Morning arrived too fast. Female guards banged on Kai's door before the sun even crested the horizon.
They didn't offer breakfast or water, simply marching him out into the quiet corridors. They escorted him and the five remaining candidates down a winding staircase, leading them deep into the palace's underground foundations.
Faint celestial runes glowed along the stone walls, brimmed with a strange, erratic energy that made the hairs on Kai's arms stand up.
"Welcome to the Trial of Will," the gray-robed attendant announced. She stopped before a set of reinforced iron doors.
"Your mind is your only weapon in this chamber. Survive your own regrets, and you might live to see noon. Fail, and we'll leave your bodies for the scavengers."
She pushed the doors open, revealing a vast, empty room filled with swirling white mist.
Kai stepped inside with complete confidence, while the other men hesitated near the threshold.
