The path of red stone twisted like a serpent through flame-scarred cliffs. Kai moved with caution. Though he had passed the first trial, he knew the next wouldn't test just his strength—or even his will.
It would test what he was willing to lose.
The path ended at a massive obsidian gate, glowing with two rings of flame. The center pulsed red, and as Kai approached, it opened without sound.
He stepped through.
And the world changed again.
This time, there was no fire.
Only snow.
White mountains stretched over a gray sky. Wind howled, and cold cut through Kai like a blade. His flame dimmed, struggling to survive.
He shivered, but moved forward barefoot now, the cold draining his qi.
In the distance, he saw it:
A frozen lake and -lake and - at its center—a girl.
Tied to a pillar of ice.
He ran toward her, the wind screaming louder, his breath visible in the air. As he neared, he saw her face.
His sister.
"Mei?" he gasped.
She looked up. Her lips were blue, her eyes dull.
"Don't let me die," she whispered.
The wind stopped.
A voice echoed across the frozen plain.
"This is the Ember of Sacrifice. To save her, give up your flame."
Kai froze.
"Extinguish your fire." Surrender all qi. Give your heart. And she will live."
"Or… keep it, and walk away. Your path continues. She freezes forever."
He fell to his knees, his breath heaving.
"No," he whispered. "This isn't real."
"IS IT?" THE VOICE ANSWERED. "Are you willing to bet her life on it?"
His flames trembled.
The cold crept deeper, trying to snuff it out.
He remembered Mei and her laughter when they were kids. How she'd wrapped a cut on his hand with her only cloth. How she gave up food for him during the hunger days.
Could he live knowing he let her die—even in a trial?
His hands shook.
He placed them on his chest.
He began the qi severing chant.
His flame flickered, his vision darkened, and pain lanced through his core.
"STOP!"
The voice wasn't the trial.
It was his own.
He looked up.
The girl on the pillar was no longer Mei. Her eyes were black. Her skin melted into ash.
An illusion.
A trick.
The trial feeds on guilt. On memory.
Kai's flames burst outward—gold and furious, melting the snow in a wave.
"I carry my pain," he roared. "But I won't be chained by it!"
The lake cracked.
The girl screamed, then shattered.
The ice turned into steam.
The snow fell into flames.
A circle of fire appeared at Kai's feet.
"The Trial of Sacrifice… passed."
As the vision dissolved, Kai dropped to one knee, panting. His qi was low. The cold was gone but the emotional weight lingered.
Still, he stood.
He walked on.
Outside the trial gate, the second flame ring flared bright. Elder Su closed her eyes.
"He refused to trade his path for sentiment. He's stronger than I thought."
Xuan nodded.
"He passed a trial that most cultivators fail."
Linya asked, "And the third?"
Xuan said nothing.
Because even he wasn't sure Kai would survive it.
Far to the west, in the town of Red Vale, Shades descended.
Silent, cloaked, invisible to mortals.
They slipped through doors and into homes, searching for names connected to one boy.
Kai.
And the killing began.