"…You really think you're better than me?"
The voice carried across the training grounds before any of us could see who it belonged to.
I looked up from the path just as a crowd came into view ahead of us. Contestants were gathered in a loose circle near one of the larger training squares, some standing on benches while others leaned over shoulders trying to catch a glimpse of whatever was happening in the middle.
Rook frowned.
"Looks like we missed something."
"Or we're about to," Jaki replied, already changing course toward the crowd. "Come on."
None of us argued.
As we got closer, the conversations around us became easier to make out.
"…They've been going at it for a while."
"I thought they were actually going to fight."
"No way the Knights let that happen."
"They haven't stepped in yet."
I exchanged a glance with Milo.
"Any idea who they're talking about?"
He shook his head.
"Guess we're about to find out."
The four of us slipped between contestants until we finally reached the front. A wide circle of empty stone stretched across the center of the courtyard, leaving two people standing alone with several feet between them. Nobody else seemed willing to step inside.
One was a tall boy with dark skin and brown locs pulled back behind his head. His shoulders were squared toward the girl in front of him, and even from where I stood, I could see the frustration written across his face.
Opposite him stood a girl with long black hair that reached nearly to her waist. When the wind shifted, I caught a glimpse of a dark crimson streak hidden beneath the outer layers of her hair before it disappeared again. Compared to the boy, she looked almost unnaturally composed, standing with both hands resting comfortably at her sides as though the crowd surrounding them didn't exist.
"…it's Kairo Madaki."
"And the girl's Selene."
"Selene Sorell."
"So the rumors were true…"
I looked toward Jaki.
"Do you know them?"
He gave a small shake of his head.
"Only by reputation."
"Apparently everyone else does."
Kairo took another step forward, closing the distance between them. "You haven't answered my question."
His voice was controlled, but only just. It wasn't the kind of anger that exploded all at once. It was the kind that had been building for a while, getting harder to hold back with every passing minute.
"You really think you're better than me?"
Selene looked at him for a moment before answering. "I wouldn't say it if I didn't believe it."
Her voice was calm enough that everyone had to stay quiet to hear it.
"I finished ahead of you because I performed better. If our positions were reversed, I'd have no problem admitting it."
Kairo let out a dry laugh.
"You keep going back to that."
"Because that's what happened." The answer came so naturally it almost sounded obvious. "We were all given the same objective. We all started under the same conditions." She held his gaze. "I reached the end first."
The silence that followed felt heavier than her words.
Kairo rubbed a hand across the scar above his lip before speaking again. "You've been hearing people talk about you since yesterday, haven't you?"
He gestured toward the contestants gathered around them. "They've already started calling you the strongest one here. The favorite to win the Trials."
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"And somewhere along the way…"
"…you started believing them."
Selene's expression barely changed.
"I believed I was capable of winning before I ever came to this Kingdom."
She took a slow step forward, refusing to let him be the only one closing the distance between them.
"The First Trial was nothing more than a warm up. A way to distinguish my competition, and from what I've seen, no one can compare to me."
A quiet murmur swept through the crowd.
I heard someone behind me whisper, "She's serious."
Another answered, "That's exactly why they're arguing."
Kairo smiled, but there wasn't a trace of humor behind it. "That's exactly your problem."
"You crossed one finish line before me and now you think you've got everything figured out."
He pointed toward her. "You think one result makes you number one."
Selene didn't respond immediately. Instead, she studied him for a few seconds before speaking.
"I don't need to think it." Her eyes never left his. "I finished first."
"If you believed you were better than me…" She paused. "… you should've finished before me."
The words settled over the courtyard.
No one reacted right away.
Everyone that was whispering around us seemed to have lost their voices for a moment.
Kairo's smile disappeared. "So that's it."
He nodded slowly to himself. "You really believe I'm beneath you."
"Precisely." Selene answered without hesitation. "And until someone proves otherwise… that's not going to change."
For the first time since we'd arrived, I saw Matter begin to gather.
A low vibration spread beneath Kairo's feet, just enough to make loose pebbles dance across the stone. Across from him, thin crystal shards quietly formed around Selene's fingertips, glimmering in the afternoon sunlight.
The crowd immediately took several steps backward.
"…They're actually doing it."
"They're going to fight."
"Someone stop them."
Before either of them could move—
"That's enough."
The voice cut through the courtyard with surprising ease.
