Sylas sat still in the hospital bed, staring at the dust particles dancing in the sunlight.
His thoughts drifted far from the sterile walls and the faint beep of machines.
"Maybe… a small farm. A quiet place. A wife who smiles at the little things. Children running barefoot through the grass. Nothing grand, just peace."
A soft dream—something he had never allowed himself to want before. Not until now.
The door creaked open.
Jack stepped in, holding a white envelope. His face was pale, his hands visibly trembling. He stood there for a moment, like a man who had rehearsed something too many times and still didn't know how to say it.
Sylas looked at him and tilted his head, the faintest smile tugging his lips.
"Jack… what is it?"
Jack didn't speak. Not at first. His grip tightened on the envelope.
Sylas's eyes narrowed slightly—not at Jack, but at what shimmered behind him. A faint aura. The color of his soul.
It was turning dark.
"He's afraid. Guilt? Or something worse."soul was shifting color it's and eye of Soul, another blessing from the trial.
"Did you read the letter?" Jack finally asked, voice shaking. As he wants to say something but can't since, Sylas Desperate about to live a normal life.
Sylas glanced at the envelope on the side table. which Colonel Left it, he didn't read it since he thought it might a Congratulations Letter, since Many people die form trial, it's hard to Conquer.
"I was about to," he replied calmly. "Figured I'd give it the weight it deserved." Truth was he forget about letter but since he can't speak directly truth because of flaw.
Jack took a step closer. "Please read it… before I say anything. I—I need you to understand what's inside. I need you to see it yourself."
Sylas's fingers curled slowly around the letter, sensing the shift in the air—the tension so thick it nearly choked him.
His dream had just cracked. he Start understanding one think, Surrounding becaoem silent it's means something is not right.
And whatever this letter held… he could feel it. a devilish Smile behind the Fate.
Sylas unfolded the letter with trembling fingers. His eyes scanned each word slowly, deliberately, like the weight of every sentence was dragging him deeper into something he couldn't escape. The paper trembled in his grip, fragile as his hopes.
Word by word.
Line by line.
His hand shook. His chest rose and fell with uneven breaths. A single tear slid down his cheek before he even realized he was crying. It wasn't just disbelief—it was heartbreak buried under layers of silent dread.
He began to sweat, his mind spinning in circles. He couldn't understand.
Why now?
Why again?
He had survived. He had walked through a nightmare and crawled back to life with bloodied hands and shattered bones. He deserved peace—just a quiet, ordinary life. A small dream. A farm. A wife. Children. Laughter in a home that smelled like warmth. Was that really too much to ask?
But fate... fate had other plans.
Sylas looked up, his eyes dim, voice breaking as he asked,
"Is this…Real?"
The room was too quiet. Jack didn't answer, frozen in place, the guilt all over his face.
"Isn't there any other way to stop this?" Sylas whispered, softer this time, like a child asking for something he already knew was impossible.
"I have to leave this world…?" he said again, barely holding back the pain. "Just when I started to live again…"
His voice cracked—innocent, broken, and full of disbelief. The kind of disbelief only someone who had survived hell could feel… only to be told it wasn't over yet.
He had finally escaped the darkness.
But now, it was calling him back.
Orginal letter
Libeus Federal Government
Department of Dimensional Affairs
Rift Integration Bureau
ID: #942-TN
To:
Sylas Buny.
Room 37B, South Star Medical Center
Libeus Sector-9, Earth District
Subject: Official Notification of Ranker Awakening and Urgent Action Required
Dear Mr. Sylas,
First and foremost, allow us to offer our congratulations. Recent scans conducted through the Dimensional Synchronization Protocol have confirmed your successful Ranker Awakening. You are now officially recognized as a Candidate of the Tenmares Trial.
Following years of covert observation and post-awakening analysis, the Libeus Federal Government has confirmed the existence and mechanics of the Trial Pathway Phenomenon. Those who survive a trial unknowingly become bound to its rules—most notably, the Pull Effect.
This means, Mr. Sylas: You can no longer remain in this world.
The Pull Effect will begin its final phase within 20 days. If you do not transition willingly into the Tenmares Trial system, you will either:
Be forcibly teleported, without preparation or support; or
Begin suffering mental collapse, including hallucinations, spiritual instability, or complete soul detachment.
Both outcomes have been confirmed through prior Ranker cases. We regret to inform you that there is no known method to reverse this.
