly, on Kael. "This trial is not only survival. It is dominance. Work together if you must, but know this only those who endure will rise."
Kael felt the weight of those words. The duel with Rhovan still burned in his memory, as did the whispers that had surged through his veins. Already, he sensed the hostility radiating from some of the others. The trial would not simply test them against the forest. It would test them against each other.
The forest greeted them as before air heavy with rot and ozone, trees twisted into grotesque forms. Their group of six entered the depths, weapons drawn, veins glowing faintly in the dim light.
Kael found himself walking near Varen, the gaunt youth who had whispered of secrets nights ago. Varen's eyes darted constantly, restless, as though he feared the shadows themselves.
"They sent us deeper this time," Varen muttered under his breath. "Do you feel it? The air? The residue here is thicker. This isn't just corruption it's concentration. Something larger lies ahead."
Kael didn't reply. He felt it too. The scar on his arm pulsed steadily, warning him.
Ahead, Rhovan led the group, his confidence as sharp as ever. Two others Mira, the cold-eyed girl who had endured the shard trial, and Thalen, a quiet brute of muscle flanked him. That left Kael and Varen at the rear, shadows among stronger lights.
For a time, only silence and the crunch of glowing leaves filled the air. Then the forest shifted.
The trees quivered. The ground trembled faintly. And from the shadows emerged a creature that had once been a wolf.
Its body was grotesque, stretched unnaturally long, its maw split wider than natural, filled with shards of crystal where teeth should be. Its veins glowed bright silver, pulsing violently, as though it carried far more residue than its frame could contain.
The wolf howled, and the sound split the forest air like shattering glass.
It attacked instantly.
Rhovan met it head-on, his veins blazing. His strike cracked against the wolf's skull, residue exploding on impact. The beast staggered but did not fall. Instead, it twisted unnaturally, its body bending in ways that defied bone, and lunged again.
Mira darted forward, her movements sharp, precise. Her blade sliced across its flank, spraying luminous ichor that hissed against the ground. The forest floor sizzled where it landed, burning as if by acid.
"Focus its neck!" Rhovan barked.
The group pressed in. Kael circled to the side, waiting for an opening. The wolf twisted again, slamming its crystalline maw toward Thalen. The brute caught its jaws with his bare hands, veins flaring as he forced its mouth open, roaring with effort.
"Now!"
Kael surged forward, his fist slamming into the wolf's throat. His conduits pulsed violently, residue flaring into his strike. Light burst through the beast's veins, burning through its form.
The wolf convulsed, body seizing, before collapsing into ash.
But the victory brought no relief.
From the deeper forest, more howls rose dozens, layered and broken.
"They hunt in packs," Mira muttered, her blade dripping luminous ichor.
The ground trembled again. Silver lights flickered among the trees many, moving quickly.
Rhovan grinned savagely. "Good. More fragments for us."
The pack emerged. Wolves twisted in grotesque ways, some with multiple heads, others with legs bent backward, all glowing with the poison of divine residue.
The battle erupted.
Chaos filled the forest floor.
Thalen roared, tearing a wolf apart with brute force, though his arms burned with ichor where the residue clung to his flesh. Mira moved like a shadow, her blade flashing in precise arcs, carving through eyes and throats. Rhovan was a storm, residue bursting with each strike, laughing even as blood splattered his face.
Kael fought with precision. Each strike was guided through conduits, silver veins blazing. He struck throats, shattered spines, forced his energy into their corrupted cores until their bodies burst into ash.
But the wolves were endless. For every one that fell, two more emerged.
And then it happened.
Varen screamed.
Kael turned in time to see a wolf's fangs sink into Varen's leg, glowing ichor spilling into the wound. Varen convulsed, his veins flaring violently, residue burning out of control. His eyes widened in horror.
"No, no, it's inside me!"
Kael lunged, striking the wolf away, but it was too late. Varen collapsed, his body twisting, veins glowing far too bright. His flesh bubbled, split, reshaped.
Kael froze. Varen was changing.
Before his eyes, Varen's body warped into something not human, not wolf something in between, a hybrid of flesh and residue, screaming with a hundred voices.
The other initiates faltered. Even Rhovan stepped back, his grin faltering.
"Kill him!" Mira shouted. "Before he turns fully!"
But Kael stood rooted, staring at Varen's face or what was left of it. For a brief instant, some part of his humanity flickered in his eyes, desperate, pleading.
"Kael… help me…"
The whispers in Kael's head surged louder. Join us. Break. Ascend.
His scar burned like fire.
Kael roared, forcing the residue in his veins to answer his will. He surged forward, his palm strike slamming into Varen's chest. His conduits screamed with strain, his body shaking violently, but he poured everything into the strike.
Light erupted. Varen convulsed one final time before his body burst into ash, scattered on the forest floor.
The whispers quieted.
Kael fell to one knee, gasping, his veins still blazing violently. His vision blurred, and for a moment he saw not the forest, not the sect, but a vast broken sky, filled with gods that were neither dead nor alive. Their hollow eyes turned toward him, their whispers crawling into his soul.
Endure.
And then the vision was gone.
When Kael rose, the pack of wolves had been slaughtered. The other initiates stood in silence, bloodied and exhausted, staring at the ash where Varen had fallen.
No one spoke.
Rhovan finally broke the silence. "Weak," he muttered. "He was too weak to endure. At least now his fragment feeds the forest instead of us."
Kael said nothing. His fists trembled, not from fear, but from the knowledge of what he had seen the truth Varen had whispered. The residue was not just poison. It was alive. And it wanted them.