The darkness clung to Zane like a second skin as he descended the stone staircase, each step echoing softly in the void.
'Ten years to climb down a staircase?' Zane thought, his brow furrowing as he took another step.
'No way. Instructor Marius would've told us to pack food, water, something. Unless… time works differently here, like Zoic's time differs from Earth's.'
He paused, one foot hovering over the next step.
'But why ten years?' His mind churned, replaying the instructor's words.
Zane turned and began climbing back up, testing a theory.
'Up is down. Worlds inverted.' Marius's incantation echoed in his mind. 'He didn't need to chant it so loudly. I doubt chanting it any lower would reduce the effect. So why say it where we could all hear?'
Zane's lips curved into a faint smirk as he climbed. 'I see, he wanted us to memorize it. It's a clue.' His mind pieced it together, the words slotting into place like a lock clicking open.
"Left is right, worlds inverted, up is down, sight distorted, the great compas points to no direction." It's literal. To go down, you climb up. Don't trust what you see—nothing is as it seemed.'
Zane's steps quickened as he continued to analyse the incantation.
"I descended eighty-two steps before stopping, but now, as I moved upward, this next step makes two hundred and fifty-three. The staircase didn't end, didn't loop back—it stretched on.
'This could only mean one thing. 'I'm going down by climbing up,' he realized.
'Is this what a Ranker of the Tower is capable of?' He wondered about the other trainees—Onilia, Nenis and the others. Had they caught on, or were they still trudging downward, lost in the illusion?
Time passed, yet the staircase remained unchanging.
'How long do I need to go? Don't tell me I misinterpreted. No. Let's to rash to unnecessary conclusions. I'll stop if this goes on for more than five thousand steps. I'mcurrently at eight hundred and sicty-two steps. Let's hold on a little longer."
After what seemed like an eternity, a faint glow appeared ahead, cutting through the gloom like a beacon. An altar stood at the top—or bottom?—of the stairs, carved from smooth, black stone, its surface polished to a mirror-like sheen. In its center sat a blue crystal orb, pulsing faintly, its light casting soft ripples across the dark space. It's size was no bigger than a baseball.
Zane slowed, his boots scuffing to a stop.
"Exactly one thousand, five hundred and eighty-two steps. Taking out the eighty-two steps I wasted at the beginning, it took one thousand, five hundred steps to reach the orb." He analyzed as sweat rolled down his cheeks.
He now stood before the altar, studying the orb. 'Too easy,' he thought, his hand hovering over it. 'I'm willing to bet this is the end.'
He grabbed the orb, its surface cool and smooth in his palm. He then turned to walk towards the opposite direction he'd come from.
After a few steps, the air shimmered, and another altar appeared, identical to the first, but holding a red crystal orb. Zane's eyes flicked between the two orbs, his grip tightening on the blue one in his left hand.
'Another alter? I knew that wasn't it. Now what do I do?' Zane had a confused expression as he paced back and forth.
'Worlds inverted. Sight distorted.' He reached out with his right hand, snatching the red orb.
The moment he held both orbs, a strange heat pulsed through his fingers. The blue orb in his left hand flickered, its color shifting to warm crimson, while the red orb in his right hand turned cold blue.
'Of course,' he thought. 'Nothing's what it seems.'
"Now which one do I take back? He didn't say how many orbs we should bring, but he did specify. If I take both it would be automatic failure. I would be saying 'I wasn't sure which was which so I brought them both.'
He tossed the red, now blue orb aside, its light winking out as it rolled into the dark, and kept the blue, now red orb in his left hand. 'If up is down, and left is right, then the opposite is the answer.'
He turned, and climbed two steps on the stairs. When he turned around, the altar and everything was gone and the two steps he took now stretched endlessly down.
He turned, fully facing downwards and chose to descend the stairs this time, the orb's faint glow lighting his path.
Time passed again, the staircase spiraling into the void, but Zane's focus didn't waver.
Then the darkness parted, revealing the massive crimson gate from before, its surface looming like a sentinel.
It creaked open, as if inviting him out, but Zane hesitated, his instincts screaming.
'If I try to walk out, I take endless steps and never reach it, like with the stairs. I need to walk away in order to walk out.'
He turned to walk away, testing the trial one last time, but a gust of wind roared behind him, the same relentless force that had dragged him in.
"Not again," he growled, but this time, he allowed the wind to carry him. He stumbled through, the gate slamming shut with a clang that echoed in his bones.
Zane stood on the other side, the orb still in his hand, glowing red.
Just like how the darkness had swallowed him before he appeared in front of the giant crimson gate, the same darkness swallowed him again but this time, it took him to the field where all the trainees were supposed to be.
The plain stretched before him, the sky taking on the color of violet-gold.
'Marius, you bastard,' he thought, a grim smile tugging at his lips.
'This is one nasty test. One wrong move, and you're trapped forever. That ten-year timer… it's how long you'd wander if you didn't find and link the clues.'
He glanced at the orb, its light pulsing like a heartbeat. The trial wasn't just about composure—it was about seeing through the lies, trusting your mind over your eyes.
Zane straightened as he stretched his hands above his head in exhaustion. He yawned as he blinked the remnants of the suffocating darkness of the staircase away.
He stood alone on the same plain where the trainees had gathered moments ago.
The other trainees were gone, their absence leaving the plain eerily quiet, save for the faint whistle of Zoic's strange winds. His legs ached from hours of climbing and his mind buzzed from unraveling Marius's twisted puzzle.
He exhaled, and scanned the empty field, wondering how the others were doing.
High above, in a floating observatory overlooking the plain, the Master sat at a polished table, a steaming cup of tea in his hand.
His eyes were wide with something close to disbelief. The red orb in Zane's hand glowed before him. He nearly fumbled his cup, the tea sloshing dangerously close to the edge.
"Now, isn't this a sight?" said the woman beside him, her voice was laced with surprise. "He's beaten your children. He's beaten the Zodiacs' record by a wide margin. A shame he's from a lesser world. Imagine if he'd been born on a stronger world."
The Master didn't respond, his gaze locked on Zane's image as his fingers tightened around the cup. The woman's words were not returned, but his silence spoke louder.
He wasn't the only one stunned.
Below, Instructor Marius appeared a few paces behind Zane. His eyes zeroed in on the red orb. Zane turned as he noticed a presence behind him.
Normally he walked without a sound; so for Zane, who wasn't even a ranker to have noticed him, explained how surprised he was.
"Zane, what trickery is this?" he demanded an answer, pointing at the orb.
'How?'. The trial's time dilation was brutal: one day on Zoic equaled ten years in the orb chamber. The Zodiacs, the Master's legendary children, had set the record—three hours in Zoic's time for the fastest, the first son. Yet Zane, this troublemaker from a backwater world, had emerged in mere seconds. It hadn't even been a minute after he wished them good luck. 'Seconds?' Marius shook his head, struggling to find words.
"Forget it," he muttered, waving a hand. "I'll hear your explanation when the others arrive."
Zane raised an eyebrow, catching the flicker of shock on Marius's face. 'What's with that look?' he thought, sinking onto a nearby rock, its surface cool against his aching legs.
Marius's stare was unnerving, like he was trying to peel back Zane's thoughts, and it made his skin prickle.
He shifted, rolling the orb between his fingers, its glow casting faint shadows on the ground. 'I just followed the clues. What's there to be amazed at?'