The world reassembled in a burst of fractured light.
Kain blinked, his vision swimming as the relic's trial chamber dissolved into a vast, circular amphitheatre—its obsidian walls etched with glowing violet runes that pulsed like a heartbeat. The air hummed with dense spiritual energy, thick enough to taste, metallic and sharp.
And he wasn't alone.
Four others stood scattered across the chamber, all blinking in similar disorientation. His heart skipped a beat when he recognized Serena a few paces away, especially since the memory of her stabbing him in his last relic trial was still so vivid. Thinking about her expression back then, he found it difficult to make eye-contact now...
Her usually well-kept white hair was a tangled mess, and her usual pristine attire torn at the sleeve. She met his gaze briefly before he looked away, her blue eyes widening slightly in surprise before snapping back into her typical blank expression.
Then his attention drifted to the others.
