The man smiled. "You begin to understand."
Jude took a step forward. "What is this?"
"A test."
Jude narrowed his eyes. "A test for what?"
The man spread his arms, gesturing to the battlefield around them. "To see if you are ready."
Jude didn't like the way he said that. "Ready for what?"
The man's golden eyes gleamed. "To awaken."
Jude didn't get a chance to respond before the world shifted again.
The battlefield vanished.
One moment he was standing in the midst of battle, and the next, he was somewhere else entirely.
Darkness surrounded him, stretching endlessly in every direction. There was no ground beneath his feet, no sky above him, and yet he remained standing, suspended in nothingness.
And then, a voice spoke.
It was not the voice of the man in silver and black. It was something deeper, something older. It echoed in his mind, reverberating through his very soul.
"You have walked the path of the forgotten."
