Day Five. Night.

At my words, I felt excitement ripple through the minds of the others. My response was the one they’d been both hoping for—and dreading.

“Tell me what I must do,” I said in the small silence that had fallen.

Sulan was the first to speak. “To begin with,” she began in a more animated voice than I’d yet heard her use, “your Wolf bloodline must be fully awakened.”

“Left to its own devices, your blood would eventually awaken of its own accord,” Leta added, “but in these troubled times, that would be dangerous and leave you without the means necessary to defend yourself.”

“Be warned, though,” Suva said, “once your blood is awakened, there will be no turning back. Any other bloodlines you carry will be subsumed as your Wolf bloodline rises to the fore.”

My gaze flitted between the three female wolves. “I carry other bloodlines?”

“Almost certainly,” Leta answered. “Over the years, the bloodlines of the ancient Houses have so commingled that nearly every scion carries multiple strains. But this will not matter once your blood has been awakened.”

My brows drew down at the elder’s answer, but I didn’t pursue the matter further. “How will you awaken my blood?” I asked instead.

“We won’t,” Sulan said. “You will awaken it yourself by completing the first Wolf trials.”

I waited for her to go on.

“Long ago, before the fall of his House, the Wolf Prime appointed our pack as one of his gatekeepers,” Suva said. “It is our sacred duty to guide suitable candidates to the first trial.”

I frowned. “What is the trial? Some sort of dungeon?”

“Not quite,” the white wolf replied. “Dungeons exist only in the nether. The first wolf trial is a closed sector in the aether.”

Sulan nodded to Suva, and the other elder grabbed something from the rear of the cave. Padding closer, she dropped it before me.

It was a metal object consisting of two large, interlocked rings, each inscribed with arcane symbols.

“This is a device used to open a portal,” Sulan explained. “With it, we will send you to the trial.”

A portal! It was potentially another means of escaping the valley. But I curbed my sudden spurt of excitement. I could not expect it to work, not given the shield woven over the sector by Ishita’s sworn. Unable to resist further, I inspected the object.

The target is a Ring of Astral Walking, an artifact of unknown rank forged by the Wolf Prime Atiras himself. This item is a spirit portal device and may only be used by a circle of mind-linked dire wolves.

I glanced up at Sulan in confusion. “What is a spirit portal?”

“It is exactly what the name implies,” Sulan said. “A portal opened by this artifact will send your spirit to the first Wolf trial.”

“As to your concern about the Awakened Dead’s shield,” Leta chimed in, “fear not, their shield will not interfere with the workings of this device.”

I nodded to the smaller wolf in acknowledgment, then turned back to Sulan. “Only my spirit?” I asked. “Why not the rest of me?”

“You are still new to the ways of the wolf,” Monac interjected. “But in time, you will learn that Wolf is as much a stalker of minds as he is of prey in the physical realm.”

I rubbed at my chin, struggling to make sense of the old wolf’s response. Huh-uh, that’s… cryptic.

“The first trial is that of the Mind,” Sulan said, sounding amused again. “To that end, you will undertake it without a body.”

I stared at her blankly for a moment. I guess there will be no escaping the sector through the spirit portal then. “What happens to my body while I’m in the trial?” I managed finally.

“It will remain here under guard by the pack,” Duggar said.

I nodded slowly. “What challenges can I expect to face?”

“That we do not know,” Sulan said. “None of the candidates the pack sent through since becoming gatekeepers have ever returned.”

Urgh. This keeps getting better. “And how many were those?”

Sulan looked to Monac. “Six,” he said.

“But you are certain this trial will put me on Wolf’s path?” I asked skeptically.

“You have already begun to tread the ways of the wolf,” Sulan assured me. “Your Wolf Mark has been deepening, hasn’t it? And if I’m not mistaken, your Mark has already had an impact on your Class. The first trial will simply hasten your blood awakening and ready you for the next step.”

