The Awakening Chamber was a perfect sphere carved from a single piece of black crystal that seemed to absorb light rather than reflect it. Kael stood with nineteen other newly Marked individuals on a platform that floated in the chamber's center, surrounded by void. Above them, the ceiling was transparent, offering a view of the evening sky where the first stars were beginning to appear except these weren't normal stars. They pulsed with colors that shouldn't exist, remnants of the Shattering that had broken reality itself.
"Welcome, Chosen of the Marks," a voice echoed through the chamber, seeming to come from everywhere and nowhere. A figure materialized on a higher platform an old man whose body appeared to be partially translucent, as if he existed in multiple places simultaneously. "I am Aldric, Master of the Azure Tower. Today, you will undergo the Awakening the process that will bond your mortal essence with Fragment energy. Some of you will emerge as Conduits. Some will not emerge at all. This is the price of power."
Kael glanced at his fellow Marked. Most wore expensive clothing silks and reinforced leathers that probably cost more than his family had earned in years. A few looked terrified despite their obvious preparation. One girl, perhaps sixteen, was crying silently. A boy with elaborate tattoos stood with arms crossed, projecting confidence that didn't quite reach his eyes.
Then there was Calista, the only other person who looked like she might be from the lower districts. She caught Kael's eye and gave him a sardonic smile, as if to say: We're probably going to die, aren't we?
"The Awakening works through resonance," Aldric continued. "The Fragment energies will flow through this chamber. Your Marks will act as conduits channels for that power. If your essence is compatible, if your will is strong enough, you will successfully bond. If not..." He gestured at the darkness below the platform. "You will fall into the Void Between. There is no shame in failure. The Marks sometimes choose poorly."
"Comforting," Calista muttered under her breath, just loud enough for Kael to hear.
"The ceremony begins now. Do not resist the energy. Do not fight the pain. And above all do not let go of who you are. The Fragments will try to remake you in their image. You must hold onto your core self, or you will become something hollow. Something other."
The old man raised his hands, and the chamber began to hum. The darkness below them started to glow with veins of purple and silver light, like lightning frozen in obsidian. Kael felt the Mark on his palm grow hot, then burning, then beyond burning a sensation that went past pain into something transcendent and terrible.
Energy erupted upward from below.
It was like being struck by liquid fire. The Fragment force poured into Kael through the Mark, and suddenly he wasn't standing in the chamber anymore. He was everywhere and nowhere, experiencing a thousand moments simultaneously. He saw the Shattering the moment three centuries ago when the world broke, when reality fractured into infinite possibilities. He felt the weight of every choice he'd never made, every path he'd never taken, every version of himself that might have existed in different circumstances.
Who are you? a voice that wasn't a voice asked. It came from within the energy itself, from the Fragments that were trying to understand him, catalog him, decide if he was worthy.
"I'm Kael," he gasped, though he wasn't sure if he was speaking out loud. "I'm... I'm from the Rust Quarter. I'm a foundry worker. I'm—"
Insufficient, the voice declared. These are circumstances, not essence. Who ARE you?
The question tore through him. Who was he, really? Not his name, not his job, not even his memories those were just constructs, easily changed. What remained when everything else was stripped away?
Around him, on the platform, others were screaming. One boy collapsed, his body beginning to dissolve into motes of light. The crying girl suddenly stopped crying her eyes had gone completely silver, and when she opened her mouth, only static came out.
"I'm someone who survives," Kael said, finding truth in the words. "I'm someone who refuses to break. I'm angry and stubborn and I don't quit, even when I should. That's who I am."
The energy paused, considering. Then it pushed deeper, and Kael felt something crack inside him not breaking, but opening. A door he hadn't known existed.
Images flooded his mind: His mother's last smile. Ronan pulling him back from a collapsing scaffold. Martha's kindness in a world that offered none. The sharp clarity of hunger. The dull ache of cold. The fierce joy of a rare full meal. The determination to see another sunrise, no matter how many times life tried to stop him.
And underneath it all, like a drumbeat: Survive. Survive. Survive.
Accepted, the voice finally said. But know this, Kael of the Rust Quarter your Mark carries a price. All Marks do. Yours is time itself. You will feel its weight differently than others. Every moment you steal from time's flow must be paid back. Every second you borrow has interest. Use your power too freely, and you will find yourself in debt to something that never forgives.
Before Kael could ask what that meant, the energy released him. He gasped, sucking in air that tasted like ozone and copper, and realized he was on his knees on the platform. His Mark was no longer silver it had turned a deep crimson that pulsed with his heartbeat.
Around him, the ceremony was ending. Of the twenty who'd started, only fourteen remained standing. The others had simply... gone. Fallen into the void below, or dissolved into the Fragment energy, or transformed into something that wasn't quite human anymore.
Calista was still there, her own Mark glowing golden on her wrist. She met Kael's eyes again, and this time her smile was grimmer. They'd both survived. That made them either lucky or cursed Kael wasn't sure which.
"Congratulations, new Conduits," Aldric said, his translucent form solidifying slightly. "You have proven yourselves worthy. Your training begins tomorrow at dawn. Tonight, rest if you can. Process what has happened. And remember the hard part hasn't even started yet."
The platform began to descend, carrying them down through layers of reality until they emerged in a corridor lined with doors. Saphira was waiting there, along with other instructors Kael didn't recognize.
"Your quarters are through those doors," she announced. "You'll find everything you need. Sleep if you're able, though most find the first night difficult. Your bodies are still adjusting to the Fragment energy."
As the group dispersed, Saphira caught Kael's arm. "Your Mark changed color during the Awakening. That's not supposed to happen."
"Is that bad?"
"I don't know. That's what worries me." She studied the crimson spiral on his palm with an intensity that made Kael uncomfortable. "What did the Fragments tell you? During the bonding?"
"That my power has a price. Something about time debt."
Saphira went very still. "Time debt. That's an old term. Very old. I need to research this. Don't use your abilities until I give you clearance. Do you understand?"
"I don't even know what my abilities are."
"Keep it that way for now." She released his arm, but her expression remained troubled. "Get some rest, Kael. Tomorrow, your real education begins."
Kael found his assigned quarters a room larger than the entire space his family had shared in the Rust Quarter. A bed with clean sheets. A window overlooking gardens that glowed with bioluminescent plants. Running water. Heat.
He should have felt grateful. Instead, he felt only a gnawing unease. The ceremony had changed something fundamental inside him. He could feel it a new sense, like a sixth limb he hadn't known was missing. When he focused, he could perceive time itself as a flowing river, and he was standing in the current.
Against Saphira's orders, he reached out with his newfound awareness and gently pushed against the flow.
The candle flame on his desk froze mid-flicker.
His heartbeat thundered in the sudden silence. He held the moment for five seconds, marveling at the impossible stillness, then released it.
The flame resumed its dance. And on Kael's palm, the crimson Mark pulsed once a reminder, or perhaps a warning.
He fell asleep wondering what price those five seconds would eventually cost.