Night had long since fallen.
Kaen was not asleep.
He was sitting on the edge of his bed, his back against the wall, one arm resting on his knee, the other hanging in the air. No lamp. Total darkness.
Outside, everything was silent. The academy slept. Not a sound from the corridor.
Tomorrow, at dawn.
Tomorrow, at dawn, they would know who passed. And those who passed would go where some would never return from. For glory. Or for shame.
Kaen closed his eyes.
'She'll be there.'
He didn't need to wait for the list. He knew. Azriel would be there. He would too. For Solvane, he could still hope — a failure, and she would stay behind. Alive.
But the other one.
Azriel.
She would be there, and nothing could prevent it.
'Is her death set in stone? In a fate no one can change?'
He opened his eyes. The gray ceiling, the black window, his own hand resting flat on the sheet. Nothing had changed. Nothing was going to change.
'How.'
He had only that word. No answer, no plan, no method. Only the certainty of what was coming, and no idea how to stop it.
A light knock came at the door.
Kaen did not move.
The knock came again, more hesitant.
"Kaen…"
Solvane's voice, muffled by the wood.
"I know you're awake."
He stood up.
When he opened the door, Solvane was there. Arms wrapped around herself, a nightgown too large, bare feet. But a direct gaze.
"Come in."
She entered without a word. Kaen closed the door behind her.
Solvane stayed where she was, in the middle of the room. Crossed her arms. Uncrossed them. Not fear — habit.
"You're not going to sleep."
Not a question.
"Neither are you."
She nodded. Silence.
"I'm scared, Kaen."
He didn't tell her not to be. It would have been a lie, and she would have known.
He sat slowly on the edge of the bed and patted the space beside him.
Solvane came over, eyes down. She sat. Not against him — a small space between them, like a courtesy, like an unspoken request for permission.
Kaen didn't close the gap.
But he didn't pull away either.
They stayed like that a long while, saying nothing. Outside, the academy's silence held. Somewhere, very far, a bell tolled.
"And if I don't pass tomorrow?"
Solvane had spoken in a breath. As if afraid she might be overheard.
Kaen did not answer.
'If you don't pass, you live.'
But that — he couldn't say. Not like that.
The silence stretched.
Solvane eventually rested her head on his shoulder. Softly.
He did not push her away.
After a while, her breathing slowed. Steadied.
She had fallen asleep.
The hours passed.
He kept his back against the wall, his shoulder unmoving under her head. At one point, he laid her down carefully on the bed and pulled a blanket over her. She did not wake. She murmured something, in a dream, then settled again, brow furrowed.
'Since when.'
He pushed the thought away.
'For no one else.'
He ended up in the armchair, elbows on the armrests, and fell asleep in turn.
Outside, dawn began to draw itself.
He woke shortly after. He had not really slept. Just drifted.
Kaen rose without a sound. He dressed slowly. Every gesture precise, every movement controlled.
On the bed, Solvane stirred.
"Kaen…"
Her voice was thick with sleep. She sat up, rubbed her eyes. Took a second to remember where she was.
Then she remembered.
The face that changes. The hand that goes to the mouth, as if to stifle something. She said nothing.
"Get dressed," said Kaen. "It's time."
She obeyed, without a word.
They left together. In the corridors, only footsteps.
Solvane stayed close to him. Close enough that their shoulders brushed at every step.
Kaen did not move away.
In front of the great hall, the crowd had already gathered. The doors were closed. A large white sheet hung from one of them — the list. Too far to be read from here.
The candidates pressed forward in waves. Some shoved. Others hung back.
He looked for his own name. There.
Azriel's. There.
Lucien's. There.
He looked for Solvane.
He would have preferred not to find her.
He found her.
Beside him, Solvane read her own name. She said nothing. No relief, no joy. Just a small sound in her throat, like someone receiving news they aren't yet sure they understand.
"I passed," she murmured.
"I see."
She looked at him. Something in her eyes was searching for an answer he could not give.
A voice rose, somewhere in the crowd. A proctor.
"Those whose names appear on the list, to the arena. Now."
The movement resumed. Slow. Mechanical. They followed.
The arena was full. At the center, where the individual matches had been fought, the ground had changed. A dark slab, perfectly smooth, stretched some thirty meters across. No tier of seats came down to it. No one but the called candidates could approach.
Above, on the judges' platform, a woman was waiting.
Black hair, red eyes. She had not changed.
Elisabeth.
Kaen felt his stomach tighten. It was her who would speak. Not the headmistress — whom no one here, except perhaps Azriel, knew the look of, or whether she even existed. No one had ever seen her. People said she existed. That was all. Elisabeth, on the other hand, ran the place. She had run it since her rise.
She waited until all the candidates were in place. Then she spoke.
"You are here because you have passed two trials. The third will be different."
A pause.
"In a moment, a passage will open into a separate space. A world, if you prefer. You will enter it, and you will remain there until the trial ends."
The crowd held its breath. Someone, somewhere, let theirs out too loudly.
"There, you will find creatures. Killing them will earn you points."
Another pause.
"You may also earn points from your fellow candidates. By any means."
The silence that followed was different.
Kaen felt Solvane freeze beside him.
Elisabeth was not done.
"If you fall in that world, you will be sent back here. Most of you."
Most.
No one asked what that meant.
At the center of the slab, the air tore.
No flash. No sound. Just a vertical line that opened in the void, as if someone had cut the world with a knife. On the other side, something was visible. A light. Sand. The edge of a sky that was not the right one.
"Enter."