A young man stepped forward, carrying a wooden practice sword across his shoulder. He had short black hair that fell messily around his face, pale skin that stood out against the sunlit courtyard, and a white bandage wrapped over one of his eyes. Small, mismatched earrings lined one ear, giving him a rough, almost punk-like edge that didn't quite match the calm way he moved. He walked straight between them, stopping directly in the space they'd been preparing to close. He looked from Kairo to Selene, let out a tired sigh, then glanced around at the hundreds of us watching.
"You've got half the remaining participants standing here."
His eyes shifted toward the Ethereal Knights watching from the edge of the courtyard.
"And the other half pretending they aren't."
He looked back at the two of them. "If you're really as good as you both seem to think you are…"
He adjusted the practice sword on his shoulder.
"…save it for the Trials."
For a few seconds, nobody spoke.
Then the crystal around Selene's hand slowly disappeared.
The vibrations beneath Kairo's feet faded just as quickly.
Neither looked particularly happy about it.
"This isn't over," Kairo said.
Selene gave a small nod. "Good, I can't wait to see you embarrass yourself some more."
Without another word, they turned and walked away in opposite directions.
The crowd slowly began to break apart.
The tension that had gripped the courtyard only moments ago didn't disappear all at once. It loosened little by little, turning into scattered conversations as people stepped away from the training square. Some contestants argued over who would have won, others laughed about how close it had come to a real fight, and a few kept glancing back like they were hoping Kairo or Selene might change their minds.
Rook watched Kairo disappear around a corner, then threw both hands into the air.
"…That's it?"
He turned toward Jaki with a look of complete betrayal on his face.
"You mean to tell me they got that close, started using Matter, had half the courtyard ready to watch, and nobody threw a single punch?"
Jaki clicked his tongue and shook his head, looking just as disappointed.
"That was terrible. I thought we were finally about to see somebody get launched through a wall, but no." He pointed toward the empty space where Kairo and Selene had been standing. "They did all that talking just to walk away like responsible people."
Rook grimaced.
"I hate responsible people."
"Same."
Jaki folded his arms, still staring at the training square like it had personally offended him.
"I was ready too. I had the whole scene pictured in my head. Kairo breaks the ground, Selene throws those crystal things everywhere, one of them gets tossed into a pillar, everyone starts yelling… perfect morning."
Rook nodded slowly, more serious than he had any reason to be.
"I wasn't even asking for much. Just one broken wall. Maybe two if they were feeling generous."
I looked over at Milo.
He caught my eye at the exact same time, and for a second neither of us said anything. Then he let out a quiet laugh through his nose and turned away, like he didn't want Rook or Jaki to notice how ridiculous they sounded.
For all the tension that had filled the courtyard a minute ago, it was strange how quickly everything started feeling normal again. People were already moving back toward the training grounds, the benches, the castle corridors. The open circle where Kairo and Selene had stood slowly filled back in like nothing had happened.
The four of us wandered away with the rest of the crowd, taking one of the side paths that led back into the castle. Rook and Jaki kept talking about the fight that never happened, though by the time we reached the next hallway, their version of it had somehow become much bigger than anything Kairo or Selene could have actually done.
Rook was the first one to stop.
A wide corridor split off to the left, leading toward another outdoor section of the castle. A few contestants were heading that way, and somewhere beyond them I could hear the faint sound of weapons striking against training posts.
Rook's eyes immediately sharpened.
"I heard there's another courtyard on the west side," he said, already stepping toward it. "Supposedly it's bigger than the one we were just at."
Milo glanced between him and the corridor.
"You heard that from who?"
"Some guy."
"Helpful." Milo stared at him for a moment before sighing.
Rook grinned and motioned for him to follow. "Come on. If there's a bigger courtyard, someone interesting's probably training there."
Milo looked toward me. "You coming?"
I glanced down the hallway behind us, then toward the courtyard Rook was already halfway committed to finding. The idea wasn't bad, but after the morning we'd had, I didn't really feel like chasing more commotion.
"I think I'm just gonna walk around for a bit."
Milo nodded once.
"Alright."
Rook didn't wait much longer. He started down the corridor, already talking about how he needed to see what everyone else could do before the next trial started. Milo followed a few steps behind him, less enthusiastic but not exactly unwilling either.
Jaki lasted about ten seconds after they left.
Then he yawned.
Not a small yawn either.
The kind that made him lean his head back like he'd just survived a full battle instead of watching two people almost start one.
"I'm done."
I looked at him. "You didn't even do anything."
"I emotionally prepared for a fight that never happened," he said, rubbing one eye. "That takes energy."
"That's not real."
