CHAPTER 20 — The Rift's Chosen Trial
The Rift Beast screeched, its crystal body vibrating with a sound that carved directly into Aren's skull. Shards of light rippled through its body, each glow sharpening like a blade. The ground beneath their feet trembled — but it wasn't real ground. It was mana shaped into stability. And now, that stability was cracking.
Kael stepped forward, sword blazing with aura. "Aren. Stay behind me."
"No," Aren said quietly.
Both Kael and Mira turned toward him — but the look in Aren's eyes wasn't the same fear from before. It was focus. A trembling, uncertain determination.
He felt the Rift pulling at him. Not violently. Not forcefully.
It whispered. It encouraged. It welcomed him.
That terrified him more than the beast.
Chosen… awaken… teach…
The whisper wasn't a voice — it was instinct poured into words.
The beast moved.
A violent blur of crystal legs and shadowy tendrils shot toward them. Kael braced, taking the front line. His blade met the creature's largest limb with a ringing explosion of aura that cracked the air.
Mira dashed in, spear twirling, driving a streak of white light into the beast's flank. The blow sank into the smoky material — but the beast reformed instantly, the wound knitting shut with rippling darkness.
"It's regenerating too fast!" Mira shouted.
Kael grunted, blocking another strike. "Aren, we need your power. Now!"
Aren hesitated. "I don't know what I did last time. I just— reacted."
"Then react again!"
The beast reared up, three crystal limbs slamming down. The ground exploded into floating fragments as the stability illusion shattered. The world folded around them, colors twisting violently.
Aren felt mana pouring into him with no restraint — like the Rift was funneling raw energy directly into his veins. He stumbled, gripping his chest as the pressure built.
It hurt.
It burned.
But it didn't feel wrong.
It felt… familiar.
"Aren!" Mira cried out.
The beast lunged at her, its shadowy tendril whipping toward her throat.
Aren didn't think.
He moved.
A pulse of white-gold light erupted from his body, forming a dome around Mira at the last possible moment. The tendril struck the barrier and cracked against it like hitting stone.
Aren gasped. "I… I didn't mean to—"
"That's good!" Mira shouted, stunned. "Whatever you're doing, keep doing it!"
But the Rift reacted.
The colors around them tightened, swirling like a storm forming in slow motion. The heartbeat beneath the ground sped up until it throbbed so hard Aren could barely breathe.
Awaken… deeper… show us…
Aren shook his head violently. "Stop— stop talking!"
Kael slashed through another limb of the beast. "Aren, what's happening!?"
"It's… calling me— I don't want this!"
The beast, sensing Aren's panic, turned toward him. Its eyes — if they were eyes — widened, glowing with a hunger that wasn't animal. It wasn't killing Aren out of instinct.
It was drawn to him.
Like he was a missing piece.
The beast pounced.
Kael shouted. Mira screamed.
Aren raised his hand, fear exploding through every fiber of his being.
And the Rift answered.
A torrent of pure white mana erupted from Aren's palm, ripping through the air like a lightning bolt made of starlight. It struck the beast dead center — blasting off half its crystalline body. Shards scattered across the void like shattered glass.
The beast screeched, collapsing onto three limbs.
Its body quivered. Regeneration slowed. The Rift pulsed in irritation.
Aren fell to his knees, gasping for air.
"I can't… control it…"
Mira rushed to his side. "Then don't control it. Just breathe. You're alive, Aren. We'll protect you."
Kael stood between them and the beast. "Aren, listen carefully."
Aren looked up weakly.
"You don't need perfect control," Kael said. "You need intent. Anchor your power with what you want most."
Aren stared at his trembling hands.
Intent.
What did he want?
To protect.
To survive.
To help.
To live.
He stood shakily.
The beast regenerated fully this time — but slower. Its limbs trembled. Its glow flickered. It was weakening.
Aren stepped forward. "I… don't want to hurt you."
The beast stilled.
Mira's eyes widened. "Aren— what are you—?"
"I want to understand you," Aren whispered. "This world… this Rift… whatever summoned me… I won't reject it."
The beast's body vibrated, as if confused.
Aren extended his hand.
His mana flared — not violently, but softly, like warm light spreading from a lantern.
The beast lowered itself, trembling, as the Rift pulsed one final time.
And then, in a ripple of silver light, the beast dissolved — not defeated, but accepted.
Aren's knees buckled.
Kael caught him. "Aren! Hey— stay with me."
Aren's vision blurred.
"The Rift…" he whispered. "It wasn't trying to kill me."
Mira knelt beside him. "Then what was it doing?"
Aren closed his eyes.
"It was… testing if I could coexist with it."
The Rift began to collapse, the world folding away.
The trial was over.
But Aren knew, as the exit light swallowed them—
This wasn't the end of anything.
This was only the beginning of why he was summoned.
---