Kelvin stood before the Tower of Convergence once more, surrounded by Lyra and Darius.
The three of them wore tailored combat robes that were reinforced with beast-hide and arcane threads that shined subtly with latent enchantments.
On Kelvin's back, Xerion stirred within his mental space and said, be awake, aware, and alert.
"You are unusually quiet," Darius noted, and asked Kelvin. "Are you nervous?"
Kelvin shook his head with his eyes fixed on the runes circling the arched gateway. "No, I am focused."
Lyra's staff touched softly against the marble floor. "He knows that this won't be like any training that we have had. They are testing our ability to react to unpredictable conditions, like the wild rifts that opened in the west last cycle."
Kelvin, Lyra, and Darius stood shoulder to shoulder on the transport circle. Around them was glyphs which was pulsed with soft blue energy, converging into a bright nexus at their feet.
The gate burst open. Master Caelum stood on the other side and was armored in a ceremonial combat gear, a spectral blade holstered at his hip.
Master Caelum's voice cut through the silence.
"This is not an illusion. This Rift Simulation uses a stabilized pocket of fractured space, anchored within the Sanctum's own ley-lines. You will be transported to a Rift-like environment. Magic, beasts, and danger are real. But the moment your life force drops beyond the limit, you will be forcibly ejected. Understand?"
The three friends nodded.
Master Caelum ordered the three friends, "Enter. The Rift Simulation is ready."
They followed him into a circular chamber with a massive crystalline dome overhead. Sigils on the floor lit up in a spinning pattern, casting their bodies in shades of emerald and violet. Hovering above the center was a translucent portal which was shining though unstable.
Caelum's hand lifted, and the glyphs was ignited with a flash. The world dissolved into light.
When Kelvin's vision returned, he found himself standing on charred earth under a roiling crimson sky.
Broken towers of obsidian stone jutted from the landscape like jagged teeth. The air was thick with sulfur and distorted, a place that is between worlds.
Xerion emerged from his mark in a swirl of shadowed fire, his wings unfurling wide.
"We are close to a breach point," the draconic beast muttered. "The veil is thinner here."
Kelvin nodded. Beside him, Lyra was already in motion, her hands weaving runes that shimmered into a protective barrier around them.
Darius summoned his bonded beast, whose crackling mane lit the shadows with arcs of lightning. A shriek split the air.
From a nearby rift in space, three beasts poured forth some twisted hounds made of bone and shadow, their eyes were burning with ethereal blue fire.
Kelvin reacted instinctively by saying. "Xerion, Blaze Spiral!"
With a roar, the End-Tyrant spiraled into the sky and unleashed a fiery vortex, consuming the first hound in mid-pounce.
"Shield right!" Lyra shouted.
Darius leapt into action with his hammer swinging, lightning and exploding with each blow. The second beast lunged but was intercepted mid-air by a surge of raw electricity, flung into a crumbling spire.
Kelvin ducked a swipe from the third hound and slashed upward with his mana-forged blade. Xerion swooped down with his jaws closing around the beast's torso.
"Target neutralized," the beast said calmly.
The ground shook.
"No time to rest," Lyra warned. "Something bigger is coming."
___________________
From the rift, a horned monster emerged, it was twenty feet tall, half-flesh and half-riftstone, trailing chains of pure magic. Its roar scattered flame and gravity alike.
Kelvin gritted his teeth. "New plan! Darius, draw its attention. Lyra, coordinate suppression runes. Xerion, keep me covered. We will take it down, together."
The three friends moved like cogs in a machine honed by survival.
Darius rushed in, his Thunder fang matching the beast's size as it leaped onto its back and striking its neck. The creature swung wildly, but Lyra's suppression sigils bound its limbs in shimmering light.
Kelvin dashed forward with his blade glowing and Xerion beside him in a cloak of a living flame.
"NOW!"
Kelvin struck, driving his blade into the exposed core on the creature's chest. Xerion roared and unleashed a beam of scorching annihilation.
The beast screamed… then shattered like glass struck by a hammer.
Ash and magic fell like snow.
The Rift terrain flickered. Then shifted.
The simulation wasn't over.
"Multiple signatures were coming in," Lyra said, scanning a hovering glyph-stone. "This environment adapts to our success. It is throwing harder threats each time."
Kelvin took a breath. "Then we keep pushing. We will see what we are really made of."
Darius cracked his bones. "I have been waiting for a real test."
They pressed forward and deeper into the broken dimension.
The terrain made a sequence of sound again when lush forests twisted into corrupted versions of themselves. Roots pulsed like veins, and the trees bled crimson sap.
Beasts of malformed origin rose, blending into natural forms with chaotic rift-energy. Serpents with wings, felines with mirrored skin, wolves that howled in reverse.
Kelvin moved like a seasoned commander now. "Lyra, cover our flank. Darius, smash that perimeter ridge. Xerion, circle us and burn."
The End-Tyrant's wings swept wide, sending a tidal wave of flame into the clustered enemy forces.
Every second was a test. Every movement was a calculation. Hours passed and time was twisted in the simulation.
Eventually, a glowing sigil appeared in the sky above them.
"We have reached the apex," Lyra said, panting. "Exit a trigger."
Kelvin hesitated. The others looked at him with a questioning look.
"Just wanted to take one last look," he said.
Behind them, the corrupted wilderness still burned, the signs of their battle etched across the land.
Together, they stepped into the sigil.
When they awoke, it was inside the Tower again. Caelum stood over them, impressed.
"You lasted longer than any team I have sent into this quarter. Well done."
Darius collapsed onto a bench. "That... was the best training ever. I am sore in places I didn't know I had."
Lyra wiped her brow. "I have never felt so connected to my casting."
Kelvin turned to Caelum. "What comes next?"
The master smiled. "Now... you will train for the real thing."
Later that evening, Mr. Mealin stood silently outside the Sanctum's training wing.
He watched as Kelvin laughed with Lyra and Darius, bruised but glowing with pride. The boy he had once vouched for, enrolled with borrowed coin and cautious hope was now at the center of something extraordinary.
"You have come far, Kelvin," Mealin whispered. "But there is more ahead. Much more."
And as the stars blinked into view and the tower bells rang for evening prayer, Kelvin looked up at the sky, feeling the flame within him burning ever brighter.