The training chamber beneath the Ash Sanctuary was a cathedral of stone and flame. Runes flickered across the walls like restless spirits, and jagged rocks jutted from the floor, each one scorched by past battles. In the center, a ring of glowing ash marked the Trial Circle.
Elliot stepped inside barefoot, stripped of armor, weapons, and even his pride.
All he had… was the Mark.
Kaelith circled him slowly, her voice cold and clear. "This is your first trial. You don't get out until the flame inside you either listens... or consumes you."
From the edges of the ring, monks of the Order watched silently. Among them, Rhaemir stood with his hands clasped, eyes closed as if listening to something beyond this realm.
A gong rang once.
The Trial had begun.
---
At first, nothing happened.
Then the air shimmered.
From the shadows of the chamber, a shape emerged — tall, monstrous, its body built from obsidian and burning coal. A Flame Revenant, summoned from the furnace of forgotten battles.
Its roar echoed like a collapsing volcano.
Elliot stepped back, his chest tightening. He could feel the Mark pulsing. Burning. Begging to be released.
But how?
The Revenant charged.
Elliot dodged left, barely escaping the molten blade that slammed into the floor where his head had been. Sparks exploded around him.
He rolled, stumbled, and tried to summon fire — but nothing came.
His magic was there... but distant, like a storm behind a door he didn't know how to open.
Kaelith's voice rang out:
> "The flame won't answer fear. Speak to it!"
"Speak to it?!" Elliot growled, leaping behind a rock pillar as the Revenant struck again. "What do you think I'm trying to do?!"
---
The creature raised its blade again — but this time, Elliot didn't run.
He closed his eyes.
Breathed.
> "If you're inside me… then burn for me. Now."
A silence.
Then—
FWOOOOOM!
The Mark exploded with light, flaring across his chest like a sunburst. Fire erupted from his hands, wild and golden, unlike any magic the monks had seen before. It didn't just burn — it sang, ancient and beautiful, filled with symbols and whispers.
The Revenant swung its molten blade—
Elliot caught it with his bare hands.
The fire didn't hurt him.
It obeyed him.
With a roar, he redirected the creature's own blade, twisting the flame into a spear and driving it through the Revenant's core.
The beast let out one last screech and burst into black glass and cinders.
Silence fell over the chamber.
---
Elliot stood there, chest heaving, glowing with power. The Mark pulsed once more… then faded.
He looked around. Everyone stared in awe — even Kaelith.
But Rhaemir… Rhaemir had gone pale.
He whispered to himself, more to the spirits than the people:
> "That fire… it's not from this world. It's older. Deeper. And it's waking up."
---
Later, as Elliot sat alone in the Sanctuary's garden, Kaelith approached quietly.
"You controlled it," she said. "For your first trial… that was terrifying."
Elliot smirked, exhausted. "Thanks."
"But next time…" she added, tossing him a water flask, "try not to almost die. Again."
They sat in silence a moment. Then Kaelith asked, more serious this time, "Do you feel it now? The flame?"
Elliot looked up at the stars through the open cavern ceiling.
> "No," he whispered. "It feels… like something else is watching me through it. Like I opened a door I wasn't supposed to."
And somewhere — far beyond Eldraya — a creature awoke in the dark, its eyes glowing with hunger.
The door had opened.
And it remembered Elliot Finn's name.