Chapter 15 - The Sky That Weeps Flame
The stars dimmed above the Faith Galaxy, as if a shroud had fallen across the cosmos. Markandeya opened his eyes within the Subspace Citadel, seated atop a lotus platform levitating over a pond of liquid starlight. His inner flame pulsed with serenity, the spiral of Qi orbiting harmoniously around his core.
But he felt it.
A change.
Like the Galaxy itself had drawn breath.
> [System Notification: Subspace Realm Integration - 74%] [New Pathway Unlocked: Realm Resonance Layer] [Faith Channeling Capacity Increased - 112 Units/hour]
He stood, and the pond reflected not his face—but a vast battlefield. Screams. Fire. Shadow. Somewhere, a world was collapsing. He touched the projection.
The image shattered.
> [Cross-Galactic Karmic Surge Detected] "A Heavenly Trial has begun on World-Shard: Dravak" "Estimated Collapse Time: 6 Days"
His breath caught.
Dravak… wasn't just any shard. It was a convergence node. If it collapsed, thousands of fate threads could sever.
And one of them was his.
---
He emerged from the citadel into the Heart Spiral Garden of his Proto-Realm. The sprite-janitors bowed as he passed, casting ripples of heat to stabilize the plane.
At the center, the silver chrysanthemum from Chapter 10 bloomed unnaturally. Its petals curled, pulsing with warning.
"This world calls to me," he murmured, extending his senses.
The Faith Threads from his body lit up, four of them trailing off toward Dravak.
"I don't have a choice."
He opened the system interface.
> [Mission Request: Karmic Stabilization Trial] Type: Heavenly Tier Threat Mitigation (Limited Access) Reward: 300,000 Points, Rank Advancement Token, Fate-Key Fragment Penalty: Fate Fragment Loss, Companion System Delay
> Accept? [Yes/No]
Markandeya stared.
Three hundred thousand points. That could advance his Faith Path by two full stages.
But the penalty...
Delay in the Companion System meant his bonded entity from the Soul Egg would not awaken soon. And losing a Fate Fragment? That could mean forgetting something—or someone.
Still.
He tapped [Yes].
---
Transport was not a flash of light, but a shift in will.
One blink.
Then ash and fire.
Markandeya dropped to a kneeling position in the middle of a broken temple. Shards of sky crystal littered the floor. The air was heavy with divine pressure, and everything smelled like scorched memories.
> [Welcome to World-Shard: Dravak] Status: Class 6 Collapse Level Local Time Remaining: 5 Days, 23 Hours, 11 Minutes
The temple shook.
A winged beast, wreathed in flame, screeched overhead. Not a spirit beast. A Trialspawn. Born of failed Karmic Nodes.
> [Threat Identified: Flame Reaper Hydra - Rank 4 Entity] Traits: Fire Regeneration, Psychic Pulse, Divine Rage
It locked eyes with him.
And dove.
Markandeya spun.
Flame met chakra-infused wind as he launched upward, twisting midair and pulling fire from his own inner spiral.
A lance of crimson energy burst from his palm, crashing into the beast's third head.
It screamed.
But didn't fall.
It split into two copies.
> [Warning: Reaper Echo Triggered - Local Space Instability x2]
He cursed and dove into the collapsed temple, weaving through molten ruins. The heat didn't burn him—his survival trait kept it at bay—but the mental pressure mounted.
He couldn't win like this.
So he shifted his thinking.
He reached inward.
To the chrysanthemum.
To the Faith Galaxy.
To the System.
> [Activate Realm Resonance Layer?] Cost: 22 Units / Hour
> Confirmed.
The air bent.
A soundless chime echoed across reality. Above him, symbols formed from starlight and thought.
[Markandeya: Initiate of the Silent Town - Title Engaged]
Time froze.
No—it folded.
For three seconds, he saw all positions of the Flame Reaper Hydra echoes. Every future it might choose. Every breath it would take.
He moved.
Not as a warrior.
But as a cultivator of survival.
He carved a path of no-wind between its movements. Landed behind the original. Pressed his palm to its spine.
> [Soul Thread Injection]
His inner fire blazed. Not outward, but inward.
He overloaded its regeneration with reversed karma.
It exploded.
The echoes flickered.
Then shattered.
He dropped to the ground, coughing. Blood. Spiritual backlash. But alive.
> [Trialspawn Eliminated: Partial Stabilization Achieved] [Dravak Collapse Rate Reduced: 2%]
---
Over the next day, he moved through Dravak.
Not fighting.
Weaving.
He repaired broken relics, spoke Karmic Rites into abandoned prayer wheels, even stabilized a half-collapsed leyline nexus.
Each act was not just spiritual—it was emotional. This world had once been a place of harmony. It had lost its center.
And Markandeya, fragment of fate that he was, became a temporary anchor.
> [Faith Integration Progress: 83%] [You have unlocked: Faith Echo Memory: Reconstruct a moment of lost fate once per day]
---
The final trial came at dusk, five days after his arrival.
He stood in the sky, surrounded by burning clouds. The core of the shard trembled beneath him. A final Trialspawn emerged:
A human.
Or what had once been one.
Eyes black with void.
> [Trialspawn: Karmic Mirror Entity - Rank 5] Description: Reflects wielder's weaknesses in combat. Adapts per blow.
"You again," Markandeya muttered.
The mirror-being grinned.
Then charged.
The battle was not of fists, but of self.
Markandeya attacked with fire.
It countered with cold.
He used chakra paths.
It wielded fragmented emotions.
He opened his proto-realm.
It summoned a void reflection.
But.
Markandeya had something it didn't.
Faith.
Not in gods. Not in fate.
But in himself.
> [Faith Echo Memory: Activate]
He remembered a moment long buried—his mother, feeding him rice under a starless sky, humming to silence the thunder.
He summoned that moment.
Wrapped it around his fists.
And punched.
Once.
Twice.
The mirror shattered.
> [Final Trial Passed] [Dravak Core Stabilized - 100%]
Light washed over him.
Not divine.
But earned.
---
He returned to Subspace not with power—but presence.
His realm had grown.
The chrysanthemum bloomed in gold now.
His Faith Galaxy mark shimmered across his back.
He sat cross-legged.
And smiled.
For now, he had survived.
And thrived.
---