The fire had gone out hours ago.
Eileen slept on the cold ground, her body curled slightly, exhaustion written across her face.
Ryan sat near the stone wall, his staff resting loosely in his hand. There was no glow left in it. Nothing. Just wood and silence.
He wasn't thinking about plans or power.
He was listening.
The forest was never truly quiet, but this silence felt different. Too still.
Then the grass shifted.
Ryan stood immediately.
Siron stepped out of the fog.
Cold gray eyes.
A black blade hanging calmly at his side.
Ryan didn't lower his staff.
"Who are you?"
Siron looked at him for a moment, as if measuring something invisible.
"The one sent to see if you deserve what you carry."
Ryan exhaled slowly.
"A test," he said. "Who sent you?"
"Someone who understands ambition better than you do."
Siron moved first.
The ground split beneath his blade as gray energy tore forward. Dirt and stone exploded into the air.
Ryan jumped back, instinctively raising a violet barrier. The impact rattled through his arms.
It held..but only just.
The second strike came faster.
Ryan stumbled, boots scraping hard against the earth.
"This isn't normal magic," he muttered.
Siron was suddenly behind him.
The blade cut toward Ryan's side. He barely managed to block it. Violet sparks scattered, stinging his skin. The wind howled with every clash.
"You fight with anger," Siron said calmly.
Ryan gritted his teeth.
"And I fight because of it."
He lifted his staff. Violet energy surged upward, unstable, then crashed down like burning rain.
Siron drove his sword into the ground. A gray barrier formed around him, absorbing the attack without effort.
"Raw power," Siron said.
"But no control."
Ryan stepped forward anyway.
"My chaos doesn't need mercy."
He struck again.
Siron caught the staff with his blade and shoved him back with brutal force.
Ryan fell to one knee.
Behind him, a voice broke through the noise.
"Ray!"
Siron turned his head slightly.
"So," he said, "the light has awakened too."
He raised his hand.
A thin gray thread shot toward Eileen like something alive.
She woke just in time to raise her hands. A green shield formed..but it began to dissolve.
"My shield…" she gasped. "It's breaking!"
"Stay back!" Ryan shouted.
He forced his power forward and cut the gray thread apart with a violent burst of violet light.
Dust swallowed the clearing.
Inside the haze, their voices clashed.
"Power without awareness destroys everything around it," Siron said.
"And it's the kind of power that makes kings," Ryan answered.
Their weapons collided again.
Ash, violet light, and gray energy twisted together, tearing the air apart.
Eileen tried to intervene, pushing out a wave of green.
The energies met..
and exploded.
Eileen screamed as she was thrown backward.
Ryan hit the ground hard, half-buried in dust. Violet sparks crawled across his body, fading slowly.
Siron stood in the smoke, unmoved.
His blade still burned with gray light.
"The test isn't finished," he said.
"But it's already answering."
He raised his hand.
High above them, gray energy gathered in the sky. Heavy. Crushing.
Ryan tried to push himself up. His hands shook.
Eileen crawled toward him, fear breaking her voice.
"Ray… don't move."
There was no time.
The sky split open.
Gray light fell like a meteor.
The world disappeared.
And then…
silence.