Xander could feel the ardor flowing all around him, wisps of it rising off every object in the room to swirl around in spirals that ebbed and flowed as they interacted with each other. Ardor was the baseline will of all things, the assertation even inanimate objects made on reality that they existed. Everything had ardor. The bed gave off cloth and wood ardor, the surrounding air swirled with air ardor, the hinges on his trunk provided metal ardor - if it existed, it provided ardor. Some things that were common enough and had enough significance would develop ardor of its own - there was no hinge ardor, since hinges were usually part of a larger whole, but there was chain ardor. However, none of the ardor normally in this room was ardor Xander had an affinity for. He could still take it in, but doing so would tire him, because he’d have to test his will against its will, and then he’d have to use his cycling technique to refine it into something he could use. That wouldn’t be much of a problem for a short period, but it was mentally taxing and would ultimately drain him.

  That’s where his affinities came in. Those were types of ardor that would not resist his will. When he cultivated either chain or fire, they would flow into him. There weren’t any chains in this room, something Xander would need to fix, but there was fire ardor. It came in through the window in the door to the outside, in such quantities and purities that Xander was certain he knew the cause for the immense heat when they crossed the boundary.

  Xander took a deep breath, drawing in ardor with it. It flowed into him, and he could feel it as it hit his lungs and spread out along his channels, flowing through his body like blood. He exhaled, and expelled impurities that the breath had drawn in. The cycle repeated, and slowly, Xander could feel his ardor pooling in his body, right above the waistline. It was a muscle called a diaphragm, and it also served as his foundation.

  Xander invested ardor into his foundation, layering it on the weak bit that was already there. The flaws of his rebirth wouldn’t allow him to construct a proper core, but he could make sure that his foundation was as strong as possible. He only put enough ardor into his aura to move it from zero to one. Enough to give him a bit of flexibility - his aura represented how well he could resist ardor based attacks, and how much ardor he could put into his techniques. Since he wasn’t expecting a fight and didn’t have techniques besides his breathing and cycling, there wasn’t any reason to do anything else with it.

  Technically, he didn’t need to put anything in his foundation right now, either, but he’d feel better if that was reinforced. The larger his foundation, the harder it would be for anyone to break it again.

  That thought made a memory stir. An angry shove. A surprised shout. A fist coming down and -

  Xander pushed the thoughts away. They belonged to who he had been. Not who he was now. He could cultivate again. He could grow strong again.

  He could contemplate revenge on the man who had Broken him later.

  ***

  Over the next hour, the rest of the initiates who had taken the pill woke up and were escorted to their rooms to start cycling. At least, Xander thought. It might have been longer. When in the meditative trance of cycling, Xander was aware of the world around him, but time sort of slipped away. He could feel the ardor flow reacting to the presence of other humans around him, so he knew they were cultivating, and when people spoke their voices didn’t sound slow or fast - but in between the speaking, when everyone was quietly in the same meditative trance as he was, Xander seconds and minutes and hours would blend together.

  By all the gods in the Heavenly Halls, he had missed this.

  Already he could see the advantage of being among the first, however. It was not long after the last to take the pill - Lilyn, from the sound of the voices through the thin walls - was escorted into her room that someone else entered the call and called them to attention. As a group, the twelve total students who were among the first were led out to the interior of the complex.

  Several students gasped, but Xander nodded at the confirmation. Earth Fire. In the middle of the school’s many building was a pit in the ground, three times as wide as Xander was tall, and heat radiated outwards in a near constant stream, bathing everything in the orange light of the embers in the center. Such deposits of underground fire were fed by coal or gas trapped beneath the ground, and Earth Fire could burn for generations once exposed. For a school of fire cultivators, it was the perfect centerpiece.

  It was interesting to note, as they walked past, that it didn’t feel as hot out here as it had just moments ago. Already, cultivating fire was helping his body adapt to the change. Lilyn, who had been the last to wake up and start cultivating, was having the worst time from the heat, sweat beading her brow in just moments. The venotian woman seemed the least affected, although Xander didn’t know how venotian’s reacted to heat normally - for all he knew, everything up to this moment had felt cold to her. He hoped he’d get to talk to her in a less antagonistic way at some point.

