The doorway sealed behind Rafe with a low, heavy thud — like the closing of a vault. No light followed him into the next chamber.
Darkness swallowed everything.
Not ordinary darkness.Not absence of light.
A darkness that felt aware.
Breathing.Listening.Hungry.
Rafe inhaled sharply, reaching out with a flicker of light mana at his fingertips.
Nothing happened.
His light didn't expand beyond his skin.It didn't illuminate the room.It didn't even glow.
It was snuffed out immediately.
"…Okay," he whispered. "That's bad."
The ruin's voice spoke at last —
But unlike before, it didn't echo across stone.
It whispered directly into his ear.
"Third trial.Face the Hunger."
Rafe froze.
"H-Hunger…?"
"The force within you that grows with every fear."
He felt something shift in the darkness.Something large.Something scraping across the ground.Something circling him.
He swallowed.
"Is that supposed to be poetic or—"
The darkness moved.
A low vibration — like a distant growl — rippled through the floor and up his legs.
Rafe's knees weakened.
Movement again.Behind him.Above him.Beside him.
Fast.
Silent.
Wrong.
"Okay," he whispered. "This is definitely not poetic."
Then—
A voice.
Not the ruin's.
Not human.
Deep.Rumbling.Familiar.
"Little flame…"
Rafe's blood turned to ice.
That voice.
He had heard it once.
Inside the Whispering Path.Behind his heartbeat.Inside the Shadow's last breath.
The Primordial.
Rafe whispered hoarsely:
"…What do you want from me?"
The darkness responded with a soft, delighted hum.
"To see."
Rafe clenched his fists.
"To see what?!"
"If you burn."
The darkness lunged.
Rafe threw himself sideways, instinct taking over. His shoulder slammed into unseen stone. He scrambled to his feet, breath sharp.
"No light… fine!"
He drew on shadow mana instead — and it responded immediately, swirling around his arm.
But then—
The darkness swallowed that too.
Shadow dissolved into nothing before Rafe could use it.
"…Oh, come on!"
A low chuckle rolled through the chamber.
"Your gifts do not belong to you."
Rafe gritted his teeth.
"They do now."
The darkness paused.
For the first time, the Primordial's voice carried something almost like amusement.
"Then prove it."
A rush of air warned him — movement to his left.
Rafe ducked.
A massive claw carved the air above his head. The wind pressure alone sent him skidding across the floor.
He rolled and got up again, panting.
"Okay… big. Definitely big…"
The darkness shifted, mass heavy and serpentine, scraping stone.
Rafe braced himself.
"You want me to fight without mana…?"
"Fight with truth."
Rafe blinked, confused — and in that moment, the darkness lunged again.
A huge weight crashed into him, slamming him onto his back. The air left his lungs. Something cold pressed against his throat.
Claws.
But they didn't cut.
They pinned.
The Primordial whispered:
"You fear becoming me."
Rafe's vision blurred.
"I'm… not like you…"
"Not yet."
The pressure increased on his chest.
He gasped, struggling to breathe.
"You carry shadow.""You wield hunger.""You touch my nature."
"No…" Rafe choked. "No—!"
"You cannot deny it."
Images flashed behind his eyes — Mara trembling in the clearing… Lyn being swallowed by void… himself, his older self, screaming in rage…
The Primordial's voice grew softer.
"Say it."
Rafe shook his head violently.
"No—!"
"Say what you fear."
Rafe's chest tightened — emotional pain sharper than the physical.
"I'm… I'm afraid…"
"Louder."
"I'M AFRAID OF BECOMING YOU!"
The claws froze.
The crushing weight paused.
Silence.
Then—
Softly.
"…Good."
Everything shifted.
The darkness lifted off him.
Air returned to his lungs.
Rafe curled on his side, coughing violently, sweat pouring down his face.
He pushed himself up, trembling.
"Is… is the trial over…?"
The Primordial's presence shifted, circling him lazily through the dark.
"Almost."
Rafe's stomach turned.
"Almost?! What else—?!"
"Now speak what you choose."
He froze.
"What I… choose?"
"Fear has a shape.""Desire must have one too."
Rafe's heart slammed against his ribs.
"What I want…?"
"Say it."
Rafe felt the weight of the moment settle onto his shoulders — heavier than the claws, heavier than any trial before.
He inhaled sharply.
"I choose—"
The darkness sharpened around him, contracting, listening.
Rafe raised his head.
"I choose to be stronger than what I fear."
The darkness stilled.
Silent.
Then—
Light.
A single beam — thin as a thread — pierced the darkness from above, illuminating Rafe and only Rafe.
The Primordial whispered:
"Accepted."
The room cracked with sound — stone shifting, mana vibrating.
The darkness retreated, sucked back into the walls like smoke drawn into lungs.
A door formed ahead.
Rafe stood.
Shaking. Exhausted. Scared.But alive.
And something inside him felt quiet for the first time.
Not stable.Not perfect.Not complete.
But quiet.
He exhaled.
"…Next chamber, then."
He stepped forward.
The door opened.
And waiting inside—
Was something he did not expect.
Not a monster.Not a trap.Not another trial.
A person.
A grown man.
Tall, cloaked, and standing with his back turned.
Rafe froze.
The man spoke without facing him:
"…You took longer than I thought."
Rafe's pulse spiked.
He knew that voice.
Knew it deeply.
Painfully.
"…Father…?"