The City of Celestial Glass
Chapter 6 — The City of Celestial Glass
The journey to City Eight was not merely a crossing of land. It was a shedding of identities.
Aorin and Sayuri stood at the edge of the Veilstep Pass — a passage carved by ancient spiritual beasts during the collapse of the Old World. The sky above churned with drifting crystal clouds, infused with residual spiritual energy. And before them, nestled between sky-piercing mountains and a sea that shimmered with light, floated the legendary city.
City Eight — also called Celestia Arx by the old tongues — rose like a dream made solid. Its towers bent light. Its roads, layered with celestial ore, hummed faintly with protective arrays. Above it all, at the city's heart, stood the Spiritforged University, a massive ringed complex orbiting around a floating pillar of jade crystal that pierced the heavens like a needle of fate.
Sayuri caught her breath. "It's real."
Aorin said nothing. But his fingers tightened on the medallion hanging around his neck. The wind here didn't feel like wind — it felt like being weighed and measured by the city itself.
---
The Outer Gate
The gatekeeper wasn't a man. Nor a beast.
It was a construct — a sentient war machine built in the waning days of the Spiritual Collapse. Its form shifted between armor and architecture, covered in glowing runes that bent language and time.
"Identify yourselves," it rumbled.
Sayuri stepped forward. "Sayuri of the Nine-Flute Path, Spiritforged Recognized."
"Aorin," he said. "Spirit Arrow Disciple. Pact Bearer."
The machine whirred, scanning them. Then a soft chime.
"Welcome, Applicants. You are among the 432 selected for this Trial cycle. Your lives are now bound to the Trial Codex."
Chains of light looped gently around their wrists, forming tattoo-like symbols — temporary soul contracts.
"Proceed to the Trial Grounds."
---
Inside Celestia Arx
No carts. No walking merchants. No noise.
City Eight was terrifyingly silent for a city of millions.
But Aorin quickly understood why — sound didn't travel here normally. The city was so saturated with stabilized spiritual energy that vibrations moved differently. Words were sharper, music was louder, emotions were more visible.
And the people...
The cultivators who passed them wore robes sewn from light threads. Their eyes burned with ethereal fire. Some had wings of mist, some tails of flame, others had mechanical limbs woven with natural bone. They had transcended what it meant to be merely "human."
"We're ants here," Aorin muttered.
Sayuri smiled, brushing fingers against her flute. "Then we'll be the ants that carry thunder."
---
Spiritforged University — Trial Sanctum
The sanctum was a coliseum of translucent jade. Floating observation platforms hovered above, with Elders from every kingdom — and even some cloaked figures from the Unknown Territories — watching below.
432 applicants stood at the center platform, arranged in circles of six. Aorin and Sayuri stood side by side. Around them, murmurs began.
"Look at them. Married? Tch. Soft hearts die fast."
"Village cultivators... how quaint."
"That's the one who resisted Karax Meteor."
"Her... she carries the Phoenix Line. I'd bet my soul crystal on it."
Then, a boom of silence — a presence.
Descending from the sky was a man in ink-dark robes, sleeves like drifting shadows, eyes glowing gold behind a fox-shaped mask.
"I am Grand Examiner Wuhen. You have entered the Celestial Trials."
He lifted a single hand.
"This will not be a test of strength alone. It will be of unity. Of will. Of truth. You do not advance by killing others... but survival, resistance, and resolve will be tested."
A massive wheel of fate descended behind him, carved with 100 sectors — each one a Trial Domain.
"Each of your teams will enter one sector. You will face enemies — and yourselves. If you die, your soul mark returns here. You live, but you fail. If you pass..."
He smiled. "The gates of Spiritforged open for you."
Then, the wheel spun.
The platform beneath Aorin and Sayuri glowed. Their team — 4 others they had yet to meet — vanished in a pillar of light.
---
Trial Domain: The Hollow Labyrinth
Aorin landed on hard ground. Instinct kicked in — yoyo out, eyes scanning.
Sayuri followed, immediately summoning her flute-blade, its handle extending, edge humming.
They were in a black forest where trees dripped blood, and roots whispered names they didn't remember knowing.
Two others crashed down nearby — a tall boy with silver skin and a girl with molten eyes and ash-colored hair.
Then a fifth.
And a sixth.
The last two arrived late — both cloaked in strange armor. One laughed.
"Welcome to the Hollow Labyrinth," he said. "It's said this place reflects your hidden fears."
Aorin's hand tightened.
The laughter deepened — until it echoed his own voice.
Sayuri's eyes widened as the trees around them twisted into the shapes of their parents.
The Trial had begun.