The air shifted the moment Kaien stepped through the curtain.
It was not colder in the way stone halls usually were. It was still. Pressed down. Controlled. As if the room had forgotten how to move.
Chamber One was vast. Circular. The floor sank gradually toward the center like an inverted dome. Tiered benches lined the walls, carved from dark stone that gleamed faintly under the low light. Sigils covered everything. They ran along the floor. They wrapped around pillars. They spiraled across the walls in patterns that seemed random at first glance, but revealed an order too precise to be human.
No torches burned. No windows let in light. The glow came from the symbols themselves, soft and steady, like the breath of something asleep.
In the center of the chamber sat a raised platform of black stone. It was circular, perfectly smooth, and completely unadorned. Surrounding it were four columns spaced evenly around the perimeter, each one bearing a different crest. One for Astraeus. One for Nyros. One for Varkaan. One for Hollowspire.
Above the center of the room, floating without visible support, hovered a ring of pale crystal. It turned slowly. Its edges shimmered with faint motes of silver and blue. Light spilled from it in quiet waves that did not flicker. It did not hum or vibrate. But its presence settled across Kaien's skin like fine dust.
He stepped carefully to the side and took a place along the lowest bench near the edge of the wall. Others were already seated, spread out across the tiers. Most sat in silence. A few whispered. One candidate stood in the far corner with eyes closed, his hands folded tightly over his chest, lips moving in a silent prayer.
Kaien said nothing.
He traced the shapes in the stone with his eyes. They moved in ways that felt familiar, even though he had never seen them before. Circles inside circles. Patterns that looped back into themselves. One symbol caught his eye. It looked like a curve broken by a single horizontal line.
When he blinked, it seemed to shift.
He looked away.
A quiet voice echoed across the room. It came from somewhere above. Not loud. Not deep. Just present.
"Remain seated until summoned. Do not speak. Do not activate your Veins. Do not step into the center without permission."
The voice faded.
No one moved.
Time passed slowly. The glow did not change. The ring above continued to rotate, steady as breath.
Kaien exhaled through his nose and folded his hands loosely in his lap. He could feel the quiet pressing on the back of his neck. Not with force. With awareness. As if the room was watching. As if the ring above recorded every blink. Every thought. Every heartbeat.
He closed his eyes for a moment.
The feeling under his ribs returned. Faint. Cold. Not painful. Just present.
He opened his eyes again.
The ring still turned. The glyphs still glowed.
And across the chamber, someone else was watching him. Not a scribe. Not a candidate. A figure seated in shadow, half-covered by a pillar. Cloaked in gray.
Kaien looked once. Then again.
When he blinked, the seat was empty.