Fire. Screams. Smoke. The sound of something breaking again and again, like the world was being crushed and rebuilt only to be destroyed once more. It didn't stop. It didn't slow. It only looped, endlessly, until Xaden couldn't even tell which part was real anymore.
The Hollows closed in.
He couldn't see their faces — only the space where a face should have been — but he felt them. Around him. Behind him. Inside his head.
This is all there is. The dry voice whispered in his mind.
This is how everything ends.
His legs gave out before he even realized he was falling. The ground rushed up to meet him and he hit it hard, but the pain barely registered. His chest felt tight. Too tight. Every breath scraped his throat like glass.
He tried to move.
Nothing happened.
His body refused. His thoughts refused. Even fear was fading, replaced by something heavier, something colder — a slow, choking weight pressing down on him from the inside.
The world burned again.
Buildings collapsing. People screaming. Blood soaking into cracked concrete. The same images over and over, so many times they stopped feeling shocking and started feeling inevitable.
This was the truth, the Hollows were saying.
Not hope. Not survival. Not strength.
Just destruction.
Just the end.
Xaden shut his eyes, but the images didn't disappear. They were inside him now, clawing through his mind, forcing him to watch, forcing him to accept it. His fingers curled weakly against the floor as something inside him finally began to give way.
Maybe this was it.
Maybe this was where everyone broke.
Another scream echoed — Leo's voice this time — sharp, terrified, cut off before it could finish. The sound hit him harder than the fire, harder than the blood, harder than the visions of the city falling apart.
And suddenly something inside him went still.
'Is this what you want me to know?' He thought, as the world burned once again.
But this time, he didn't try to stop it.
Didn't try to fight it. Didn't try to deny it. Didn't try to convince himself it wasn't real.
He just watched.
Watched the flames spread. Watched everything collapse. Watched the chaos unfold exactly the way the Hollows wanted him to see it.
And instead of fear, something else began to rise in its place.
Understanding.
This wasn't punishment.
This wasn't random.
This was a change.
Everything that mattered had been born from something breaking first. Every step he had taken, every time he had survived, every moment that had forced him forward — none of it had happened in peace. It had happened in chaos.
The Hollows wanted him to fear it.
But chaos wasn't the enemy.
Chaos was the reason he was still here.
His breathing slowed.
The weight pressing down on him loosened slightly, like the darkness itself wasn't sure what to do anymore. The whispers faltered. The burning world flickered.
Xaden forced his fingers to move.Slowly. Painfully. He steadied his mind, and they began to twitch.
He opened his eyes.
The flames were still there. The destruction was still there. The Hollows were still surrounding him.
But the fear was gone.
If the world was always going to burn, why shouldn't he let it? In fact, why shouldn't he revel in it? Since it was inevitable, why couldn't he use it instead? Use it to create a ladder, so he could climb and climb and be on top of the world, and watch as it burned by his own two hands.
Watched as the system designed to oppress people like himself shattered.
He held that thought, cradled it to his chest, and let it fill every part of his body with new energy. A new form of power. All his to wield, bend, and shape however he liked.
The Hollows flinched. For the first time, they wavered. Parting as Xaden pushed himself up to his feet, their ghostly forms seemed to be watching him move, even as he staggered a little, finally standing hunched over. His head was throbbing like it could explode any minute.
Whatever the Hollows had done, they had drained him of whatever vitality he had left. He was lucky to have escaped their claws before the timer ran out.
Not more than 48 seconds left till the door was gone for good, and he failed. Failed to reach Heaven's door in time, the way towards his ascension. And the key...
Xaden dragged in a big gulp of air that tasted like metal, forcing himself to move forward towards the red door. Pain tore through his side, his arm shook, his body dragged, but he kept on pushing himself forward.
Closer. Closer. Closer...
The Hollows lingered at the edges, faceless and patient, but their hold had faltered. They were not a victory—they were a challenge. A lesson. And he had learned.
What it took to change the world.
Xaden's fingers brushed the door. Warmth. Promise. Life. Hope.
'Please...'
He gave it a gentle push, and a brilliant light shone throughout the room, so bright that all the hollows were obliterated as soon as it touched them, so bright that it spread around him and became all that there was, leaving Xade weightlessly floating in it. He closed his eyes; the door had opened, and along came that little ding in his head.
'Congratulations, candidate.' The Crucible announced in his head. 'You have completed the first crucible.'
Prepare for your reading.
Xaden slowly opened his eyes and found himself in the middle of utter and complete nothing. It was a dark void, all the light from the red door opening erased. There were stars at least. Stars all over that dotted everywhere around him, so it seemed like he was floating in deep space.
The stars became brighter and brighter as though they were coming closer, or Xaden himself was unawaringly moving closer to them. Now, he was close enough to see galaxies form and watch supernovas take shape.
Within the blink of an eye, stars were born and exploded in a burst of light, their fiery fragments drifting away to cool and settle down, forming planets, moons, and solar systems.
'Order out of chaos.' Xaden realized, suddenly feeling a tad philosophical. Although he didn't care much about all that for now, he was still exhausted. He wondered why he was seeing all this. Usually, he thought the candidates simply unlocked their special ability and received one or two things the Crucible wished to give them to help on their journey.
So why was he here at the centre of the universe?
Ironic, really.
'You have received a cursed item: Ariadne's String.'
The voice that spoke was deep and a little disquieting. It seemed as though whatever energy made up the stars and galaxies was speaking directly to him, which only served to mystify Xaden even further. Though he wasn't complaining. Cursed items were a rarity even among top sectors and semi-important figures.
Xaden felt his luck might be getting better. He wanted to check out just what the string was immediately and could do immediately, but he would have to wait as his reading wasn't over just yet.
'Candidate, this marks the end of your first crucible.'
'You were a lomesome candidate, venturing into a broken city unarmed, half-starved, and hunted by the silence of empty streets. Unknowingly stepping through the ruins of a society that had once believed itself to be eternal.'
'You have survived despite insurmountable odds.'
'You have found the key to heaven; the understanding that for one to fully ascend. One must not run away from chaos; one must endure it. Accept it as a vital part of creation itself. To revel in chaos, then bend it to your will.'
'You have unlocked your ability.'
Xaden held his breath, hanging on to every word. When the crucible put it like that, he sure did sound brave, even when he had no idea what he was doing half the time and was trying to survive. Nonetheless, he patted himself on the back.
His ability... What could it be?
The crucible answered.
[CHAOS WIELDER]
[Rank:Ancient god tier]