---
Riven stood before the obsidian gate at the edge of the Vale.
It wasn't carved like the others. It wasn't even stone. It was black metal fused with old magic, sealed by runes that pulsed slowly with crimson light. A circle of flames danced along its edge, flickering in patterns that whispered names he didn't recognize.
This was the door to the Trial of Frames.
He didn't know what was on the other side.
Only that if he failed—he wouldn't be allowed to wield a second elemental Seal.
Not now.
Not ever.
Vaelin stood beside him, arms folded, watching not with concern, but with something older. Expectation, perhaps. Or memory.
"No guidance?" Riven asked.
"You already know what to do," Vaelin said.
The gate split open with a hiss.
Riven stepped through alone.
---
The chamber was a hollow dome—its walls made entirely of flame.
Not real fire, but the memory of fire. It danced without consuming. It radiated no heat, yet it seared something deeper. The floor beneath him shifted with each step, responding to emotion, intent, fear.
He stood in the center, blade drawn, flame coiling around his arm like a sleeping serpent.
Then, without warning, the room bloomed with illusion.
A hundred Riven's stood before him—each from a different moment in his life.
One was the boy from the burning tower.
One was the reckless student who fought the Mirror Knight.
One wore a crown of thorns and blood and looked down at him with disappointment.
They all moved at once.
Riven dodged instinctively, using the Kindling Frame to stay rooted but fluid, his blade redirecting attacks instead of blocking them. His footwork slowed—precise, deliberate.
"I am not who I was!" he shouted.
The illusions pressed in harder.
He pivoted sharply, switching to Ignition. His flame surged outward—not as an explosion, but as a sudden bloom of controlled fury. Two illusions vanished, scorched into ash.
The others hesitated.
He pressed the attack.
The Burn Frame came next—each movement charged, each strike leaving a trail of fire through the air. He didn't think. He didn't flinch. He let the fire guide the blade instead of forcing it.
Only five illusions remained.
Then came the hardest part.
The Ash Frame.
He stood still. Blade at rest.
And waited.
The illusions charged—five enemies, all faster, all younger, all more ruthless.
He closed his eyes.
And breathed.
When he moved, it was with the weight of acceptance.
He didn't dodge.
He flowed.
Each step a memory. Each parry a truth he no longer ran from.
One by one, the illusions fell—flickering into light.
Until only one remained.
The boy in the burning tower.
He held no sword.
Only a pendant.
The same as Riven's.
He looked up, eyes filled with grief.
"I tried," the boy whispered.
Riven lowered his weapon. "So did I."
The boy stepped forward—and dissolved into flame.
Silence fell.
The fire along the walls dimmed, then retreated entirely. Only darkness remained.
Then a voice echoed from above.
"You have passed."
The ceiling cracked open.
Light—real sunlight—poured through.
The gate behind him vanished.
Vaelin stood there, no longer as a teacher—but as a witness.
"You're ready," he said.
Riven stepped into the light.
He felt changed.
Not because of power.
But because of what he had let go.
---
Back in the Vale's sanctum, Seris waited beside a stone table covered in old books.
When she saw him, she smiled—rare, but real.
"You survived."
"Barely."
She held out a parchment.
"Then it's time you choose your second element."
Riven stared at the choices written in glowing ink:
Wind. Earth. Ice. Shadow. Lightning.
Each one called to him in different ways.
But only one echoed deeper.
Shadow.
Not because it promised power.
But because it whispered something familiar.
He pressed his finger to the name.
The ink shifted—burning into his skin.
The Shadow Seal etched itself beside the old one.
He felt cold. Then calm.
Then ready.
---
That night, as the others rested, Riven stood beneath the hollowed ceiling of the Vale.
He raised a hand.
Fire bloomed in one palm.
Shadow in the other.
Together, they danced.
And somewhere, far above, a storm began to gather.
---