"It felt real to me." He stretched both arms over his head, then let them fall lazily at his sides.
"If the Second Trial isn't happening right now, I'm taking a nap. Wake me up if somebody important starts yelling again."
"You can just sleep whenever you want?"
Jaki gave me a tired smile. "Kin, I've trained for years."
"To fight?"
"To nap anywhere." He tapped the side of his head like he had just explained something important. "It's a gift."
Before I could respond, he waved lazily over his shoulder and headed off down another hallway, leaving me standing alone where the corridors split.
For a few seconds, I didn't move.
The castle stretched out around me in every direction, all polished stone floors, high ceilings, and long hallways that seemed to curve into more hallways. Even after wandering around earlier, I still didn't feel like I understood the place. Every time I thought I had a general idea of where I was, another staircase or courtyard appeared and made me realize I didn't.
So I walked.
At first, I didn't have any real direction. I passed groups of contestants sitting along the walls, some talking quietly, others arguing over rumors about the Second Trial. Every conversation seemed to have a different version of what was coming next.
"I heard it's another race."
"No, it's teams."
"Someone said we have to fight actual monsters."
"That's not allowed."
"Who told you that?"
"…Nobody. It just shouldn't be."
I kept moving.
The deeper I went into the castle, the more the noise started to thin out. The halls opened into smaller courtyards and connected walkways, each one different from the last. Some were full of contestants sparring with practice weapons. Others had people sitting in circles, comparing Matter types like they were trying to figure out what everyone else could do before the next trial forced them to prove it.
A few hours slipped by faster than I expected.
Not because anything exciting happened.
Because there was too much to look at.
Central Rivenden had always felt big from the outside, but this place made that feeling worse. It wasn't just a castle. It was like an entire section of the city had been folded into one building. Training yards, study rooms, resting halls, gardens, balconies overlooking other balconies—it kept going.
At some point, I found myself standing near an upper walkway that looked out over one of the larger courtyards.
Below, contestants moved in small groups across the stone.
Some trained like they were desperate to catch up after the First Trial. Others looked like they already knew exactly where they stood and were just waiting for everyone else to realize it. I saw one girl lift a ring of water from a fountain and shape it into thin blades before letting them fall apart. A boy nearby turned both of his arms into dark stone, taking repeated strikes from a wooden staff without moving back more than an inch.
Everyone used Matter differently.
That thought stayed with me longer than I expected.
During the First Trial, Matter had been locked away. None of us could use it, so everyone had been reduced to movement, judgment, and whatever physical training they already had. Now, with Matter back, the difference between people felt much bigger.
I thought about Kairo.
The way the ground trembled under him before he even attacked.
Then Selene.
Those thin crystal shards forming around her hand, quiet and sharp, like she didn't need to make a big show of it.
Then Milo.
Thread Matter.
He'd described it earlier while we were walking, almost casually, like he didn't think it was anything special. He said it wasn't about forcing the threads to move. It was more like guiding them, giving them a direction and letting their own tension do the rest.
At the time, I'd just listened.
Now I couldn't stop thinking about it.
A little while later, I found a quieter training yard tucked between two wings of the castle. It wasn't empty because it was hidden, exactly. It was just smaller than the others, bordered by trimmed hedges, low stone walls, and a few practice pillars lined up near the far side.
Only one weapon rack stood near the entrance.
Most of the wooden swords were still untouched.
I stepped into the center of the yard and looked around.
"…Perfect."
The word came out quieter than I expected.
For a few seconds, I simply stood there, letting the quiet settle around me. There were still sounds from other parts of the castle—the distant clash of weapons, voices echoing down corridors, the occasional burst of laughter—but none of it felt close.
I lifted my hand.
Dark Matter gathered slowly around my fingers, crawling over my wrist in uneven black wisps. It moved the way it always did, restless and heavy at the same time, like it wanted to break away the moment I let it surface.
"Guide it," I muttered.
Milo's explanation came back again.
I tried to picture the way he'd described Thread Matter. Fine strands moving with small adjustments, shifting with control instead of power. I didn't need Dark Matter to become Thread Matter. I just needed it to move with that kind of precision.
The black wisps stretched outward from my hand.
For half a second, they almost held.
Then they twisted sharply and snapped forward.
The strike hit one of the practice pillars hard enough to crack the side of it, sending small chunks of stone scattering across the ground.
I lowered my hand.
"…Not even close."
I tried again.
This time, I used less matter.
A smaller amount gathered around my palm, darker and denser than before. Instead of extending it all at once, I tried letting it move slowly, almost like I was drawing a line through the air.
