It was a void.
A darkness, he was couldn't quite grasp.
And he was falling.
Free-falling straight down into the middle of it.
He screamed. And screamed again. But no sound escaped his lungs.
'Is this what happens when you die?' He wondered during that brief, yet infinite period of time.
***
His eyes shot open.
He panted heavily, heart beating frantically.
Xaden lay on the ground, staring into a gloomy, grey sky. He slowly pushed himself up.
He looked around.
'Where am I?'
The world looked unfamiliar.
Tall structures surrounded him—too high, too close. Some buildings, perhaps. Not the stacked, crowded towers he knew, built tight and practical beneath the Vale. These… these were spaced apart, standing on their own like giants that didn't need support.
Their sides were made of some dark, reflective material, shattered in places, jagged edges catching the pale light above.
The ground beneath him was hard and uneven, scattered with pieces of glass and metal and growing things.
He was in the middle of a wide path, marked with faint white lines.
A road of some kind.
One unlike anything he had ever seen before.
He was in a city, he realized, a dead, decaying city.
An Earth city perhaps, from the few archived images he had seen growing up.
It was silent.
Too silent.
He breathed in, realizing the air was different from what he was accustomed to.
Not bad... Just, different.
The air in Terra wasn't exactly breathable by humans, so the government installed filters in all the Sectors.
But naturally, the filters for Sector 45 were no better than shit.
Xaden took in another breath of air. It was dry and even a bit stale, but it was by far better than what he was used to all his life.
'Am I dreaming?' The next thought came to his head as he took in another breath of pure oxygen.
He remembered the arena floor breaking apart, then falling through darkness. He had no recollection of how he had gotten here.
A flicker cut across his vision.
His hand instinctively went to his side, where his bow should have been.
Nothing.
Then it appeared from inside his sight.
Clean lines of golden light formed out of nowhere, assembling themselves into words.
[Crucible I: AWAKENING]
Name: Xaden Dracinian
Secret Name: Nil
Rank: Candidate
Awakened abilities: Nil
Environment: Unknown Urban Zone
Objective: Locate the "Key to Heaven" and unlock Heaven's door while keeping away from the hollow ones and other hostile entities.
Trial begins now.
You have 24 hours,
Ascend, or remain,
Forever.
Good luck!
...
Xaden stared at the screen a little while longer. Words couldn't even begin to describe how he felt at that moment.
'I am completely f^cked!'
'Key to heaven?'
'Where the hell am I supposed to find a single key in this desolate place!'
Xaden looked towards the ruined buildings and the dark, empty streets that seemed to go on and on.
'What the hell would it even look like?'
He started walking down the broken road.
He had heard that Threshing usually consisted of three trials called crucibles.
Although Xaden was sure this year something was different, he was certain no other candidates had ever falling through the ground to begin.
'Of course the challenge changes when it's my year.' He thought bitterly.
The first crucible was structured around the candidate's individual prowess, designed to push the candidates to their breaking point to awaken dormant abilities. Of course, a select few, like Leo and Kent, unlocked their abilities before they became candidates, so it varied for each individual.
Speaking of Leo, he wondered what his trial was like...
The hair at the back of Xaden's neck stood.
He stilled for a moment.
'Maybe it's just the wind.'
Nevertheless, Xaden stopped walking.
Then he heard it again.
Somewhere behind him.
He turned toward it slowly, eyes narrowing at the long stretch of empty road ahead. The buildings loomed on either side. Old and empty, with those dark voids where there used to be windows.
He could've sworn they were watching him.
Nothing seemed to move.
And yet—
He exhaled through his nose, steadying himself.
'Running without knowing what I'm running from is just foolish. I need to find somewhere hidden and set as my base.'
He continued to move.
This time, carefully, slipping between the hulks of the large pieces of machinery lying around. Each step slow and quiet, keeping himself low on the ground.
He had gotten quite a distance away from where he awoke when he heard the sound once again.
