The path beyond the Shard of Binding was unlike anything they'd seen before. It didn't spiral upward like the others, nor descend into gloom. It stretched forward into a corridor of starlight — a shimmering tunnel suspended in a void where gravity held no power. Every step felt weightless, yet solid. Kael walked at the front, the newly acquired shard strapped across his chest, pulsing with a quiet, steady beat.
Behind him, the others followed in silence.
Daren finally spoke. "We're not in the Tower anymore… not fully."
"No," Veyr murmured, running a hand through the star-streaked air. "We're between. A space that shouldn't exist."
Kael said nothing. But he felt it too — something ancient brushing against his awareness. Not malevolent, not kind. Simply vast. Watching.
The corridor ended at a circular chamber of glass. Six pedestals lined the walls, each waiting, empty. One pedestal was now filled — the Shard of Binding hovered above it, settled in place the moment Kael approached. Light shot from its surface, crawling along the walls like vines of silver flame.
"Five more," Rina said softly. "And whatever door this opens…"
Kael didn't respond. He was staring at the far side of the chamber — where a new staircase had appeared. And this time, carved into the marble steps, were warnings in dozens of languages. He read the one he understood best:
Ascend with purpose, or fall without meaning.
They climbed.
When they emerged, the Tower greeted them with silence.
A new floor. But this one was not a battlefield.
It was a city.
Abandoned, broken, yet not decayed. The stone towers stood crookedly, like they had been twisted by an unseen hand. Roads of cracked crystal led through the ruins, and strange machines rusted in place — relics of a civilization far older than any they had seen.
"This wasn't built by challengers," Veyr said. "This was here before the Tower."
"Then why is it part of the trial?" Mier asked.
Kael's eyes narrowed. "Because this isn't a trial. It's a graveyard."
They moved cautiously through the streets. As they explored, Kael felt a presence building, growing heavier with each step. Eventually, they reached the center of the ruined city.
There, resting on a throne of shattered metal, sat a man.
Or what was left of one.
His body was wrapped in chains of light, and his skin shimmered like glass, cracked through with a glowing web. He was still alive — barely. His eyes opened slowly as they approached, and when he spoke, his voice was like wind across dry bones.
"You've come for the god-shards."
Kael stepped forward. "You know what they are."
The chained figure gave a weak smile. "I was once like you. I climbed. I conquered. I reached the place where the gods fell… and took their strength for myself."
Kael felt the weight in those words.
"What happened?" he asked.
"I tried to bear their legacy. I failed. Their power is not meant to be inherited. It is meant to be earned — reshaped by one who understands what it means to lose everything."
He gestured toward the city around them.
"This was my kingdom. I built it in the Tower's image. But the shards changed me. I became something not quite mortal. Not quite divine. I tried to ascend without purpose."
Kael looked around at the broken streets, the ruined towers, the memories hanging heavy in the air.
"And now?" he asked.
The figure's voice grew fainter. "Now I wait. For one who might succeed where I did not."
He raised a hand — barely — and a second shard floated free from his chest. It gleamed with a soft golden hue, etched with marks of eternity.
"This is the Shard of Memory. It holds the echoes of all who have climbed before you. Their strengths, their flaws. Take it. But beware — to carry memory is to carry burden."
Kael stepped forward and accepted the shard.
For a moment, a thousand voices flooded his mind. Battles. Screams. Prayers. Triumph. Despair. All the emotions of those who came before. All of them now part of him.
When the vision cleared, the figure was gone. Only chains remained, coiled like lifeless serpents.
Kael turned back to the others. Rina looked shaken. Mier was kneeling, head bowed. Veyr stood still, his fists clenched. Daren simply nodded.
Another pedestal. Another step forward.
The Tower was no longer just testing them.
It was preparing them.
Kael looked at the new shard, then at the skyless ceiling above. Somewhere beyond, five shards remained. And with them, the answer to what kind of god he might one day become.