The strand formed.
It shuddered.
Then folded in on itself before bursting outward in jagged spikes.
I cut the flow off immediately, but the force still stung up my arm.
"Come on."
The frustration came quicker than I wanted it to.
I took a slow breath and shook out my hand.
The problem wasn't that I couldn't bring out Dark Matter. That part was easy. Too easy, honestly. The moment I called for it, it answered fast, gathering with more intensity than I needed.
The problem was everything after that.
The second I tried making it gentle, it resisted.
The second I tried shaping it into something thin or controlled, it either collapsed or lashed out like it had been waiting for an excuse.
I raised my arm again.
"Smaller."
Dark Matter formed around my fingers instead of my whole hand.
I focused on keeping it there, letting it move between my knuckles without spreading too far. For a moment, it curled along my hand in thin black lines, almost clean enough that I thought I had finally gotten somewhere.
Then it surged.
The lines thickened at once, spilling over my wrist and snapping outward in three uneven tendrils. I stepped back, trying to pull them in before they struck anything, but one of them hit the ground hard enough to split the stone under my feet.
The crack ran several inches before stopping.
I stared at it.
"…Great."
I looked around the training yard, half-expecting someone to come in and tell me to stop destroying things.
No one did.
That almost made it worse.
I flexed my fingers, watching the last traces of Dark Matter fade off my skin.
Thread Matter followed Milo's movements like an extra limb.
Mine didn't.
Mine felt less like an extra limb and more like I had grabbed something wild by the throat and was pretending that counted as control.
I exhaled.
"Again."
Dark Matter gathered.
I didn't let it build this time.
The moment it appeared, I tried guiding it forward in one smooth motion, not too fast, not too slow. A thin stream stretched from my hand and hovered in the air for a second, unstable but still there.
My eyes narrowed.
"Okay…"
Then it snapped sideways.
The stream whipped across the yard and slammed into the already damaged pillar, splitting the cracked section clean off.
The broken piece hit the ground with a heavy thud.
I stared at it.
Then at my hand.
"…Yeah."
I let my arm fall to my side.
"That's not better."
For a moment, I just stood there with my breathing slightly heavier than before.
It wasn't exhaustion.
Not really.
It was that annoying feeling of knowing what I wanted to do and having no idea how to make my body actually do it. Except this wasn't even my body. It was Matter. My own Matter.
And somehow that made it more irritating.
I lifted my hand one more time.
Dark Matter gathered faster than before, crawling over my palm and up my forearm.
This time I didn't try to make it thin.
I didn't try to make it calm.
I just held it there, watching the way it moved on its own.
The surface never stayed still.
It shifted constantly, black edges curling and breaking apart before reforming again. Every time I tried to focus on one part of it, another part moved. It was like staring at fire, except heavier, darker, and a lot less willing to listen.
"…You're trying to make it calmer than it is."
The voice came quietly from behind me.
I turned.
And for a second, I didn't say anything.
It was her.
The girl from the First Trial.
She stood just inside the entrance to the training yard, a small stack of worn books tucked beneath one arm. Several loose sheets stuck out between the pages, their corners shifting whenever the breeze moved through the courtyard. Her long brown hair was tied into twin ponytails, and the same blue flower-shaped hairpin from the First Trial rested near the left side of her bangs.
Her eyes weren't on me at first.
They were on the Dark Matter still moving faintly around my hand.
For a second, I just stared.
"What are you doing here?"
The question came out before I really thought about it.
She glanced down at the books under her arm, then lifted them slightly.
"I was reading near one of the gardens," she said. "Then I heard something break from over here, so I came to see what it was."
Her gaze drifted past me to the broken pillar.
"I thought it might have been someone sparring."
I looked back at the cracked stone, then at the dark traces still fading from my fingers.
She stepped farther into the training yard, careful not to walk over the loose chunks of stone scattered across the floor. She didn't say anything right away. Her eyes moved from the broken pillar, to the crack running through the ground, then finally back to my hand.
"You know, failure usually looks messier than success."
I gave a small laugh. "I don't know if that's supposed to make me feel better."
"It wasn't supposed to." She stopped a few feet away, adjusting the books against her side.
That was the first thing I noticed about her. She didn't say things like she was trying to sound smart. She just said them. Like the answer had already been sitting there, and she was only pointing it out.
Her attention returned to the Dark Matter fading off my palm.
"You're trying to make it calmer than it is."
I looked down at my hand.
"Yeah."
