The bells of the Universität der Ewigen Flamme rang thirteen times.
An unnatural number—reserved only for moments when fate itself bent.
Students flooded the galleries of the Embervault Spire, whispering of summons, of the Chancellor's decree, of a trial no one had heard of in centuries.
A Trial by Echo.
Reserved only for those whose choices had begun to ripple beyond their own timeline. Reserved for candidates whose fates whispered across starfire and shadow.
Maximilian Kriegswald stood silent beneath the ancient arch of the Echogate, his breath caught between reality and something older—something watching.
By his side, Maelis Nachtquell adjusted the clasp of her black-veined spellcoat. Her eyes, deep pools of void-ink silver, flicked toward him. "This trial wasn't part of the Flame Curriculum."
"No," Maximilian said quietly. "It wasn't."
From the shadows emerged Alwin Solharth, stormlight curling around his left arm like an untethered promise. His expression was carved from caution, but his gaze held fire. "They're calling this a test, but it's a challenge. Not from the university. From… something else."
Maximilian nodded. "The Parliament of Flame isn't behind this."
"They're just watching."
The Arena of Echoes
The three of them stepped into the crystalline veil of the Echogate.
Immediately, the world fractured. Space spiraled. Time unwound.
They landed in a plane that shimmered with half-formed constellations and ruins suspended in starlight. Shadow towers flickered in and out of being, and across the mirrored floor, echoes of themselves moved independently—versions that could have been.
Each carried alternate scars.
Each whispered regrets.
A voice rolled across the stars.
"To walk the Soul Path is to confront your shadow. Only by facing the echo of your denial can the path continue."
A trial not of combat—but of self.
Maelis – The Shadow Below
She stood before her echo-self.
Not a mirror. A scar.
This Maelis wore the chains of obedience, draped in Imperial sigils. Her power was leashed—tamed. Her voice? Hollow.
"You're what I could've become if I obeyed," Maelis whispered.
The Echo spoke with an eerie calm. "You were meant to serve the Order. To rewrite your will was treason."
Maelis clenched her fist. "And freedom was blasphemy. But I chose it."
A duel began—not with blades, but with spells woven from guilt.
Nightsong Arcs. Blood-oath Wards. Mirrorbinding.
In the end, Maelis stood, her true self cracked but glowing, and the echo faded, whispering, "You still wear the chain. You just hide it better now."
Alwin – The Weight of Light
Alwin's trial was colder.
He faced himself as a boy—kneeling beside the corpse of a brother no spell had saved. The echo-boy asked nothing. He only watched.
"Why didn't you save me?"
The words never came, but Alwin heard them anyway.
His soul flared with lightning—not rage, but sorrow refined into resolve.
"I couldn't… but I swore no one else would fall."
The echo reached for him—and dissolved, becoming part of his spell-thread.
He gained nothing flashy. Only clarity.
And the stormlight hummed steady.
Maximilian – The Path Unfolding
Maximilian's echo did not appear.
Instead, the world cracked.
Flames bent sideways. Stars shrieked.
And then a figure emerged—not him, but something that wore his face, crowned in stellar antlers, eyes burning with galaxies.
"You are the one who walks between thrones."
"You carry the Thread of the Star Soul."
"Your denial is your mask. Remove it."
Maximilian stood frozen.
If he removed it—he'd be exposed.
Every faction. Every spy. Every rival.
But to keep the mask meant stagnation.
He raised his hand—and for a moment, let the aura pulse.
A burst of SSS+ flame flickered, blinding the plane. The echo grinned—and vanished.
A message echoed through the void:
Trial by Echo – Passed. All three.The path to the Stellar Ascension has accepted your footprints.
Item Profile: Lichtungsschleier – Veil of Light Reprieve
Type: Artifact CloakOrigin: The Trial by EchoWielder: Alwin Solharth
Description: A mantle woven from memory and defiance, infused with temporal light-threads gathered from the Echo Plane. Responds to inner clarity and remorse.
Effects:
Guilt Transference: Once per day, absorb a fatal strike by converting the emotional weight of the enemy into shield energy.
Light Echo: Record one spell cast and reflect it three seconds later as an afterimage.
Soulstead: Grants passive resistance to illusion and mental compulsion.
Lore Drop: The Echo Trial and Soul Paths
Among the divine system's rarest phenomenon is the Trial by Echo, known as a Soulmarking Trial. These are not initiated by mortal institutions, but triggered when a soul's destiny surpasses localized systems of fate—hinting at paths connected to divine thrones or ancient bloodlines.
Soul Paths, like Maximilian's Path of the Star Soul, are often fractured, cosmic inheritances. They interact with the echoes of multiversal selves and demand clarity of purpose over brute strength.
Only once per generation does the Echogate open.
And those who return are forever changed.
Aftermath: Watching Eyes
Back in the university, Chancellor Ignatia Vulkrand slammed her obsidian goblet against the Flame Parliament's table.
"That gate was not sanctioned."
A cloaked figure from Haus Grauvacht replied softly, "And yet… it chose them."
In the Divinity-Locked Archives, a seal cracked.
A name glowed briefly on an ancient chart of forbidden titles:
Starforged Heir – One Confirmed.
Closing: The Bonds Between
That evening, Maelis sat beside a silent pool, unraveling glyphs that floated like candlelight.
Alwin stood nearby, adjusting his new cloak, the storm in his eyes quieter.
And Maximilian?
He remained alone—staring into the flame he could no longer hide from.
"The echo wasn't wrong," he muttered. "My time is running out."
Above him, in the sky, a constellation shimmered—and shifted.
The Star Soul had taken its first true step.
End of Chapter 28: Schattenlicht und Seelenpfade – Shadowlight and Soul Paths