The cold press of the feather against Kael's neck was the only thing keeping him steady in the dark of Barracks Nine. Valen's taunts still echoed, but the needle's throbbing had eased — now just an ache deep beneath his skin. For the first time since the Black Gate, the whispers in his head weren't shrieking. They were quiet. The feather's rune glowed faintly, painting soft patterns on the ceiling, pulsing with his heartbeat.
They fear what they can't cage.
The scarred Hunter's words weren't just defiance. Kael knew that now. They were a map. He gripped the feather tightly. It's chill helped him focus past the sting of his bruises. He didn't close his eyes to sleep — he closed them to listen. Not to the Void, but to the steady hum that matched the fire trapped beneath his skin.
Dawn came, bruised and bitter. The Crucible Yard felt colder than usual as the initiates formed up, ash clinging to their boots. Commander Rhys stood waiting, dark and still as stone. Valen's glare burned holes in Kael's back. The needle gave a warning throb, but Kael didn't flinch.
"Today, you enter the Echo Chamber," Rhys announced. She pointed to the black, windowless structure at the yard's edge. It looked like a bunker — or a tomb. "Inside, the Echoes of past Gates remain. Illusions. Memories. They aren't real, but they can kill. Your task: reach the Resonance Shard at the center. Bring it out."
A ripple of unease went through the group. Even Valen's smirk faded.
"Use your runes only to steady your mind," Rhys warned. Her gaze cut to Kael. "If anyone loses control and collapses the field, you'd better hope the Echoes finish you before I do."
Kael touched the feather under his tunic. Maybe it could help him keep focus.
Valen drifted closer as they approached the entrance. "Try not to shatter in there, Void Rat," he muttered. His hand brushed his neck in a silent threat.
The chamber swallowed them whole. Light. Sound. Even the feel of solid ground.
"The world tore apart."
Suddenly, Kael stood knee-deep in freezing black water. Gates pulsed in the torn sky above, and the stench of rot filled the air. Screams echoed across the water — inhuman, high-pitched. A wave hit him hard, and cold sliced through to his bones.
Echo, he reminded himself. It isn't real.
But it felt real. He forced his hand away from his rune. He couldn't risk using it. Instead, he pressed the feather to his chest. The cold grew sharper. The chaos didn't vanish, but it faded just enough. The feather dampened the noise, turned the terror into something distant, like static on a broken radio.
A shimmer ahead marked the Shard's path. Blue light, steady through the swirling red mist. Kael pushed forward.
Then Valen appeared, clutching a Shard of his own. His face was tight, his rune glowing gold, holding the Echoes at bay.
"Lost?" Valen's voice was thin, strained. "Or just burning up from the needle?"
The golden light flared. The needle's fire hit Kael like a spear of ice, driving him to his knees.
Valen moved closer, smirking. "See? You don't belong. You're a mistake."
Kael's vision blurred from pain. The Echoes surged closer. The feather's cold was failing.
But instead of fighting the pain, Kael channeled it into the feather, into the Echoes themselves. The feather flared indigo.
Valen's golden bubble failed. The Echoes rushed in, and terror twisted his face. He stumbled back, his rune flickering out.
The needle's burn vanished. Kael grabbed the Shard and ran, the walls of the chamber howling in protest.
He burst into the yard, gasping. Valen came out soon after, pale and shaking.
"Pit. Three hours," Rhys ordered, her eyes on Kael's collar where the feather's light still glowed faintly. She stepped close, tugged his tunic aside, and saw it.
"Clever," she muttered. "But sparks get stamped out."
Kael saw the scarred Hunter watching. The silent gesture at his neck. Then the Hunter pointed to the high spire where the Assessors waited.
The message was clear: The knife fears the spark. But the hand holding the knife — that's the danger.
Far above, the nearest Gate flickered once. A sickly green wink in the sky.
End of Chapter 6.