The answer came out slower than I meant it to.
"I guess I am."
A small pause passed between us.
I expected her to keep watching from where she stood, but instead she took another step closer, her eyes following one of the last black wisps before it disappeared into the air.
"Every Matter has a nature," she said. "Most people learn what their Matter can do, but they don't always think about how it behaves before they control it."
I didn't answer.
Partly because I didn't know what to say.
Partly because I wanted to hear where she was going with it.
"Rock Matter becomes stronger when it's compressed. It wants to hold its shape. Air Matter is almost the opposite. It wants to move and spread out, so trying to lock it in place usually takes more effort than letting it flow."
She looked at my hand again.
"Dark Matter has always been harder to explain."
I flexed my fingers once.
The last trace of black energy slipped away from my skin.
"You've studied Dark Matter?"
"A little."
She shifted the books again, pressing the bottom one against her side with her wrist so none of the loose papers fell out.
"There aren't many complete records left. Most of what people kept talks about the users more than the matter itself."
She glanced toward the broken pillar.
"Wars. Battles. Damage. The same kind of stories repeated over and over."
The courtyard stayed quiet around us.
"I always thought that was strange," she continued, lowering her voice slightly. "If someone had a rare Matter type, you'd think people would want to understand how it worked. But with Dark Matter, it seems like most people stopped at what it could destroy."
She walked toward the cracked part of the floor and crouched beside it. One of the papers sticking out from her book fluttered loose, and she caught it against the cover with her thumb before it could slide out completely. Then she brushed two fingers lightly across the split in the stone.
"They documented the people."
She looked back at the fracture for a moment.
"Not the Matter."
I watched her from where I stood.
She didn't look bothered by the broken stone.
She looked bothered by the thought.
After a moment, she rose to her feet.
"For generations, most Dark Matter users fought the same way. More output. More pressure. More destruction. I understand why, but…" She paused, searching for the words instead of rushing them out. "I don't know. That feels incomplete."
"Incomplete?"
She nodded.
"If everyone only ever uses something one way, eventually people start believing that's the only way it can be used." Her eyes returned to mine. "But that doesn't mean it's true."
I looked down at my hand again.
That made sense.
More than I wanted to admit.
"I was trying to make it move like something smaller," I said. "Not weaker. Just… easier to control."
"I could tell." She said it quietly, without making a big deal of it.
Then she took another step closer.
"You were making the shape smaller, but not the feeling behind it. It was still starting from force."
I frowned a little.
"The feeling?"
She nodded once.
"When you use Matter, the first thing it responds to is you." She moved her free hand toward her own chest, tapping lightly at the center. "Your breathing, your focus, your intent. Some Matter types are forgiving if those are messy."
Her eyes dropped briefly to my hand.
"Dark Matter doesn't seem like one of them."
I didn't move.
For some reason, I felt like moving would make me miss something.
She stepped in front of me before I realized how close she had gotten.
Then, without hesitation, she lifted one finger and rested it lightly against the center of my chest.
"Everything starts here."
I stiffened.
Her attention stayed on the spot beneath her fingertip, like she was more focused on the flow of Matter than on the fact that she was standing directly in front of me.
"If the first thing it feels from you is force, it responds with force," she said. "You're trying to tell it exactly what it should become before you understand what it's already trying to do."
Her eyes lifted to mine.
For a second, neither of us said anything.
Then a small smile crossed her face.
"Dark Matter has never struck me as something that enjoys being told what to do." She blinked.
Her finger lowered from my chest almost immediately.
"Sorry." She stepped back, shifting the books closer against her side. "I get carried away when people let me talk about Matter."
I let out a quiet breath that almost turned into a laugh.
"I didn't exactly give you a reason to stop."
"No," she said, looking briefly down at the books. "You didn't."
The corner of her mouth lifted.
"Most people get bored before I reach the part I actually find interesting."
"I wasn't bored."
She looked back at me.
Not surprised exactly.
Just quiet for a second longer than before.
Then she nodded.
"Good." The word came out soft. Almost like she hadn't meant to say it that plainly.
She turned slightly toward the entrance. "I should probably let you get back to training."
She took one step away.
Before I could think, my hand caught her wrist.
She stopped.
So did I.
For a second, the whole courtyard felt too quiet.
I looked at my own hand, my fingers resting lightly around her wrist, and I had no idea what I was doing. I hadn't planned it. I hadn't even decided to move.
I just had.
She looked down at my hand.
Slowly.
Then she turned back toward me.
There was surprise on her face.
