“Do you feel it now?” Master Elvanis asked.

Zu Mari still felt a little strange having a young child acting as his master, but Master Elvanis’s power could not be denied. Zu turned his head in question, water dripping into one ear as he did so, his long wet hair flopping across his shoulder.

“The power that flows through you.”

“I have been crippled since birth, there is no power but my core and my will.”

Master Elvanis frowned, and the weight of his presence seemed to impose itself on Zu like a thundercloud slamming into his head. “Look deeper.”

Zu looked. He searched through his blocked channels, his empty husk of a body, the physical form he couldn’t wait to be rid of. Though he may be outwardly strong and beautiful, his family had seen past the facade to the emptiness within. And now Zu couldn’t see anything else. He followed the trails of energy through the fountain and flowing up the walls and then into him and through him and out again, and...

Through him?

His breath caught. Tiny, delicate tendrils of power, of life energy, far weaker than anything he'd ever seen before, so faint that he'd not even noticed them, wound their way through his body.

They flowed into his forehead, down the line of power that he'd never been able to unlock, spreading out through his arms and down his torso and into his legs, then out again.

He... he had energy circulating. Not just his foundation, his stable core in which the Protagonist Fragment dwelt and empowered him, but actual power actually flowing through him.

"How?" Zu gasped, staring at Master Elvanis in uncertain awe. "How did you--"

"I am stronger than your weakness. Now be silent. I have more for you to do."

Zu become silent.

"I sense something in your soul," Master Elvanis said. "Do you have a spirit weapon, by chance?"

Zu hesitated. Then he shook away the uncertainty. Of course Master Elvanis already knew about Smoke of Progression, there was no point in trying to conceal it from him.

He nodded. "I do. My godsword, Smoke of Progression. It is separated from me right now, but I could call it to me if need arose."

"Call it."

Zu's hands trembled as he began casting the spell, then he dispersed it before the gathered energy became dangerous. He could feel the gaps in the spell, the way it wouldn’t coalesce. "I can't." He'd only done so before by sheer desperation. To do it properly and reliably would take another dozen loops of serious practice, at the very least.

“Call it, or I will kill you right now.”

Zu froze as Master Elvanis’s imposing aura pressed down on him, bloodthirsty and eager, waiting for him to fail so it could turn him to dust. He wanted to protest, but as confident as he was in Luja Ni’s ability to protect him… he didn’t want to fail. He didn’t want to disappoint Master Elvanis, didn’t want to be cast aside by one more person as unworthy.

If Master Elvanis could unlock Zu’s cultivation, something his entire clan had never managed in his entire lifetime, in only an hour or two… what else could he do? Zu wanted to know. Had to know. Yearned for his knowledge and strength more than he’d ever yearned for anything.

This could be the start of his true path to ascension. He would not waste it by failing and dying and being left behind while Master Elvanis found someone else to tutor.

With all his pride and desperation and fear and certainty, Zu began to cast. He drew together the two different pieces of reality, twisting them closer to one another, binding them through himself into a single point. Sweat trickled down his neck, joining with the water that continued to drip steadily on his head.

Zu reached through the twisted space, grabbed the hilt of Smoke of Progression, and—

Stumbling, Zu nearly fell over the prisoner in front of him, the sudden transition from sitting in deep concentration to walking too much for him to process.

Kia bumped into his back with a small sound of fear.

“Keep moving, kevnis,” Menya growled, though with less than her usual venom. Zu’s heart skipped a beat and he looked up to the balcony, to the open space where Master Elvanis would slam down.

Master Elvanis did not slam down.

The whole ceremony played out as it had so many times before, Menya and Nira lining them up, unchaining them, delivering their speeches about obedience and complete submission…

Master Elvanis didn’t arrive. They waited half an hour, then Nira and Menya had a furious discussion in hushed tones. Menya insisted Nira go and ask him what he wanted. Nira protested; Menya pushed harder; Nira folded and scurried off.

Zu stayed in line, trying to decide if he were afraid Master Elvanis would appear, or disappointed that he hadn’t yet.

Clearly, Zu hadn’t stayed with him long enough to be deemed sufficiently important.

This turned out to be one of those times when Master Elvanis decided he had better things to do than check over the same group of captives for the eighth time. Nira returned, conferred with Menya, and turned to the group.

“The Master has spoken. You are to be sent to the trials and granted the chance to prove yourselves worthy of becoming Acolytes of the Green Flame."

"Wait, hold up,” Zu said, their words dragging him out of his reverie. “I'm a dimensionalist, I need specialized personal training, not a generic trap corridor." If he couldn’t have Master Elvanis, at least he could have Nira or Menya.

Menya and Nira exchanged glances. Menya shook her head. Nira nodded.

"No, you will go through the trials same as anyone else. There is no need for you to concern yourself with dimensionalism until you've proven your worth and loyalty."

How interesting. Apparently the manner of asking for special treatment impacted their decision a substantial amount. "Prove my loyalty? How am I supposed to do that?"

"You will be told how, and you will obey. Now move."

Zu moved, following the trail of former captives now acolytes to the same trap corridor he'd been in before.

Well. This would be a problem. He'd grown no faster, and the skills he'd been developing were all soul based rather than physical. He could warp space perhaps, a tiny bit, but not enough to fit himself through and not reliably enough not to blow himself up in the process. He could dream of stepping from one end of the challenge to the next, but the spells he'd learned and mastered thus far were insufficient to meet such a challenge.

Instead, he sprinted through to the best of his ability. He was surprised when he reached the beast at the end - he'd somehow managed to block out the memory of being gored and crushed. Seeing it brought back all the horrors of that first death, when he'd thought he had no recourse, before Luja Ni let herself be made known.

He couldn't move for one moment, one perilous moment, then he dove forward with a scream of rage. The beast roared to meet him, yanking on its chains as it charged.

Zu slid beneath its feet, warping reality just enough to bind its one foot with its other, tripping it up and sending it flying horns over heels.

Grinning in triumph, he jumped to his feet and ran out of the tunnel.

He'd done it. He'd won the first trial. After so long. Hah. Take that, Menya!

Menya, watching with folded arms at the end of the trial corridor, was not amused. "So you survived one trial. We have more. Don't think so highly of yourself."

Zu Mari wasn't either. "I passed your trial," he insisted. "I need proper training."

"Are you sure we couldn't make an exception?" Nira asked. She looked at Zu with a downright friendly look on her face. "I think he could be just what this place needs."

"This place? Who do you think you are, arbitrating decisions about the citadel?"

Nira folded, as she always did when Menya pushed her. "You're right. I know my place."

"Good. Now escort him to the second trial. And no hints."

"I don't need hints," Zu spat back, defiantly. He walked after Nira, but turned back to fire one parting shot at Menya. "I'm sorry I ever thought you were an acceptable choice of mentor."

Menya ignored him, but Nira shook her head in concern. "You should not antagonize her," she whispered. “It is dangerous, prodding that one.”

“And it is dangerous prodding me,” Zu replied defiantly. “No matter. I have decided to accept you as my mentor.”

“That decision is not yours to make.”

Zu smiled. “What Menya doesn’t know won’t hurt us.”

And Nira, slowly, nodded agreement.