Ryu's body tumbled through the endless void.
Kee Kee's frightened squeaks echoed somewhere nearby, but she couldn't see him.
Then there was light, a single pinprick that expanded until it consumed everything.
Her vision cleared to reveal a vast, gray landscape stretching endlessly in all directions.
The sky above hung low and colorless, neither day nor night.
A searing pain flared on her forearm beside the marks of Greed and Wrath.
This new symbol burned into her flesh—a teardrop enclosed in a broken circle.
Unlike the previous marks, this one shimmered with a strange translucency.
"COMMENCING THE TRIAL OF DESPAIR,"
The voice reverberated through the air, ancient and hollow.
"OVERCOME GRIEF AND RESTORE LIGHT WHERE NONE REMAINS."
Rui woke with a gasp, Jin's name caught in her throat.
The weight of his lifeless body still lingered in her arms, though her hands now clutched only silken sheets.
Tears streaked her face, remnants of a dream that wasn't a dream at all.