Real surprise.
I let go immediately.
"Sorry."
My hand dropped back to my side.
"I don't know why I did that."
She looked at me for a moment.
The surprise faded, but she didn't step away.
Instead, she adjusted the books under her arm and gave me a small smile.
"It's okay," she said. "You didn't hurt me."
"I know, but…" I rubbed the back of my neck, looking away for half a second before meeting her eyes again. "That was still weird."
"A little." Her answer was honest enough that I almost laughed.
Then she smiled a bit more. "But not terrible."
That helped.
The silence after that didn't feel as heavy.
I looked toward the broken pillar, then back at her, still trying to find something normal to say after stopping her for no reason.
"I never actually thanked you."
She tilted her head slightly.
"For the First Trial," I said. "You caught me before I fell. Everything happened so fast after that, and then you were gone before I could say anything."
She held my gaze for a second before looking toward the far wall of the courtyard.
"You were close enough to the end."
"What?"
"You were close enough to the end," she repeated, her voice even. "Failing there would've been frustrating to watch."
I stared at her.
Then a small laugh escaped me.
"That's why you helped?"
She looked back at me, and for the first time since she arrived, her smile looked a little less guarded.
"Partly."
"Partly?"
She shifted the books again, but this time she didn't answer right away. "You also looked like you were still trying to figure out a way up while you were falling."
I thought back to the drop beneath the platform.
She wasn't wrong.
"I don't think I had a plan."
"I didn't say it was a good way."
That almost got a real laugh out of me.
I shook my head, smiling.
"Still. Thanks. I probably would've been out if you hadn't grabbed me."
She looked at me for a moment.
Then she nodded. "You're welcome."
Neither of us moved.
The sound of distant training carried over the wall again, but it felt farther away than before.
I glanced toward the entrance, then back at her.
"I never got your name."
"Skye," she said. "Skye Eckart."
I repeated it once in my head.
Skye.
For some reason, the name stayed there easily.
"I'm Kin."
"I know."
She said it naturally.
Too naturally.
A brief pause passed over her face before she looked down and adjusted the top book with her thumb.
"I mean, people were talking about you after, 'the white-haired kid named Kin who almost missed the final jump.'"
I winced.
"That's what people remember?"
"Some people." She looked back at me, her expression calm but not completely serious. "Most people were more interested in the fact that you still made it."
That made me feel slightly better.
"Slightly less embarrassing."
"It wasn't embarrassing."
"You didn't see it from my side."
"I saw enough."
There was no joke in the way she said it.
She looked at me for another second before her eyes drifted down to the books tucked beneath her arm.
One of the loose pages had started slipping out again.
She caught it with her thumb without even looking.
I smiled a little.
"So you really were reading."
She glanced down at the stack before letting out a quiet laugh. "I was."
"I thought maybe you just carried them around to look smart."
That earned a slightly bigger smile. "I don't think four old books would accomplish that."
"Maybe not four." I looked at the worn covers. "But they're definitely convincing."
She shook her head, still smiling to herself. "They've just been read a lot." There was something almost careful in the way she adjusted them, making sure the pages lined back up before continuing.
"I've had some of these for years."
"My dad gave me most of them."
She paused for a moment, her eyes lingering on the top book.
"He always had books around the house growing up. I don't think there was a room that didn't have at least one shelf somewhere."
A small laugh escaped her.
"My sister used to complain because she'd sit something down for five minutes, and by the next day it'd somehow turned into another stack of books."
I couldn't help laughing.
"So your dad's responsible."
"I'd say so."
She smiled.
"I don't actually remember deciding I liked reading."
Her voice had grown quieter, more thoughtful.
"It was just… normal."
"When I was little, if I couldn't find him, he was usually in his study reading something."
She looked out across the training yard, almost seeing a different place entirely.
"I'd wander in, climb onto his lap, and eventually start reading whatever he was holding."
She laughed softly.
"I didn't understand half of it."
"But he'd never take the book away."
"He'd just answer every question I asked."
I found myself smiling without realizing it. "Sounds like he had a lot of patience."
"He did."
She nodded.
"Probably more than I deserved."
There was a brief pause before she added,
"Tifa usually made it worse."
"Tifa?"
"My twin."
Another smile appeared.
"If Dad was trying to read, she'd interrupt every other page with another question."
"What kind of questions?"
Skye laughed, shaking her head.
"Anything."
"'Why does he have a sword?'"
"'Why didn't he just go home?'"
"'Why are dragons always angry?'"
She covered a small laugh with the back of her hand.
