The Sevenfold Surge (1)

I had never seen Morowind Haven like this.

And I've seen it in every light but today? It felt like something out of a painting. Not a photo.

The Trial of Seven had come.

All across North New Island, thousands of children from towns and villages outside my town had hit the crucial age of seven, the first threshold of change. And we were all called here not just to Morowind Haven, but to the sacred grounds we shared with the other villages for this one ritual.

Even in my past life, I'd heard of it.

My teammates had called it the Sevenfold Surge. They said every child who descended from Fluxers would suddenly grow stronger, faster and sharper. Their bodies unlocked something primal, something deeper than muscle and nerve.

It wasn't awakening a Flux yet. That came later, over years. But this was the first crack in the shell.

And today… that was me.

"Verdamona! Go easy on the other kids, yeah?" Old Reiri, a fruit seller, called from her fruit stall as we passed. Her arms were elbow-deep in a barrel of glimmerpears, her eyes squinting with mischief.

I gave her a grin. "No promises!"

"Bah! She's gonna beat the Trial's spirit outta the test itself," Another villager chuckled, slapping his knee from where he sat stringing fishing lines.

My parents laughed, proud in that quiet, parental way. Dad had Thea on his back—her little legs sticking out on either side of his hips while she made sleepy dolphin sounds—and mother walked beside me, hand curled lightly around my shoulder.

Leuven walked a step ahead of us, tall for thirteen and already showing the signs of a lean warrior's build, if he could stop chasing crows for five minutes.

The streets were jammed full. People had come from everywhere and from places I didn't bother remembering the names of. But today, they all came here. Morowind Haven might have been a coastal town once but now? It stretched as far as the eye could see. Temple domes and wooden bridges, stone roads filled with carts, horse-drawn carriages, mech-legged traders, food stalls, dancers, song-flares bursting in the air with each laugh.

It was a festival and a pilgrimage. And I wasn't some nameless girl in the crowd.

The moment someone recognized me, word spread like fire in drybrush.

"That's the Oracle's apprentice!"

"She's the one who caught a whole net of fish alone last month!"

"They say she arm-wrestled the iron blacksmiths and won!"

"She lives with the Oracle, doesn't she?"

Heads turned. Eyes followed. I wasn't dressed any differently than the other kids, just my grey woven dress, my leather wrist wraps, and my horns visible. But I moved through the street like I owned my stride.

Some of the other kids stared. Most were either sizing me up or trying not to meet my gaze at all. A few tried glaring. That didn't bother me. I wasn't here to win a popularity contest. They would awaken today for the first time like me. I had already lived an entire life without knowing about my Flux. I knew what was waiting on the other side of this hill.

"You doing alright?" Mother asked beside me, brushing a bit of glitter-smoke off my cheek.

"Yeah," I said, and meant it.

"Not nervous?" Dad added, balancing Thea's sleepy weight with one hand as she drooled onto his shoulder.

"No."

Leuven snorted. "That's 'cause she knows she's gonna ace it."

"Don't you have someone to chase or annoy?"

"Already did both this morning."

I rolled my eyes, but he grinned, and I couldn't help returning it.

We passed under a canopy of banners, each one painted with a sigil from one of the northern clans. Drum circles started echoing deeper in the ritual hills, and the sacred flags fluttered above the long spiraling road ahead.

Everything about this day felt ceremonial.but still somehow alive. Like the world was dancing for us.

And behind all that chaos, I could feel the coming shift.

-------

We arrived at the beach just before the sun hit its highest point.

Except "beach" didn't even begin to cover it. Morowind Haven's coast had transformed overnight into an amphitheater of miracles. Wide, terraced wooden steps were built for seating, hundreds of woven canopies stretching overhead like sails caught mid-breath, and a wide stretch of pale white sand pressed flat and perfect like a stage waiting for the first footfall.

And the crowd...

I swear, I've never seen that many people in my life.

Tens of thousands had come like breathing sea of robes and armor, feathers and tunics, runed jewelry and ritual paint. Entire villages had emptied for this. And each group had a place. To the west, the cliffside chiefs. To the north, the jungle clans with their weapons. To the east, the islander factions with their tattooed elders seated on floating bamboo thrones. Each wore their sigils proudly, each had their banners fluttering in the breeze, and each had that same breath-held expression as they waited. The only ones who did not come are the families and the Wellington Bloodline.

But Morowind Haven? We had no chief. We never needed one. We had the Oracle.

Lilith.

Her stage was a polished stone dais, set at the very front of the ceremonial beach, shaped like a spiral eye. Massive crystalline horns curved up behind her seat, humming with gentle white noise.

She stood tall at its center, dressed in midnight silver robes, and even though I saw her every day, I still got chills. The crowd silenced the second her presence bloomed fully.

I took my place in the center sand with the other seven-year-olds. There were thousands of us, packed into the main ring with hushed voices and eyes wide. Some looked scared. Some were excited. I stood still.

Lilith raised her hand, and her voice swept across the sea of watchers.

"Welcome, people of the Northern Reach. Travelers, ancestors, spirits and children of this sacred shore."

Even her opening felt like prophecy. She stepped forward.

"As the Oracle of the Thread God, I welcome you all to the Sevenfold Surge. The Trial of Seven. A rite not held in full gathering for years now… But the Rune God has spoken, and I obey."

The crowd responded not with applause but with reverence. She continued, her hands lifting slowly.

"Though the Surge may be done in the quiet of one's home… today we return to the way of our ancestors. To walk the path not alone but together. There are five Flux Types that shape all gifts in this world. You may not receive one today. But your path will begin regardless."

She touched the wheel behind her.

"Alteration, Psyche, Combat, Elemental and Concept. Mine is Divination, a Concept Flux."

"..."

"Most of you," she said, turning to us—thousands of little lives waiting to crack open—"will awaken into the Combat Flux. You will feel strength, speed and reflex. Your bodies will change. And that alone is worthy of celebration."

She paused.

"But a few among you…" She looked out, and I swear her eyes brushed across me for just a breath. "Will resonate differently. And those who do… will be trained by me, personally. For such threads must be woven with care."

From the sides of the beach, sone people wheeled out lines of tall stools. On each rested an obsidian bowl, smooth, matte, and blacker than ink. Dozens of them.

"To the untrained eye," Lilith said, "these bowls are empty. But they hold the Colorless Flame."

My skin prickled.

She didn't shout. She didn't raise her voice. But her words slid into my ears like sacred wind.

"The Colorless Flame reveals the nature of your soul. Touch it and you will know what kind of Flux your body can become. One by one, step forward. Place your hand over a bowl and watch the color rise."

Children shuffled into lines. There was no panic, no pushing. My parents watched from their side of the terraces

I inhaled slowly and I walked forward.