The staircase at the far end of the shard arena spiraled downward again, deeper than any descent before. Kael walked in silence, flanked by the others. No one spoke. Even Rina's usual smirking remarks were absent. The last trial had changed them. The Tower had stopped playing games.
After what felt like miles, the stairs opened into a massive stone chamber. The ceiling arched high above, but shadows clung to every surface. A series of hallways branched off in every direction, forming a twisting, maze-like labyrinth.
A sign was carved in ancient letters above the entrance:
Only those who see beyond may pass.
Kael felt the Shard of Insight pulse gently at his side.
Daren motioned for a quick regroup. "Stay close. No splitting up. If this is a maze, it's going to try to isolate us."
"And if we get separated?" Veyr asked, already scanning the symbols along the walls.
"Then we keep moving forward," Kael said quietly.
The group entered the maze, weapons drawn. The walls were covered in moving carvings — images of gods, monsters, and cities crumbling into sand. The floor shifted under their feet, never quite staying the same.
After the third turn, they passed through an arched doorway — and the group vanished from Kael's side.
"Rina? Daren?"
Nothing.
Only silence.
Kael whirled around. The doorway behind him was gone, replaced by a flat stone wall. The maze had separated them.
He clenched his fists, heart pounding. Not from fear — from anger. The Tower always tested strength, but now it was targeting their minds.
Kael focused. The Shard of Insight vibrated in his belt pouch. He pulled it free, and as he activated it, the world shifted.
The walls around him pulsed with faint, glowing threads — pathways the eye couldn't see without the shard's vision. He followed the brightest thread, weaving through the maze with a growing sense of unease.
Voices whispered around him. Echoes of his past.
You abandoned them.
You're becoming a monster.
You're not Kael anymore.
He ignored them. They weren't real. The Tower was trying to shake him.
He reached an open courtyard deep within the maze. A figure stood at the center, cloaked in shadows. Not a monster. A person.
She looked up.
Kael froze.
It was… himself.
But not quite.
The figure's face was identical. Same scar over the eyebrow. Same hardened expression. But his eyes were dead — void of anything human.
"You kept climbing," the figure said. "But what did you leave behind?"
Kael didn't answer.
The double stepped forward. "You'll reach the top. You'll become a god. But you'll lose everything on the way."
Kael activated the Shard of Flame in his hand. The double did the same.
They charged at each other, flames erupting around them. Blades clashed. Sparks flew. Kael felt every strike in his bones — as if he was truly fighting himself.
He couldn't win through brute strength. This was a test of conviction.
The Tower wanted to know if he'd flinch.
He dropped his guard.
The double moved in for the kill.
But Kael didn't strike back. Instead, he looked his shadow in the eye.
"I know what I'm becoming," he said. "And I'm not afraid of it."
The shadow halted.
Then, without another word, it dissolved into mist.
Kael stood alone once more. The maze around him shifted again — the walls pulling back, reforming.
When the dust settled, his team was there, standing at the center of the new chamber.
"You saw it too?" Rina asked, her face pale.
Kael nodded. "Yeah."
Daren stepped forward. "The maze wasn't made to kill us. It was made to show us what we're risking."
"And what we'll have to lose," Mier said.
A golden stairway appeared ahead, leading up this time — a rare mercy.
They began to climb in silence, the weight of the maze still pressing down on their minds.
At the top of the stairs, a platform awaited. In its center stood a statue of a warrior with six wings and no face. In his hands, he held a shard unlike any they had seen — pure white, glowing with a steady pulse.
The Shard of Binding, Veyr whispered.
"One of the six god-shards," Kael said.
They approached slowly. No traps. No monsters. The Tower wanted them to take it — or needed them to.
Kael reached out, hand hovering inches from the shard.
And then it spoke.
Not aloud.
In his mind.
One of six. When gathered, a path opens. When used, a soul is bound. Choose wisely.
Kael gritted his teeth and took the shard.
The Tower trembled.
High above, in levels they hadn't reached, something ancient stirred.
The god-shards were waking.
And Kael had just claimed the first.