Measure of Stillness

The plaza behind the guild towers was nothing like the structured grandeur of the Ascension Circle. No banners. No waiting families. Just an open stretch of cracked stone and silence, framed by low marble walls scorched with æsther residue from generations of trials.

Kaiden stood with the others, a line of roughly fifty freshly Ascended students. No more glowing orbs. No more applause or murmurs of disappointment. Just the blank waiting of a group that no longer belonged to childhood but had not yet stepped into guildhood.

From the far edge, a figure approached. Not marching. Gliding.

She wore no guild sigil — just a long, bark-wrapped coat etched with runes and a crown of antlers fused into her ash-grey hair.

[ Instructor Sileya ]

"You may address me as Instructor Sileya."

"I serve as the æsther attunement examiner for your entrance trial."

Her voice was soft. Soft like snowfall that buried roads.

"This is your first measure..."

"Your first truth."

"Not of strength."

"Not of spells."

"But of stillness."

Confused glances passed among the students. Sileya raised her hand.

A silent command.

Behind her, three others emerged:

A weathered man with ink-black gloves and layered breathing cloth. Instructor Joren, master of æsther toxicity and containment.

A limber, bare-footed woman with opal dust on her skin. Instructor Fihra, kinetic reader.

A pale, mute figure, her eyes sealed shut but glowing faintly from the inside. Examiner Aruun, bound to the Æsther Vein itself.

[ Instructor Sileya ]

"You will each enter the Path of Veins..."

"A corridor of raw æsther exposure beneath this plaza."

"It is ancient."

"It is alive."

Some students shifted uncomfortably. Kaiden didn't.

"You will not be judged by how far you walk."

"But by how deep you remain aware."

"This test does not reward motion, but stillness."

"The æsther inside will try to make you forget your body."

"Your will."

"Your sense of time."

She turned.

"If you faint, we remove you."

"If you panic, we remove you."

"If your æsther sync fails, you may not awaken."

"And of course..."

"We remove you."

Silence.

Then, one student, the same one who mocked Kaiden earlier, Vonn, snorted.

[ Applicant Vonn ]

"Sounds like meditation in a cave."

[ Instructor Fihra ]

"Yes."

She replied, tilting her head.

"A cave that breathes."

"A cave that dreams."

The ground opened behind them with a deep, moaning click. A spiral stair of hexstone descended into blue-lit depths.

The Path of Veins had opened.

[ Instructor Sileya ]

"Ascended!"

"Get your starter kits."

"And prepare for your first trial."

◈◈◈

The gear yard behind the tri-guild plaza wasn't large, but it buzzed like a stirred hive.

Canvas packs were sorted. Belts tightened. Gloves checked for threading and palm wear. Most students had just received their starter kits.

Kaiden sat on a worn bench under a shade-warped awning, his pack already slung beside him. He didn't need time. He needed stillness.

Around him, others muttered and moved.

[ Applicant Rell ]

"You think it's gonna be combat already?"

"I heard the first trial used to be full-on beast-cage sparring."

[ Applicant Nari ]

"No way!"

"Not with this many people."

"First test's probably just a screening."

[ Applicant Claire ]

"They say if you speak, the fog steals your breath..."

Kaiden finished rewrapping the leather cord around his wrist sheath. His wooden dagger, dull from months of practice, rested against his thigh.

He heard boots pacing on gravel.

[ Applicant Vonn ]

"Hah!"

"Did you see that one kid with the herbal satchel?"

"What's he gonna do..."

"Brew tea for the monsters?"

[ Applicant Rio ]

"That's Kaiden."

"And he survived poison and acid before the exam even began."

"Maybe he's brewing tea that will save your sorry hide one day."

Rio passed by without slowing, adjusting his own gauntlets, a finely crafted gear from a reputable smith, no doubt.

Kaiden didn't reply. He double-checked the ties on his left boot. Then opened his small satchel, organizing:

A stub of bark-wrapped æstherkindle.

Folded cloth laced with dried ichor.

Three marble-sized polished stones: one obsidian, one salt-pocked, one deep green.

Voidspace murmured at the edge of his senses, but he kept it closed for now. He couldn't let the others see him pulling stuff from thin air.