"I don't think we ever finished a story without stopping at least twenty times."
I laughed with her.
"So she wasn't much of a reader?"
"No, but… she always wanted to be involved."
Skye smiled warmly.
"Normally she would just just talk through them more than actually reading."
The way she spoke about her sister felt… effortless.
Not rehearsed.
Not like she was trying to tell me about her family.
Just remembering someone she cared about.
"…You two sound close."
"We are."
She answered without hesitation.
"We're pretty different, but…"
She thought for a second.
"I've never really known what it feels like not having her around."
The smile on her face softened just a little. "I think I'd notice if she wasn't."
I nodded slowly. "I get that."
She looked back at me.
"You do?"
"Mhm."
I leaned back against the practice pillar, folding my arms.
"My older brother and sister are twins too."
That caught her attention immediately.
"They are?"
"Yeah."
"Kensei and Aiken."
"They're both nineteen."
She listened quietly as I continued.
"They've been here at the Academy for four years now."
"Aiken comes home whenever she gets the chance."
I smiled to myself.
"Usually without telling anyone first."
"My mom will be making dinner, the front door opens, and suddenly she's standing in the kitchen asking what's to eat."
A quiet laugh escaped me.
"It happens often enough that Mom just makes extra food now."
Skye laughed softly.
"I like that."
"So do I."
The smile lingered for another moment before fading slightly.
"Kensei…"
I looked toward the castle.
"He doesn't really come home anymore."
I didn't say anything else.
Skye didn't rush to fill the silence either.
She simply nodded.
Almost like she understood there wasn't much more to ask.
After some time, I spoke up again. "Then there's my younger sister."
"Yui."
I smiled again.
"She's twelve."
"She thinks she's already stronger than me."
"Is she?"
I laughed.
"Ask me again in a few years."
That earned another quiet laugh from her.
The courtyard settled into another comfortable silence.
Not the awkward kind.
The sort that only happened when neither person felt pressured to keep talking.
A breeze rolled between the stone pillars, stirring the leaves along the edge of the courtyard.
Skye looked toward the castle for a moment before turning back to me.
"So are you from central Rivenden or another kingdom?"
"Mhm, I grew up here in central but we moved away 6 years ago to a smaller town called Redmere."
She opened her mouth to speak but she hesitated.
More like she was deciding whether whatever she was about to ask was appropriate.
She met my eyes again.
"…Why did your family leave?"
The question was simple.
Quiet.
There wasn't any curiosity for the sake of gossip behind it.
If anything…
It sounded like she genuinely wanted to understand.
I looked down at the cracks running through the stone beneath my feet.
"My mom wanted a fresh start."
The answer came more easily than I expected.
"After my dad died…"
I took a slow breath.
"Everything here reminded us of him."
I glanced toward the castle stretching high above us.
"The house."
"The streets."
"The people."
I smiled faintly.
"It got to a point where it felt like we couldn't go anywhere without someone remembering him first."
I looked back at Skye.
"So…"
"We left."
"Redmere was quieter."
"It gave us somewhere to start over."
Skye didn't speak immediately. She lowered her eyes for a second before giving a small nod.
"…I think I understand."
Her voice was barely above a whisper. There was something about the way she said it.
Neither of us said anything.
The conversation had ended naturally. There wasn't another question waiting to be asked, nor did it feel like either of us was searching for one. We simply stood there for another moment, the breeze moving quietly through the training yard as distant voices drifted across the castle grounds.
Then a deep bell rang.
The sound rolled through the fortress like a wave, low and resonant enough that I could feel it beneath my feet. It echoed off the stone walls, carrying across every courtyard before slowly fading into silence.
A second bell followed.
Then a third.
Skye was the first to look toward the castle overlooking the training grounds.
"I guess that's for us."
Almost as soon as the final chime disappeared, another voice spread throughout the fortress.
Not loud.
Somehow, it reached every corner of the castle just the same.
"Attention, all participants who have successfully completed the First Trial."
Around us, conversations immediately died away.
Contestants who had been training lowered their weapons. Others stepped out from nearby courtyards and walkways, all turning toward the castle as the announcement continued.
"Please report immediately to the Grand Assembly Hall."
"The Second Trial will begin shortly."
The voice faded, leaving only the quiet murmur of hundreds of contestants beginning to move.
Skye adjusted the books beneath her arm before looking back at me.
"…We should probably get going."
I nodded.
"Yeah."
There wasn't much else to say.
Without another word, we joined the growing stream of participants making their way back toward the castle.
