The chains above rattled.
Not violently.
Not yet.
Across from Kael, the other him hung suspended, blood dripping in slow, deliberate beats onto the stone below. Each drop echoed too loudly, like the Crucible wanted the sound memorized.
"Took you long enough," the prisoner repeated, smiling wider this time. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come."
Kael didn't answer.
His heartbeat was loud in his ears—too loud. The tug behind his ribs had tightened into something sharper now, a hook instead of a thread, pulling him subtly forward.
The platform beneath his feet shifted.
A thin line etched itself into the stone between them—glowing faint red.
A boundary.
The prison inhaled.
The air thickened, heat crawling up Kael's spine. Symbols ignited along the walls, rearranging themselves faster now, no longer curious.
Decisive.
A voice—not sound, but pressure shaped like intent—pressed into his skull.
TRIAL INITIATED.CONDITION: INTERVENTION.FAILURE COST: COLLATERAL TERMINATION.
Kael swallowed. "You could at least pretend to be subtle."
The other Kael laughed, then winced as the chains tightened around his ribs.
"Oh, don't worry," he said through clenched teeth. "This part's always loud."
Kael's eyes snapped to him. "Always?"
The prisoner met his gaze, expression sharpening. "You think this is the first time we've stood on opposite sides of a line?"
Images slammed into Kael's mind.
Not flashes.
Replays.
A courtyard slick with rain and blood.A burning structure collapsing inward.Hands reaching for him—too many to count.
And every time—
Him standing still.
Kael staggered back a step.
The floor burned.
Pain lanced up his leg, hot and surgical, forcing him back to where he stood before.
"Stay," the prison whispered without words.
The other Kael exhaled slowly. "See? Even now. You don't step unless you're sure."
Kael snarled. "You don't know me anymore."
The prisoner's smile turned sad.
"That's the problem."
The chains suddenly yanked.
The other Kael screamed.
Not theatrically.
Not loudly.
It was the kind of scream that happens when the body realizes pain has no ceiling.
Kael moved without thinking.
The line flared.
Pain detonated through his chest, dropping him to one knee, breath tearing out of him in a broken gasp.
"Stop!" he shouted.
The chains loosened just enough for the prisoner to breathe.
"Every time," the prisoner rasped. "You react… but never commit."
Kael slammed his fist into the stone. "What do you want from me?"
The Crucible answered.
The chamber shifted.
The platform elongated, stone folding outward like flesh, revealing three new figures emerging from the walls—bound, gagged, terrified.
Villagers.
A child among them.
Kael's stomach dropped.
The symbols above them ignited.
VARIABLES INTRODUCED.
The other Kael went still.
"…Oh," he whispered. "They escalated."
Kael's voice shook. "Let them go."
The prison pulsed.
INTERVENTION REQUIRES SACRIFICE.
The chains around the prisoner tightened again.
The villagers screamed.
The child cried out.
Kael's vision blurred, rage and panic tangling in his chest.
"This isn't a choice," he said hoarsely. "It's extortion."
The other Kael laughed weakly. "Welcome to leadership."
Kael turned on him. "Shut up!"
"No," the prisoner snapped back. "Listen. This is where you always break."
Kael froze.
The prisoner met his eyes, urgency cutting through the pain. "You'll try to save everyone. You'll rush. You'll hesitate at the wrong second."
The chains creaked ominously.
"You'll lose more than you had to."
Kael's hands shook.
The Crucible waited.
Not impatient.
Confident.
Kael closed his eyes.
Breathed.
The tug behind his ribs burned, pulling inward, anchoring him hard.
When he opened his eyes—
They were steady.
Kael stepped forward.
The pain came.
He didn't stop.
Another step.
The floor screamed.
He kept moving.
The chains above rattled violently now, reacting—not resisting.
Kael crossed the line.
The world lurched.
All pain vanished at once.
The chains froze mid-motion.
The villagers fell silent.
The prison stilled.
The other Kael stared at him, eyes wide.
"…You crossed," he whispered.
Kael's voice was calm. Terrifyingly so.
"I'm done waiting."
He reached the prisoner.
Grabbed the chains.
They burned his hands.
He pulled anyway.
Stone cracked.
The Crucible roared—an earthquake of protest—as chains snapped free in explosive bursts. The prisoner collapsed into Kael's arms, both of them hitting the stone hard.
The villagers vanished—dissolving into light like they had never been real.
A lie.
A test.
Kael barely noticed.
He looked down at the other him—bloodied, shaking, alive.
For half a second, relief surged.
Then the prisoner smiled.
"Wrong answer," he whispered.
His hand moved.
Too fast.
A blade—hidden, impossibly—slid between Kael's ribs.
Kael gasped.
The tug behind his ribs screamed.
The prisoner leaned close, forehead touching Kael's.
"You saved everyone," he said softly. "So now you get to live with the cost."
The blade twisted.
The chamber began to collapse.
Stone screamed.
Chains lashed wildly.
The prisoner shoved Kael backward—hard.
Kael fell.
Down.
The world inverted.
The last thing he saw was the other Kael standing at the edge, chains reforming around him like a crown.
Smiling.
"See you in the next trial," he said.
The pit swallowed Kael whole.
Darkness slammed shut.
And the Crucible—
Learned something new.