Sion took a deep breath and tried to relax, but nothing was working. The area he was in felt chilly, not the normal type of cold; that was way too different. He did not know where he was due to the lack of light within the place.
He slowly stood up on his feet and looked around with his eyes narrowed, wondering what could possibly be going on. They said it was a trial, but he sensed nothing near him, not a single living or breathing thing. All he could hear was his own breathing and the soft gusts of wind.
His eyes narrowed as he stepped forward; a cavernous space stretched out before them. Walls shimmered like obsidian glass; veins of purple were pulsing across their surfaces like slow, breathing wounds. There was no ceiling—just a swirling mist of shadows above.
He was not alone and he knew that very well, after what had happened in the great hall only minutes before. Hundreds of students had been scattered across the vast terrain—each waking up in a different place, disoriented and confused.
Some were already panicking.
Others stood still, sensing the danger.
Then came the voice—deep, echoing from everywhere and nowhere at once.
"Welcome to the Depths. You have no mentors here. No safety nets. Only one rule: survive. Even if you have to fight the other, you may do so. There are three red stones carved with an ancient marking of a dragon; only one is real. Find it."
Something moved in the mist. A long, slithering shadow—far above. Then more. Dozens. Each of them inhuman.
Sion's mark burned suddenly, and he staggered, clutching his back. The pain was sharper now, like something had been awakened by this place.
From the far end of the chasm, shrieks erupted as the mist formed into shape—hulking creatures emerging with no clear faces, just writhing limbs and jagged edges.
And the weakest students? They didn't even have time to scream.
Sion's pulse spiked. His mind raced and his eyes widened. Were they actually dying?
He had not prepared for this. No equipment. No knowledge of what he could even do.
But then again…
Neither did the monsters know what he was yet; no one did, nor did he.
And in the shadows behind the veil of the Depths, something was watching. Something ancient. And it whispered:
"We have found you, my sweet boy."
A woman wrapped in black and red silk, long raven hair flowing down her back, face hidden by the hood of her cloak, eyes blazing green emerald, shone in the dark.
Her body pressed against his side as she peeked at him and he tensed up before glancing at her, wondering who she was and why she just showed up out of nowhere.
"I have been watching you. I am not a student, but I have come to observe you. I can sense a weird energy within you; soon enough you will awaken something," She said, her lips brushing against his ear and he pulled away.
"Who are you and why are you here?" He asked and she chuckled, her eyes gleaming with a look that screamed wanting and for what reason he had no idea; there was not much more to him other than his looks in that body.
She sighed and stepped forward, keeping a distance, once she saw he was not the type of man to swoon. "I am Miska. I am just a silent observer of how things go around here and you grabbed my attention. That is all that I will say to you for now."
"Have fun and do not get killed. Listen to your instinct; it will help and do not push away any urges you feel." She said, before disappearing.
His eyes narrowed after she left and he reached back, his finger trailing his back in that area and his brows furrowed. Maybe he could use that to his advantage after all.
His attention snapped back to the trail when a screech split the air like a blade.
Sion turned his head just in time to see one of the nearby students, an arrogant-looking boy in silks, get dragged screaming into the fog by something with too many limbs and not enough flesh.
Blood misted the air and his eyes widened in shock, wondering if it was real or if it was all a setup. He knew certain things the academy could not risk, which made him wonder even more about what was happening. To anyone, it would be confusing to know what was real and what was not.
Panic gripped the other students, who now began to come into view. Since their arrival, the space was no longer separating them like it was before; everyone was trying to find one of the stones and in his eyes, he noticed a group already had one of them.
Two girls bolted blindly into the dark. A group of three huddled together, forming a shaky defensive circle, chanting spells with the stone in the middle. One older student ignited a fire rune—too slow. Something darted past and ripped the flame, but the boy managed to dodge it and the flames formed around them.
Sion's back throbbed once again, and he dropped to a knee with a hiss; this time it was far more painful than it was before.
The mark again, it felt as though it was burning to life, waking up even more than it already was; something did not feel right in any way.
It burned like searing ink beneath his skin, but this time… he didn't scream. He felt it pulling. Not just pain anymore, it was as though it was reacting in some sort of way that he could not understand.
He clenched his jaw, scanning around the area that some of them were now in with him. "Focus, dammit…"
The Depths were not just a trial any longer. They were alive.
The terrain kept shifting, black roots emerging and retracting, like veins under skin. Fog pulsed in waves, revealing flickers of movement just outside vision. The shadows watched them and they could all sense it, some fearing for their lives, not knowing what was true and what wasn't.