  He took a moment to try to observe some of the other students. Even though Brion had advised not getting close to them, Xander felt it would be worth at least knowing who they were, so the survivors would be able to bond afterwards. The group was evenly split between men and women, six of each. Most of the student Xander didn’t know didn’t stand out from casual glances, all being humans of the various groups native to the Empire, save one - a hairless man with a single eye in the center of his head, a small horn growing from above that eye, and unusually large teeth. He wasn’t much taller than anyone else, but the other features still showed his ogre heritage.

  Xander gave the ogreblooded a small nod of acknowledgement when he caught Xander looking. Ogreblooded had none of the cannibalistic tendencies ascribed to their now extinct ancestors, and those that chose to live among humans tended to hold influential positions. Their naturally longer life spans meant they could easily reach greater heights of cultivation, without the need to race for Ivory - where lifespans slowed down - that humans had.

  Unfortunately, this ogre seemed to take offense to Xander, given the way his eye narrowed. Xander turned his head back forward, repressing a sigh. So far, he’d angered the venotian, the ogreblooded, and the large man on the path - who was not present among this group, so at least that was something - and had gotten on well with Anoki and Lilyn. It seemed it was a matter of tossing a coin if any person he met was going to react well or poorly to his presence.

  This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

  Xander wasn’t used to it. Before being Broken, he’d been a local prodigy - breaking into the Steel tier and then rank Seventeen in record time. But local meant comparing himself to the other three small villages near his home, and he’d known he was just performing at the minimal level for Academy qualification. Still, he was used to people not being offended by his every action. Even as a Broken, he’d been seen with less offense and more with pity.

  Well, he’d thought everyone had gotten along with him, until…

  Thoughts of revenge started again, unbidden, and Xander cycled as he walked to try to calm them. The betrayal had hurt almost as much as his shattered foundation. More than once, Xander had considered trying to find an honorable death by trying to slay his attacker, but it would have been a mouse swearing revenge on a cat. Last he heard, his attacker was Ivory. It was unlikely he’d progressed to the Jade stages yet, but Xander couldn’t rule it out. There was no way Xander, as a Broken, could have done more than made him laugh.

  But now...now he was on a Path. Now, he could restore his honor and avenge himself. Honor... didn’t demand that he tried. Or did it? That was an interesting question, because no one expected Broken to seek revenge - but no one thought Broken could be restored.

  Come to think of it, how had the Academy kept that secret? Shouldn’t have at least one person over the years sought revenge?

  That thought wedged in his mind and wouldn’t let go as they stepped into a new building. He’d been so distracted that he hadn’t fully caught where they were.

  Xander’s spirit soared, all concerns about honor and revenge obliterated in the sight of the building. An arena. He managed to keep a respectful silence as he filtered onto a bench along with Anoki and Lilyn. Then he lost control of his tongue. “An arena? Do you think they’re doing a technique demonstration?”

  Anoki’s eyes were wide, and he shook his head. “You didn’t go to an Academy before, did you? This is going to be better than that. There’s going to be an exhibition match between two of the senior disciples.”

  “Wait,” Xander said, looking at the man with fresh eyes. “You went to an Academy before?”

  Anoki waved the question away. “Yes, but not important right now.” Xander disagreed, but Anoki clearly didn’t want to talk about it, so Xander stayed respectfully silent. He still wasn’t sure how much of who he had been he wanted to talk about, so it was only fair to afford others the same respect. “All the Academies do an exhibition match as part of the first day.”

  Someone behind them spoke. “You think they’d wait until we didn’t have a ticking clock over our heads for this, but…”

  Xander and Anoki looked over their shoulders. The venotian woman was there. When she noticed who was talking, she hissed out air, her tongue tasting it. “Syrenis,” she said.

