Dan floated there for a long moment, staring at the unfamiliar horizon.
He was alive.
That was the only thought he could hold onto.
Somewhere impossibly far from home, surrounded by a sea he’d never seen before, he was still alive.
He slowly turned in the water, searching in every direction.
Nothing.
No familiar mountain.
No cave.
No Sanctuary.
No sign of Wyrmspring.
Only an endless coastline stretching beneath a clear sky. Mountains rose beyond it, their slopes covered in green, while countless rivers wound down toward a sea so full of life that it almost seemed impossible for it all to fit within the water.
Dan had never seen so many fish.
For a brief moment, wonder pushed aside the fear.
Then the world flickered.
Text appeared before his eyes.
Dan stiffened.
He had seen something similar before. Fish Leader sometimes summoned strange displays during morning assessments, showing information none of them fully understood.
But this was different.
The letters seemed colder somehow.
Older.
They hung in the air with an authority that made his instincts scream at him to pay attention.
[Unregistered Entity Detected]
[Scanning Bloodline...]
[Wyrmspring Murloc, Grade: Low (Medium)]
[Trial Ground Conditions Met.]
[Would you like to accept entry?]
[Y/N]
Dan stared blankly at the words.
’Unregistered?’
’What’s an entity?’
He understood the word bloodline, at least. Fish Leader had explained that much to them before. He knew it was connected to their strength, though most of the finer details had always gone over his head.
The rest meant almost nothing.
Still, the glowing letter caught his attention.
Y.
Dan hesitated.
Something about it felt dangerous.
But there was no way back.
His tribe was gone from sight. He had no idea where he was, and he certainly had no idea how to return.
He slowly reached out.
His webbed finger touched the glowing Y.
The world disappeared.
When Dan’s vision returned, he was standing.
Actually standing.
Solid ground pressed beneath his feet.
He looked down in surprise, then turned slowly, taking in his surroundings.
He stood in the center of a broad clearing bathed in sunlight. Ancient stone pillars surrounded the area, half-submerged in shallow pools of water. Their surfaces were worn smooth by age, covered in cracks and strange markings that Dan couldn’t understand.
Yet the water around them was perfectly still.
No rivers fed the pools.
No wind disturbed them.
The air itself felt strange.
Heavy.
Charged.
The fine hairs along Dan’s arms stood upright.
Then more words appeared.
[Welcome, Wanderer.]
[This is a Trial Ground, a remnant space unclaimed by any current deity.]
[This space is sustained by the ambient divine power of the wider world rather than the power of a single domain.]
[Those who enter and complete its trials will strengthen their bodies, minds, and bloodlines.]
[The nature of that growth depends on the trial undertaken and the effort given.]
[This Ground does not discriminate by race, grade, or affinity.]
[Growth here is earned, not gifted.]
Dan’s eyes widened.
Strengthen his bloodline?
He didn’t fully understand what that meant, but Fish Leader had always said that becoming stronger required effort.
Perhaps this was what he meant.
Another line appeared.
[Trial One: Endurance.]
[Objective: Survive.]
[Time Remaining: 72:00:00]
Dan stared at the final number.
Seventy-two hours.
Three days.
His throat tightened.
"Survive for three days?"
He looked around.
Nothing.
No enemy.
No beast.
No obvious trap.
Just the silent clearing and those ancient pillars.
Dan slowly relaxed.
Maybe it wouldn’t be so bad.
Then the ground trembled.
His expression changed.
One of the pools beside a nearby pillar began to ripple.
The water swirled.
Once.
Twice.
Then faster.
Dan’s eyes widened.
’Oh.’
A cold shiver ran down his spine.
’There it is.’
Far above the surface, within Wyrmspring, Caelum suddenly opened his eyes.
Something had changed.
He couldn’t immediately identify what it was.
It wasn’t pain.
It wasn’t danger.
It felt more like a faint tug at the edge of his consciousness, almost like someone had gently pulled on an invisible thread.
He frowned and instinctively summoned his domain panel.
Divine Power: 2
Nothing had changed.
His reserves were exactly where they should have been.
Yet the sensation remained.
