The Stone Hollow looked different in the morning light.
The fires were long dead, leaving only charred circles in the earth where the torches had once burned.The gathered figures had vanished like mist.
Only Kahel remained.
Token in hand.
Varen approached him with a casual stride, hands in his pockets.
"Congratulations," he said. "You get to live."
Kahel didn't answer.
The adrenaline of the night still hummed through his veins, but he kept his face calm, his breath steady.
"Don't get too proud," Varen added. "The real test isn't fighting. It's surviving what comes next."
He jerked his thumb over his shoulder.
"Come on. Time to see the guts of it."
They walked in silence.
Off the beaten paths, through thick woods, across forgotten fields where even the birds didn't sing.
After a long hour, Varen stopped before an old train tunnel half-buried by vines and moss. The metal frame was rusted, the darkness inside absolute.
Without hesitation, Varen stepped in.
Kahel followed.
The tunnel stretched longer than it should have.
Longer than any abandoned railway Vouille could possibly hide.
Kahel felt the pressure shift the moment they passed deeper inside, a faint hum in the air, a tingling in his skin.
Qi.
Old and layered, woven into the walls themselves.
They crossed a threshold Kahel couldn't see, and the darkness peeled away like a curtain.
On the other side was a new world.
Underground halls lit by dim crystals embedded in the stone.Long corridors branching in every direction.Figures moving quietly, dressed in simple dark uniforms marked by the broken-blade symbol.
Kahel's senses sharpened instantly.
The qi density here was heavier than anywhere on the surface.Training grounds echoed with the clash of fists and the hum of energy techniques.Rooms filled with artifacts, scrolls, weapons—some ancient, some new.
He could feel it in his bones.
This was where the hidden world lived.
They passed groups of young fighters sparring under the watchful gaze of older instructors.Passed scholars hunched over open books filled with ancient scripts.Passed blacksmiths forging weapons that shimmered with faint blue runes.
Some stopped to glance at him.Most didn't care.
One boy, maybe sixteen, sneered openly as Kahel walked by.
"Another stray," the boy muttered. "Won't last a month."
Kahel ignored him.
He wasn't here to prove anything to anyone.
Only to himself.
Varen led him deeper into the complex, finally stopping outside a heavy door carved with three symbols: Earth, Sky, and Blade.
He knocked once, sharp and loud.
A voice answered.
"Enter."
Inside was a room that smelled faintly of sandalwood and steel.
Behind a massive desk sat a woman Kahel hadn't seen before.
Tall, with silver hair tied in a long braid, and eyes like polished stone.
She wore no visible rank, but the pressure radiating from her body made Kahel's qi coil tighter inside him.
True strength.
Refined, unyielding.
Varen bowed his head slightly.
"Commander Ilyana," he said. "Stray applicant accepted."
Ilyana studied Kahel for a long, heavy moment.
"You are Kahel of Vouille," she said.
It wasn't a question.
"Yes," Kahel answered.
She tapped a single finger on the desk.
"You fought well. Better than most self-taughts who stumble into our world."
Kahel remained silent.
She pushed a thin black folder across the desk.
"These are your induction orders. You are now a Provisional Initiate."
She glanced up, gaze sharp.
"You will not be treated equally. You will not be protected. You will be watched."
Kahel nodded once.
"You will receive a mentor," she continued. "Someone who will determine if you are worthy of full acceptance."
Her lips twisted into a faint smirk.
"Or if you should disappear quietly."
Kahel's eyes narrowed slightly.
Ilyana pressed a button under her desk.
The door behind Kahel opened.
Footsteps approached.
When he turned, Kahel saw a familiar figure leaning casually in the doorway.
Short black hair tied in a high knot.
Sharp eyes.
A faint, knowing smile.
Liora.
"You're stuck with me now," she said lightly, tossing him a small black badge.The word Initiate was etched onto its surface.
"Try not to die before the fun starts."