When the sky began to brighten behind the orphanage window, Cael was already sitting on his bed, the Guild document folded between his fingers.
Three days.
That was all that separated him from becoming a warlock… or giving up like so many others.
There was no second chance.
He put on his worn coat in silence and left before anyone could wish him luck.
The Guild's inner courtyard was full.
One hundred young aspirants waited beneath the overcast sky.
Some looked confident.
Others trembled.
Cael moved among them, feeling that each step carried him farther away from the life he had known.
There was no turning back.
A tall man in a green robe — the mark of a warlock—stepped forward.
At his side stood his Familiar, a small fox with orange fur.
It was the renowned Warlock Tarek Riften.
"Welcome to the Trials of Witchcraft."
The murmuring died instantly.
"Of the hundred of you gathered here, not all will continue."
Some swallowed hard.
Others lowered their gaze.
"There are three trials."
He raised one finger.
"First trial: Familiar custody."
Assistants opened several metal cases.
"Each of you will receive a Familiar egg. For twenty-four hours, you must protect it within a closed environment."
He gestured with his hand.
A small portal formed behind his Familiar.
"An artificial forest. A pocket universe."
He raised a second finger.
"But you will not be alone. That place is inhabited by humans corrupted by angelic grace."
A murmur of horror spread through the courtyard.
"They feel no pain. They do not reason. They only hunt." He paused briefly. "And they eat Familiars."
A chill ran down Cael's spine.
"If the egg is destroyed, your trial ends."
He raised a third finger.
"When the Familiar is born, it will attack the corrupted. That will mark the end of the first trial."
A boy raised his hand, his voice shaking.
"And… if the Familiar dies?"
The examiner slowly shook his head.
"Familiars do not die."
The courtyard fell silent.
"They are spirits. Like matter, they are not destroyed… only changed. If their body is annihilated, they return to the egg state. But you…"
He didn't finish the sentence.
He didn't need to.
"Let us continue. The second trial will be the Bond. The Familiar must recognize you as its master. The third…"
He smiled faintly.
"Will be the famous all-out combat between aspirants."
The air grew tense.
"Now, it is time to deliver your Familiars."
The examiner gestured again.
The assistants pushed the cases forward.
Inside, hundreds of objects floated in silence.
They did not glow.
They did not pulse.
They did not move.
They were… stones.
Or so they seemed.
Oval eggs, with porous surfaces of dull gray.
"Before they awaken, Familiars sleep," Mr. Riften explained. "In this state, they are indistinguishable from ordinary matter."
One assistant picked up an egg with both hands.
It was heavier than its size suggested.
"But they recognize the first person who touches them."
He offered it to the first aspirant in line.
The young man hesitated.
Then he touched it.
The change was immediate.
The gray stone cracked with luminous fissures, like glowing veins beneath the surface. A deep blue color surged from within, pulsing softly.
A murmur rippled through the courtyard.
"The color reflects the initial spiritual affinity," the examiner continued. "It does not determine the final form… but it does define its nature."
The assistants began moving through the rows.
They handed out two items:
An egg.
And a dark leather pouch, reinforced with symbols woven in silver thread.
"These pouches dampen the Familiar's spiritual pulse," the warlock said. "They will prevent the corrupted from detecting it easily."
One assistant stopped in front of Cael.
He held out the egg.
Cael swallowed.
The moment he took it, a strange sensation traveled up his arm.
Cold.
And heat at the same time.
The egg vibrated faintly.
The gray surface split with lines of yellow light, deep and sharp, as if electricity were running beneath the shell.
Black.
Almost completely black.
With hints of yellow and blue.
The color settled slowly.
Cael held his breath.
He didn't know why… but he felt as if that thing were watching him from within.
The assistant handed him the pouch.
"Don't lose it," he said in a flat voice. "If the egg breaks, you're out."
Cael stored it carefully, closing the clasp as if sealing his own fate.
The weight of the pouch hanging from his shoulder felt overwhelming.
This wasn't just a trial.
It was a life.
Riften raised a hand.
The portal behind the fox expanded.
The air tore like paper.
Where there had once been only a stone courtyard and statues, a distorted arch of light now opened, its edges blackened as if burned from within.
On the other side…
Trees.
An entire forest contained within a rift in the world.
There was wind.
Leaves.
And something else.
Something deeper, like a distant murmur.
"You will enter in groups of five," Riften announced. "Once inside, the portal will not open again until twenty-four hours have passed."
Some turned pale.
Others clenched their teeth.
"Remember this," he added. "The egg is your priority. Not your pride. Not your courage. Not the other aspirants."
He paused.
"If you die… the trial continues."
The first group stepped forward.
One by one, they crossed the portal.
Their bodies stretched and warped like reflections in water… and vanished.
When his turn came, Cael felt his heart pounding in his throat.
He pressed the pouch against his side.
And took a step.
The world folded.
For an instant, there was no up or down.
Only cold.
And a small light.
Then—
He crashed onto damp soil.
He rolled through black leaves.
He pushed himself up, gasping.
The sky looked artificial.
Too perfect.
Motionless clouds.
A white light without a sun.
Tall trees surrounded the clearing, their twisted trunks and exposed roots jutting from the ground like ribs.
The air smelled of dampness.
And of something old.
Something rotten.
In the distance, a scream echoed through the trees.
It wasn't human.
Nor was it animal.
Cael felt the egg vibrate inside the pouch.
He grabbed it with both hands.
'Twenty-four hours…' he thought.
The forest answered with another scream.
Closer.
And then he understood:
The trial had already begun.