The climb beyond the sixtieth floor felt like moving through endless dawns and nights.
The higher I went, the closer the pendant's heartbeat matched my own. Every battle, every trial, was no longer just a fight — it was a lesson.
Six Guardians already walked beside me then — Ignis the Flame Warrior, Seraphina the Wind Dancer, Glacien of Frost, Terris the Earth Monarch, Aqualis of Water, and Voltaris the Thunder Wraith.
Together we stepped into the unknown, floors glowing bright like freshly forged stars.
The tower changed from here. It no longer tested brute strength but harmony. Elements fused without permission, colliding in strange pairs — fire turning to magma, water shaping sound, and air condensing into crystal.
I realised that the pendant wasn't giving me new powers out of nowhere; it was merging everything I'd already mastered.
At the seventy‑first floor, a new presence awaited — the Seventh Guardian, a spirit born from music and illusion.
She introduced herself as Sonara, the Mistress of Sound.
Her hair shimmered with rainbow colours, her voice echoing through the air like a choir of thousands.
Her power, Echo of Reality, could bend vibrations into solid matter — a sound so sharp that it could cut or so soft that it could heal.
The battle against her was unlike any other.
Her entire world was music; every step I took transformed into rhythm, and every swing of my blade struck a note. I realised the only way to win was to find balance in that rhythm instead of resisting it.
Together, we played a battle‑symphony until her final note dissolved into peace.
When she bowed, I felt a strange quiet enter my heart — a new power that made my attacks flow like melody instead of chaos.
On the eightieth floor, everything turned shadow‑dark. The walls moved as if alive, and the air smelled of old ashes.
There I met the Eighth Guardian—Umbra, a warrior made of darkness and silver fire.
His power, Nether Dominion, wasn't to destroy but to erase — turning anything struck by his dark flame into stillness, neither dead nor alive.
He tested not my might but my will to stay visible, to stand even when drowned in emptiness.
With Voltaris's thunder lighting the darkness and Aqualis's aura shielding me from despair, I fought his endless assaults until his flames quieted.
Umbra knelt slowly, the black fire on his armour dimming. "You do not fear the dark, Mukul Sharma. Then the night shall walk with you."
His acceptance added depth to the pendant's light, a faint black thread weaving through the shining layers — proof that even darkness bowed to harmony.
The ninetieth floor opened like dawn after endless night. Red petals floated in the air, and warm sunlight poured down from an unseen sky.
Waiting there was the Ninth Guardian, Florien, bearer of Nature and Life.
She looked gentle, but her power was fierce — she could command growth, bloom forests in seconds, or turn vines into steel‑whips that struck with pure life energy.
She did not challenge me with weapons but with compassion. Every time I attacked, she returned energy as healing, forcing me to question why I fought.
The only way to pass was to fight with intention — to prove that my strength was to protect, not to dominate.
When she finally smiled and presented a glowing emerald seed to the pendant, the air itself hummed like spring.
By the time I reached the hundredth floor, all my guardians had gathered behind me—nine spirits of power and devotion, blending flame, frost, wind, water, thunder, earth, shadow, sound, and life.
The Tower glowed at its peak. The final gate appeared like a mirror, reflecting me six times over. The pendant vibrated harder than ever before.
From the light stepped a figure unlike any before — a man in armor half‑black, half‑white, with eyes burning gold and silver. His aura was calm yet terrifying.
"I am Aetherion, the Tenth Guardian, Keeper of Balance**," he declared. "I am every element and none. Defeat me to open the first Realm Gate."
The moment he moved, the entire tower shook. His strikes combined every power I'd ever seen — fire into thunder, wind into water, and ice into sound.
It felt like fighting nature itself.
My guardians fought beside me as one — Ignis's fire wrapped around Glacien's frost, forming magma and vapour; Seraphina's wind guided Voltaris's lightning; Aqualis healed every wound instantly; even Umbra's shadows formed armour around me.
Still, Aetherion's power outmatched us all.
But then, remembering his title, Ivapour, few stopped resisting and released every emotion, every instinct at once—trust, hope, love, and rage. For the first time, all my elements fused freely inside the pendant, streaming through my veins as radiant light.
My blade struck — not with force, but with harmony.
The explosion wasn't one of destruction but creation. Every guardian's energy formed a circle around me, spiralling like constellations.
When the light cleared, Aetherion kneeled, his armour cracked, but smiling. "At last, the balance has returned. From now on, I serve as the keeper of your bridge. My power is Realm Core Control. Through me, you may open the first gate. **"
When I awakened from the battle, the pendant floated above my hand. Inside its core, ten tiny lights spun like galaxies. The voice of Etherion spoke faintly:
"The first gate unlocks—the Door of Unity. You now hold ten keys. Each Guardian embodies an ancient whisper of creation."
A portal opened briefly within the pendant, showing another world — mountains floating upside down, rivers flowing through skies. Before I could step closer, the voice faded.
"Not yet, Mukul. Complete yourself first. Learn mastery before crossing realms."
Following the tenth battle, I emerged from the pendant world and returned to the temple of Aarvak, where the twenty masters waited. The moment they saw the new aura around my body, several of them nodded knowingly.
"You've reached the next threshold," said Master Rudra, smiling faintly. "But strength alone can't sustain it. You must temper balance with wisdom."
I bowed deeply. "Then please guide me, Master."
Over the next months, I trained under five of the strongest masters of keys. Master Rudra in Divine Control, Master Aruna in Soul Flow, Master Yogendra in Astral Defence, Master Ishan in Elemental Fusion, and Master Reva in Mental Discipline.
Each training was a battle in itself — Rudra teaching me how to channel ten elements without tearing my body apart; Aruna showing me how to sense spirit beyond limbs; Yogendra sparring until my reflex matched instinct; Ishan pushing me to fuse techniques mid‑motion; and Reva forcing me to meditate until I could hear silence itself.
Weeks turned into months until the pendant no longer pulsed with instability. It moved in rhythm with my heartbeat, its ten lights steady and calm.
For the first time, I truly felt whole.
And though the Realm Gate whispered faintly in the distance, I knew rushing it was not the path.
Power demanded understanding, and learning was its truest form.
Under my master's gaze and the guardians' silent watch, the real training of destiny had only just begun.