The Duelmaster raised a hand, and light split the platform again, forming a second ring opposite Kael's. Out of the mist stepped a young woman with pale eyes and a long, violet coat. Her expression was neutral, unreadable, like a mask worn for too long. She bowed once to Kael, then turned to the Duelmaster.
"I volunteer for the challenge," she said.
"You are recognized, Adept Vyra."
Kael's hands clenched unconsciously. His pulse had slowed. His breath had gone shallow. Something inside him was waiting.
"Focus on your anchor," Lira whispered from the edge of the platform. "Your sense of self. That's all that matters."
"Begin," said the Duelmaster.
The lights from the ring surged upward.
Suddenly Kael was not on the platform anymore.
He stood in a field of red leaves under a cracked sky, with thousands of mirrors floating mid-air. Each reflected something different—a memory, a lie, a possibility. Vyra stood across from him, now dressed in black, her hair tied with thorns.
"Let's see what's left of you," she said, voice warped by distance.
She raised a hand, and the mirrors shattered.
Fragments swirled around Kael. One clipped his arm—he saw a flicker of himself as a child, locked in a stone room, screaming.
He grit his teeth. "Not real."
Vyra conjured a second storm. The world around him shifted again. He was in the courtyard from before—the place of the purge. But now he was the one kneeling. Soldiers approached.
Kael clenched his fists.
"Not this time."
The air around him cracked.
He closed his eyes—and reached.
He didn't understand what he did, not fully. But something in him remembered the shape of power. Not a spell. A pattern.
He lifted one hand—and the memory dissolved.
Vyra staggered. The world flickered. Her illusion trembled like glass about to fall.
Kael stepped forward, calm now.
He opened his mouth and spoke words that did not feel like his own.
"Memory bends to weight."
The entire realm convulsed.
The Duel ring exploded into light.
Vyra fell to her knees, gasping.
Kael stood perfectly still, unharmed, and entirely calm.
The Duelmaster raised a hand. "The trial ends."