In response to this dangerous discovery, the Libeus government has founded the Ranker Integration Academy (RIA)—a specialized facility built to train, educate, and prepare awakened Rankers for survival within the Tenmares Trial.
You are hereby invited and urged to report to RIA Facility-01, located in Central Libeus, within the next 72 hours. Failure to respond within the next 20 days will result in involuntary extradition to the Trial Realm without guidance or protection.
At the academy, you will receive:
An overview of Tenmares Trial structures and regions
Tactical training and survival tools developed by ex-Trial veterans
Information regarding potential allies and known threats within the Trial
Soul conditioning to stabilize your spirit before the Pull completes
We understand that this news may be difficult to accept. However, your safety—and possibly your sanity—now depends on swift, decisive action.
May your will remain unbroken.
Sincerely,
Administrator Callen Vorth
Head of Rift Affairs – Libeus Federal Government.
Sylas looked at Jack.
The man was standing still, frozen like a statue, lips parted but no words coming out. His fists were clenched, knuckles pale.
Jack had known Sylas long enough to understand—this wasn't just about a letter. It was about fate, and how it kept clawing back at someone who only ever wanted peace.
He remembered Sylas's file. Every damn page of it.
An orphan.
No family.
No warmth.
Born in the shadows of a broken world, Sylas had never tasted the simple things people took for granted. A mother's touch.
A father's hug. A home filled with noise and love.
He chased it all his life—not for power, not for glory—but for the feeling of being held, being wanted.
Jack swallowed the lump in his throat.
He had seen how Sylas survived when others didn't. Five years ago, Sylas had been pulled into the Trial—an impossible place known only to a few as Tenmares Trial.
A hell woven from nightmares. Most people died in there, shredded apart by fear or crushed by despair.
But Sylas didn't die.
He endured.
His will to live was terrifying. Strong enough to bend the rules of the world. Instead of dying, his body entered a coma. Scientists studied him like a miracle, a glitch in the system. But they learned something horrifying.
Those who survive the Trial...
Don't belong to Earth anymore.
They carry the Tenmares soul.
And the Trial always takes back what belongs to it.
Jack's voice trembled as he finally spoke.
"Sylas… I didn't want this either. I read your entire report. Everything you went through. How you kept breathing even when life gave you every reason to give up."
He took a step closer, eyes heavy with guilt.
"Sylas"
Sylas didn't answer. His eyes were fixed on the letter again, like it would somehow change if he stared hard enough. But it didn't.
The truth stayed the same.
The Trial was coming for him.
And he only had 20 days left.
Sylas placed his trembling hand over his eyes. For a moment, silence.
Then—
He threw his head back and laughed.
Loud. Wild. Unhinged.
The kind of laugh that didn't come from joy… but from something broken, something that snapped deep inside the soul.
The room froze. Patients turned toward him, startled. Nurses peeked through the door, whispering.
"Hey… isn't that the guy who survived the Trial?"
"Yeah, that's him! I heard he conquered it. The government even backs him now. Why is he acting like this?"
More voices followed, murmurs swirling in the sterile air of the hospital ward.
But Sylas didn't hear them. His laughter twisted mid-breath—smooth, sudden. It turned into a cry.
Tears poured freely down his face, soaking the bedsheets. His shoulders shook as he clutched his head, crumbling forward like a man defeated by something no one else could see.
And then—he shouted.
"JUST KILL ME!"
His voice echoed across the room.
"Why are you toying with me, O God?! Why—WHY?! I walked your path! I kept your laws! I never strayed… never sinned! So why me?!"
The plea wasn't dramatic—it was *raw*.
It wasn't for pity—it was *mourning*.
Desperate, cracked, and real.
He wasn't asking for answers.
He was begging for mercy.
Sylas had survived the Trial. Survived the torture. Survived hell.
And just when he reached for peace—
Fate laughed in his face. Again.
Jack couldn't speak. He stood at the door, silent, his grip tightening on the report in his hands.
He knew Sylas. He knew this boy—this man—had never once lived a peaceful day. He knew Sylas didn't dream of glory or riches, just a small farm… a loving wife… a family to call his own.
And now… fate came knocking again. No. Not fate.
Tenmares.
The Trial had marked him.
And it never lets go.
Sylas's eyes widened, a glint of madness breaking through his despair.
"…If this Trail won't let me rest," he muttered, breath shaky, "Then I'll burn it down before it takes me again."