The morning mist hadn't yet burned away when Eirana led Kaelen and Kelvin to the center of the ancient Nullcarver hollow once again. The seven runic stones still glowed faintly, humming with residual Qi from the activation the day before. Today, however, the air felt heavier—pressurized, like something immense and invisible had descended from the heavens and was watching them with cold, unfeeling eyes.
"Today," Eirana said, her voice flat and merciless, "you will begin your initiation into the First Juggernaut."
Her tone carried the gravity of a death sentence.
Kaelen shifted his stance, his muscles still humming from the aftereffects of the mana vein baptism. Kelvin rolled his shoulders, giving a grin—forced and brittle.
Eirana knelt and touched the central stone again, pouring a sliver of her blood into it.
The training ground shifted.