[ Applicant Avelyn ]

"Don't pack heavy."

Her voice cut through as she passed nearby, calmly strapping a long ribbon across her hip.

"You won't need swords or books where we're going."

She vanished into the rows again, efficient, elegant, already focused.

A low bell rang.

Not one of brass or town chimes — but æsthersteel, struck once. Deep, resonant.

The plaza's rear gate creaked open.

They had been summoned.

[ Academy Overseer Routh ]

"All first-year applicants..."

"Form up."

"No academy divisions."

"You are not yet students."

His tone was a bark, but not cruel. Weathered. Scarred, like his white-knuckled gloves.

Kaiden stood. The others fell into quiet lines, save for those still fumbling with straps or muttering nerves.

Rio passed him again, this time offering a nod. Kaiden returned it.

They stepped forward as one.

The first trial awaited them.

And it would not begin with motion.

It would begin with stillness.

◈◈◈

They marched in silence.

Past the outer walls of Heavenreach. Beyond the trimmed hedges and cobbled paths. The city gave way to crags — chalky, moss-riven stones that sloped gently down into what looked like a natural ravine.

No banners. No sigils.

Just timeworn stairs carved into the rock, leading to what could only be called a valley.

At the base of the stairs, three figures waited. None wore the guild colors. None smiled.

The first was tall, draped in dark barkweave robes. Her silver hair was knotted into a crown of thorns. Her left eye was clouded, the other sharp as a hunting hawk's.

[ Trial Instructor Elsha ]

"I am Elsha, Keeper of the Still Vein."

"Those who fail today…"

"Will fail quietly."

She turned before anyone could speak.

The second stepped forward. Massive, armored, his pauldrons ringed with teeth — not trophies, but worn tools. Bone-polish scars lined his neck.

[ Trial Instructor Garron ]

"I am Garron."

"I will not be watching you."

"But the Vein will."

He nodded to the third.

A thin woman, wiry and pale, with a dozen small tattoos inked down one arm — some faded, some fresh. She carried no weapon.

Only a single, uncut shard of raw æstherglass in her palm.

[ Trial Instructor Mereen ]

"The Path remembers."

"Every child who's walked it, every mind that's cracked."

She smiled without warmth.

"You'll walk it too."

Gasps rippled through the group as they saw it, down below.

The Vein.

It wasn't a corridor. Not even a trail.

It was a line — a sunken slit across the rock floor, wide enough to walk, barely. Black-veined crystal traced its edges like lightning frozen mid-sky.

Inside it, a faint silver fog curled, never escaping the trench.

[ Trial Instructor Elsha ]

"You will each enter alone."

[ Trial Instructor Garron ]

"No weapons. No packs. No æsther runes."

[ Trial Instructor Mereen ]

"The Path itself is older than the guilds."

"It has no interest in who your parents were, how hard you trained, or how many stat points you earned."

[ Trial Instructor Elsha ]

"What it measures is the silence within you."

"And whether it survives what waits beneath."

Whispers rose among the students.

[ Applicant Rell ]

"Stillness…?"

"What does that mean?"

[ Trial Instructor Garron ]

"It means..."

"Do nothing."

A pause. Then he clarified.

"Walk the Vein."

"One end to the other."

"No fighting."

"No reacting."

"No fear..."

"You will be watched."

[ Trial Instructor Mereen ]

"If you flinch, you fail."

"If you scream, you fail."

"If you run..."

[ Trial Instructor Elsha (sneer) ]

"Heh..."

"You won't be able to."

A beat of silence. Then she added:

"Three in ten finish this trial."

"One in ten finishes whole."

The air turned thick.

Behind them, the path sealed. Heavy stones rolled silently into place, cutting off the retreat to Heavenreach.

[ Trial Instructor Garron ]

"Stand by the stones."

"When your name is called, step in."

"The Path will know if you lie."

A hush spread like mist.

Kaiden stepped to the edge with the others, staring down the crystalline trench of silver fog.

Stillness?

His heart wasn't still. His breath wasn't still. But something deeper — that old, hollow quiet — waited. The same place the system never touched. The same place it couldn't lift.

Waited for the world to finally...

Stop trying to move him.