  Xander and Anoki provided their names as well. Syrenis nodded, but it seemed she wasn’t interested in actual conversation, just offering the half apology of offering her name. She did glace at Lilyn, looking slightly miffed she’d stayed silent. Xander elbowed her in the side, but Lilyn didn’t respond.

  Now even Syrenis looked confused. “Hey,” Xander said to Lilyn. “Are you all right?” her shoulders started to shake. Her breath was coming in ragged gasps. Heavenly Halls, was she crying? “Lilyn, what’s wrong?”

  “It...it’s..” Lilyn sniffed hard. “It’s so b-b-beautiful! I never thought I’d g-g-get to see one in person!”

  Anoki and Xander shared a look. Xander glanced at Syrenis again, but the venotian seemed to have made her escape when she heard the sound of tears. “What is beautiful?” Xander asked.

  Anoki caught Xander’s eyes and mouthed, “Has she lost the farm?” and Xander could only shake his head in response.

  “The ring! You don’t… Oh Heavenly Halls, you don’t know what it is. It’s a Timeless Arena!” Lilyn said, like she had just announced the Five Emperors had descended from heaven and offered them a gift. “An actual, honest to the gods, Timeless Arena.”

  Anoki and Xander stared at her blankly. “Begging your pardon,” Xander finally said. “But...is that supposed to mean something.”

  Lilyn looked horrified and offended. “A Timeless Arena. It’s only one of the creations of the First Empire, like the Endless Wall and the ...you really don’t know?”

  “I know about the wall,” Xander said, a bit defensively. Everyone knew about the wall. You’d have to be from... another world to not know about the wall!

  “What’s the wall?” Anoki asked, and Xander reevaluated his expectations.

  “The Endless Wall covers the border of the Outer Wilds,” Xander said. “If the Husks damage it, the script work in the wall can be activated, and time will flow backwards until the Wall is whole again. I thought you went to an Academy?”

  “Descending Hawk style. Duelists. We were deep on the inner side.” Anoki shook his head. “They were going to cover the details of Husks and our defenses in our third year.”

  “Right,” Lilyn said, butting in. “And this is a Timeless Arena. It works a lot like the Wall, except it doesn’t reset the structure of the Arena. It makes time run backwards for the people inside the arena, taking them back to the moment they walked in, but lets the mind remember all of it running forward. And we’re going to see a fight inside of one! I didn’t think I’d ever get to see it. They’re some of the most beautiful Willforged crafts in existence, and I’m going to get to see it used.”

  “Right,” Anoki said, drawing out the word. “So if I’m reading this correctly, we’re going to see…”

  “Two Senior Disciples who don’t need to hold back,” Xander said, leaning forward as Brion walked in on one end of the arena, a woman he didn’t know walked in another, and the man with the long tail and horns who had been with the Sage earlier today stood in the center of the ring. “A duel to the death without the permanence.”

  The man with the tail held up held up a hand for silence.

  “My name is Master Rokyn,” he said, his tail lashing the air like a cat preparing to strike. “I’m certain you have many questions. Questions that will be answered. But first - as the first of our students to pass the First Trail, the Trial of Will, you are going to see two of our students demonstrate some of the greater skills that await you further along the Path of Fallen Embers. To my left you will see Brion, an Ivory of the Sixth rank and a Disciple of Ash. To my right, Chandra, an Ivory of the Seventh rank and a Knight of the Second Compact. They will not be using their Goeticas for this fight – and I promise you, I will soon explain what that means. But for now…” Master Rokyn hopped from the center of the arena, clearing the entire sixty foot radius of the arena in a single bound, and landing in a reinforced seat that had multiple podiums in front of him. His face was faintly lit by script work on the podiums.

  “Round one of one.” His lips curled into a grin as Brion and Chandra pressed their closed left fist into their right shoulder and bowed to each other, then straightened. Chandra dropped into a fighting pose, one hand forward and the other back, her legs in line with each other and bent for balance. Brion crouched slightly, folding his hands behind his back, but otherwise didn’t move.

  “Fight!”