When Kael turned, the monk was gone. Vanished. The entrance, too, had disappeared, replaced by a void.
Words materialized in the air:
> ◇ Trial Completed.
◇ You have been rewarded.
◇ You have received 3 echos: Idols of The Blind Gods
◇ You may Exit The Trial.
Kael stared into the void. It stared back, formless, hungry. He knew better than to hesitate. The Nexus did not reward doubt.
He stepped forward—
He took a deep breath and clenched his fists and he walked out of the chamber into the void.
> ◇ Exiting Trial.
________
He left the trial a new man, one born from a type of desperation only the Nexus could afflict in a person.
The gateway to the Second Reach wasn't a door but a wound—a jagged tear in reality, its edges shimmering with unstable Etherion. Kael steps through, his boots sinking into gravel that glitters like crushed glass.
