ECHOBURN

Ren's first breath was sharp, cold, and metallic. He blinked.

Stone ceiling. Chain-bound wrists. 

The air around him was dead-silent, thick with judgment. A high chamber stretched into shadows above. Dozens of faceless watchers loomed behind a circular gallery — black robes, no movement. No sound but breathing.

He tried to move. The chains strained, creaked, but held.

Then a voice cut through the stillness.

"You're awake."

A woman stepped into view. Black outfit. Her face was uncovered — sharp-cheeked, elegant, with eyes too calm for this place. She stood just out of reach, reading from a worn slate.

He didn't answer.

The girl she is too weak, maybe we should end her suffering.

His stomach twisted. He remembered the girl — her limp body in his arms, her head pressed against his chest as he ran. The thing he fought. The gate he tore through. The heat, the blood, the screams.

"Where is she?" he rasped.

The woman raised a brow. "Dead for all i care". 

She stepped closer.

 Her eyes studied him like he was a specimen in a lab. "What exactly are you?"

He didn't speak.

Above, the circle of observers shifted. Someone muttered. Someone else scoffed.

The woman turned her back to him and addressed the crowd. "For violating sacred boundary, for bringing corruption into our sanctuary —"

Her hand swept downward. The gallery was still.

"—he is sentenced to execution."

She turned back, drawing a thin, black blade from her hip.

"No trial," Ren said quietly.

"No need," she replied.

Then she struck.

—

Steel flashed.

Ren jerked sideways — and the blade missed by inches.

The woman blinked, thrown off. "What—?"

He didn't wait.

His body moved before thought. 

She came at him again. He ducked, rolled, deflected her strike with his shoulder, chain tightening around his wrist. It didn't matter.

The audience gasped. The chains broke.

She growled and stabbed down — Ren caught the blade with both arms, let it pierce the skin, then twisted, removing it from her grasp . A kick ,launching her back.

She skidded across the stone floor .

Ren stood, chest heaving, blood on his arms, eyes burning.

He could kill her.

One step. One swing.

She stared up at him, stunned.

His hand clenched—

And then released.

He dropped the sword.

flashed forward. And slapped her across the face, full-force.

The sound cracked through the chamber.

She crashed to the floor.

Silence.

She rose slowly.

This time, there was no smile.

Only her real eyes.

And they were murderous.

"You should've killed me."

She charged.

This time, she didn't hold back.

Ren was fast — but she was faster. Her blade was in her arms, carving sparks off stone. He leapt back, caught the chain, used the weight to swing himself behind her — but she turned mid-air, foot snapping into his side.

He hit the ground hard.

His chest burned.

She stood above him now, blade at his throat.

"Now die."

And then—

Everything changed.

The chains trembled.

The stone vibrated and fractured like ice.

The room pulsed with something too large, too real. The world bent inward around him.

Then it shattered.

Like glass.

—

Light.

He sucked in a breath.

White sheets. Warm air.

Moonlight through a window.

Ren blinked hard, chest heaving.

He was in bed.

Alive.

The pain was gone.

Across the room sat a figure in loose white robes. Silver hair. Calm, watching.

Torin.

His voice was low and quiet. "You passed."

Ren stared.

Torin stood, arms behind his back. "You were tested. Not for strength. But restraint. Spirit. That part of you — the part from the other side — it's real. It's permanent. But you're still you. That's what we needed to see."

The door creaked open.

The woman stepped in. No blade. No fury. Only silence. She looked at Torin, "what are you wearing" Then back to Ren.

"I would've failed," she said simply.

Torin smiled slightly. "Most do."

He turned back to Ren. "A test of humanity, now rest ,You've earned it."

Then they left.

Ren wished to ask more but he did not. now he sat in silence...