This time a bit louder, like some voice whispering vague things into the air.
Something shifted between two collapsed structures up ahead.
At first, it looked like a trick of the light.
Then it stepped forward.
Xaden froze.
The thing was tall—menacingly so—and stretched thin like its shape had been distorted. Its limbs bent wrong, joints sitting where they shouldn't. Its surface wasn't solid; it twisted and wavered. Its face, if you could call it that, was non-existent. The space where it should have been was hollow.
Xaden felt his heart race.
'Don't move.' He told himself. Perhaps it hadn't seen him.
The creature stilled.
Then its head tilted towards him.
Xaden's chest tightened.
'Of course it did!'
He took a slow step back—
And the Hollow lunged towards him.
"Yeah, no—"
He ran.
His boots slammed against the ground as he sprinted down the street, breath sharp in his lungs. Behind him, the sound picked up immediately, faster now, erratic.
The whispers getting louder and louder.
He dared to glance behind him.
It was rapidly gaining on him.
Each movement broken, unnatural—one moment there, the next several steps closer, its form flickering like it couldn't stay in place. Flickering in and out.
He stopped dead in his tracks.
From the other side of the road, another Hollow was approaching him.
'Just great. It has a cousin!'
His eyes darted ahead, searching—anything, anywhere to lose the creatures—
They landed at a break in the ground.
A jagged opening near the base of a collapsed building, half-hidden beneath fallen concrete and twisted metal. Dark. Narrow.
No time to think twice.
He veered toward it, boots skidding slightly as he dropped low and forced himself through the gap.
Sharp metal tore across his side.
He grunted.
Sharp, hot pain exploded through him.
He gritted his teeth and continued forward, dragging himself deeper into the darkness.
The space tightened around him, forcing him to crouch as he stumbled forward and finally dropped hard onto damp, uneven ground.
The air was hot, smelling of rust and damp decay.
He turned, pressing himself back into the shadows just as a flicker of movement passed over the opening above.
The sound stopped.
Silence.
Xaden didn't move.
Didn't dare to breathe.
Time passed slowly in those few moments.
His hand pressed instinctively against the wound at his side. He sucked in a sharp breath as pain flared again. The tear was deep. Too deep. The metal must have sliced him open on the way in...
"Damn it…"
He lowered his head slightly, trying to steady his breathing, but his palm came away slick and dark. Blood.
He was losing blood.
Xaden heard the monsters whispers.
Right above him.
His pulse roared in his ears. He used his free hand to grab a small, jagged piece of shrapnel lying on the ground.
'Come at me, bastards!'
A shape passed over the gap, its form warping the faint light that filtered in. It paused.
Above him, the creature shifted.
For a horrible moment, he was sure it would drop down.
But it didn't.
Xaden forced himself not to move.
Not even when the blood kept coming.
Not even when the darkness around him felt like it was closing in.
After what felt like forever, the shape above the opening finally moved on.
Only then did Xaden let out a slow, controlled breath, his head falling back against the cold surface behind him.
He felt his side burn.
His hand trembled slightly as he pressed harder against the wound, trying to slow the bleeding.
"This place…" he muttered under his breath, voice low and strained. "is actually trying to kill me."
A small smile traced its way to Xaden's lips. He wanted to laugh, feeling a strange sense of ecstasy.
Why was he so surprised at that? He knew what he had signed up for.
'Dream or not, if I die here, I'm dead in real life.'
The silence returned.
Except for the sound of his own breath. He removed the simple shirt that had appeared on him when he had arrived, and ripped it apart, tying the piece of material over his abdomen like a bandage.
He stood up shakily and looked around him. The environment trembled slightly under his slightly blurring vision.
He couldn't leave through the spot where he had come down from, to avoid getting found by the Hollows. Xaden looked towards the other way, into the cave.
"Well, here goes nothing." He whispered to himself, moving deeper into the cave.