The halls were nothing like they'd been earlier.
What had once been quiet stone corridors were now alive with footsteps and conversation. Contestants emerged from nearly every direction, each falling into the same steady flow toward the center of the fortress.
Some sounded excited.
Others looked uneasy.
"I heard the Second Trial's a battle."
"No way. They wouldn't announce a battle."
"Then what is it?"
"No idea."
"I just hope it's not another race."
The conversations blended together until none of them were distinct anymore.
I walked beside Skye in comfortable silence.
Every now and then I'd glance her way, only to find her quietly watching the crowd around us. Even now, she seemed to notice things other people didn't. Someone tripping over their own feet. A participant nervously tapping their fingers against their leg. A pair of contestants arguing over what the next trial might be.
Eventually, the hallway opened into a massive pair of carved wooden doors.
Beyond them lay the Grand Assembly Hall.
For just a second, I stopped walking.
The room was enormous.
Towering marble pillars stretched toward a ceiling so high I almost lost sight of it. Sunlight filtered through stained-glass windows depicting the history of Rivenden, painting long bands of color across the polished stone floor. At the far end stood a broad platform where several Ethereal Knights waited in silence.
The hall itself was already packed.
Hundreds of participants filled the chamber, their conversations echoing softly off the walls.
As my eyes wandered across the crowd, familiar faces immediately stood out.
Kairo stood near the front with his arms folded tightly across his chest, his attention fixed entirely on the platform ahead. Judging by the look on his face, whatever frustration he'd been carrying since his argument with Selene hadn't faded.
Selene stood several rows away, speaking quietly with another participant. She never looked in Kairo's direction.
"…Kin!"
I turned toward the voice.
Rook was standing near the center of the crowd, waving one arm high above his head despite the fact I was already looking straight at him.
Beside him, Milo simply offered a small nod.
Jaki looked like he'd only just woken up. He stretched lazily before noticing me.
"Told you he'd make it."
"He gets distracted," Jaki said with complete confidence. "It's kind of his thing."
"I was training."
Rook raised an eyebrow.
"…Sure."
I looked back toward Skye.
She'd already begun stepping away.
"I'll see you around." She gave a small smile before disappearing into the sea of contestants.
For a second, I watched her go.
"…Kin!"
Rook waved again.
"You planning on standing over there all day?"
I laughed under my breath before making my way through the crowd.
As soon as I reached them, Rook crossed his arms.
"So."
"Were you actually training?"
"Or did you get lost?"
"…Both."
"I knew it."
Jaki pointed triumphantly.
"I literally said he'd get distracted."
Before Rook could keep the conversation going, the room fell silent.
At the front of the hall, one of the Ethereal Knights stepped onto the center of the platform.
He wore regal attire of deep crimson, gold, and black, the fabric layered and precise, each piece fitted with an almost ceremonial perfection. A polished emblem of the Ethereal Knights rested on his shoulder, catching the light as he moved. His face was hidden behind a smooth black mask, featureless and unreadable, while strands of thick messy white hair spilled out from behind it, stark against the dark material.
His presence alone was enough to command the attention of every remaining participant.
He waited.
Not speaking until the last whisper disappeared.
Only then did he begin.
"Congratulations."
His voice carried effortlessly through the Grand Assembly Hall.
"You stand among the few who successfully completed the First Trial."
His eyes slowly swept across the hundreds gathered before him.
"From this point forward, every trial has been designed to test a different aspect of what it means to become an EK."
"The Second Trial will be no different."
A tense silence settled over the room.
"For this trial, each of you will be given seventy-two hours."
"If, within that time, you fulfill the conditions required of you, you will advance."
"If you fail…"
He paused.
"…your journey ends here."
A murmur spread throughout the hall.
Someone several rows behind me whispered,
"What are the conditions?"
The Knight continued as though he hadn't heard.
"The method by which you complete the trial is for you to discover."
"You may encounter one another."
"What you choose to do in those encounters… is entirely up to you."
Another pause.
Then—
"The Second Trial…"
He slowly raised his hand.
"…begins now."
The instant the words left his mouth, a strange heaviness settled over the room.
I frowned.
The floor beneath my feet suddenly felt… distant.
The stained-glass windows blurred.
The voices around me became muffled, as though they were being pulled farther and farther away.
"…Kin?"
Someone called my name.
I couldn't tell who.
My vision darkened around the edges.
The last thing I saw was the Grand Assembly Hall beginning to melt into darkness.
Then—
Everything disappeared.