Caelum focused.
The invisible thread slowly became clearer.
It led toward the eastern shoreline.
Toward the whirlpool.
The same whirlpool that had swallowed Dan less than an hour earlier.
A thin strand of divine power stretched from the Sanctuary toward it.
Caelum’s eyes narrowed.
The amount of power flowing outward was tiny.
More importantly, his reserves weren’t decreasing.
Instead, something was flowing back.
Slowly.
Steadily.
It wasn’t divine power belonging to another deity.
It wasn’t faith.
It wasn’t anything Caelum immediately recognized.
It felt more primitive than that.
Diffuse.
Almost like the world itself was breathing through the connection.
’Interesting.’
He carefully examined the phenomenon.
The whirlpool wasn’t consuming his divine power.
If anything, the exchange appeared almost balanced. His own power entered the strange space, and in return, something else flowed back.
Something vast.
Something that didn’t belong to him.
Caelum’s expression gradually changed.
’A Trial Ground.’
The term surfaced from somewhere in his memory.
Elysian Academy had mentioned them during his first year, though only briefly. His instructor had treated them as little more than historical curiosities.
Remnant spaces.
Ancient structures left behind after larger divine systems collapsed, abandoned, or moved elsewhere.
Most were impossible to locate.
Some disappeared entirely.
Others continued drifting through the wider world, sustained by the ambient divine power surrounding them.
Caelum stared at the whirlpool.
’So that’s what this is.’
A strange sense of relief settled over him.
At least it wasn’t draining the Sanctuary.
But then another thought followed.
’And Dan is inside.’
His expression hardened.
He couldn’t reach him.
Not directly.
Not without understanding how the Trial Ground worked.
For the first time in thirteen years, Fish Leader had no way to intervene.
No warning he could give.
No danger he could quietly remove.
No protection he could provide.
All he could do was watch.
And hope.
’You’ve spent thirteen years watching me protect you.’
His gaze remained fixed on the whirlpool.
’Now show me what you can do without me.’
He remembered Dan standing among the others only hours earlier.
The eldest of his generation.
Strong.
Responsible.
Still inexperienced.
But perhaps that was exactly what this place would test.
Caelum slowly closed his eyes.
’Don’t break.’
Inside the Trial Ground, the pool finally erupted.
Water rose into the air.
It twisted.
Condensed.
Then formed something vaguely humanoid.
Dan instinctively stepped backward.
The creature stood several meters tall, its entire body made from constantly shifting water. Its shape refused to remain stable. Features appeared across its face before melting away again, as though the thing had never truly decided what it was supposed to look like.
It made no sound.
It simply turned toward Dan.
Then it began walking.
More text appeared.
[Trial One: Endurance]
[Opponent: Tidebound Echo]
[Grade: Low (High)]
[Objective: Survive]
[Time Remaining: 72:00:00]
Dan’s stomach dropped.
’It’s stronger than me.’
He knew what the grades meant.
Fish Leader had explained them before.
Low.
Medium.
High.
Each divided into three levels.
And this creature was at the highest level of the lowest grade.
Dan was nowhere close.
He lowered his body instinctively.
Feet planted.
Knees bent.
Hands raised.
Every Murloc child learned that stance before they could properly swim.
The Tidebound Echo continued forward.
Dan’s heart hammered against his chest.
He thought about the flood.
The houses collapsing.
Naia.
His family.
His tribe.
Then he remembered Fish Leader’s voice.
So the houses fell? Build them again.
So the fish were washed away? Catch more.
So you failed? Start again.
Dan clenched his fists.
The creature was getting closer.
’Seventy-two hours.’
He forced himself to breathe.
’That’s all I have to do.’
His eyes narrowed.
’I don’t have to defeat it.’
’I just have to survive.’
The Tidebound Echo suddenly accelerated.
Water exploded beneath its feet.
It lunged.
Dan moved at the same instant.
He didn’t know how long he could last.
He didn’t know what awaited him beyond this trial.
He didn’t even know whether he would ever see Wyrmspring again.
But he knew one thing.
He wasn’t going to die quietly.
Dan stepped forward and met the monster head-on.