The first trial did not begin with instructions.
It began with absence.
Shunya stood alone on the circular platform at the center terrace. The four elders had stepped back without explanation. Feng Xia remained at the edge of the platform, silent, unreadable.
The ocean below shimmered in geometric patterns. The sky above held no sun.
The system flickered weakly.
[Environmental instability detected.]
But there was no threat.
No enemy.
No weapon placed in his hand.
The elder who had spoken earlier raised a single hand.
"Step forward."
Shunya did.
The platform beneath him shifted.
The engraved symbols lit up in concentric rings, expanding outward like ripples in still water. The air thickened slightly.
Then everything disappeared.
Not the island.
Not the sky.
Everything.
There was no light. No sound. No floor beneath his feet.
He did not fall.
He simply stood in nothing.
The system reacted instantly.
[Spatial reference lost.]
[Recalibrating.]