My brows rose at her words. It was true that when I’d fully configured my primary Class, it had evolved from scout to nightstalker, and in part, that evolution seemed to have been a result of my Wolf Mark.

The Adjudicator had also referenced my Wolf Mark when I’d merged my primary and second Classes into the mindstalker bi-blend. Sulan’s right. I am already on Wolf’s path.

Which brought me to another interesting point.

I glanced at the pack’s alpha. “You said the new Powers hunt down those who attempt forbidden evolutions, didn’t you?”

Duggar nodded. “I did.”

“Loken, Ishita, Erebus, and probably also Tartar and Arinna know that I’m a mindstalker by now,” I said, turning back to Sulan. “Won’t they already be hunting me?”

The white wolf shook her head. “They will be wary of you certainly, but no more. As yet, you tread the path of Wolf only lightly and may still turn back. All that will change, though, once your blood is fully awakened, and your Class evolves further. Then the new Powers will consider you and every wolfkin you come into contact with to be tainted.” She looked at me soberly. “They will spare no effort in purging the taint.”

I swallowed, understanding the grave risk they took.

Duggar eyed me carefully. “Knowing what you now know, will you still attempt the trial, wolfkin?”

I nodded firmly. “I will.”

Sulan rose to her feet. “Then get some rest. Tomorrow we shall open the portal to the sector containing the trial.”

I shook my head. “No. I can’t wait that long. I must enter tonight.”

“That is reckless,” the white wolf scoffed. “The trial should not be taken lightly. Death there is permanent. Your player lives will not save you.”

My eyes widened slightly at that, but as disturbing as this latest tidbit of information was, it did not change my mind. “Still, I must enter now,” I persisted.

“Don’t be foolish, pup,” Sulan growled. “You will enter tomorrow.”

“Let the wolfkin do as he wishes,” Monac said, unexpectedly intervening on my behalf.

Sulan spun about to stare at the former alpha.

“Sometimes,” Monac said, with a twinkle in his old eyes, “we must bow to the wishes of the young—as foolish as we believe them to be.”

Sulan stayed stiff-limbed for a moment before bowing her head in submission. “As you wish, Monac,” she said. She glanced over her shoulder at me. “Ready yourself, pup. Your trial is about to begin.”

~~~

It took the wolves only moments to prepare themselves. Suva set down the ring of astral walking in the center of the cavern. Then the six wolves lay down around it and closed their eyes.

I stood by the entrance, where I had been instructed to wait, and watched curiously. In my natural sight, nothing seemed to be happening. To all intents and purposes, the elders were asleep.

But in my mindsight, I saw something entirely different. Strands of psi spun out of the six and wove themselves together in an almost seamless circle of energy.

Then, from Duggar and Sulan—anchoring the circle from opposite ends—more psi reached out to the astral artifact and ignited it in violet fire.

The twin rings forming the device—that I would have sworn were indelibly fused together—separated and slid across the ground until they were about three feet apart.

A moment later, the arcane script etched on the rings’ surfaces lifted to tear open the air into two rectangular portals of light, one above each metal band.

A Ring of Astral Walking has been activated. A spirit portal to the first trials in sector 214 has been opened.

“Step into the portal,” Sulan ordered, sounding strained.

I straightened from my slouch at the entrance, my gaze flickering between the twin portals. “Which one?”

“Either!” Sulan snapped. “And hurry!”

I dashed forward, not bothering to unequip any of my items. According to Sulan, they would remain behind with my body. Choosing the closest of the hovering rectangles of light, I stepped through without hesitation.

Entering the first spirit portal gate. Corporeal separation commencing…

A weird sensation rippled through my body, quite unlike what I’d experienced with any other portal. It was as if thousands of tiny knives sliced through my flesh simultaneously.

I screamed and almost retreated, but I knew that would be a mistake. Persevering against the pain, I pushed through the portal until I passed through its other end and stepped into the space between the two rings.

Astral release completed. Your spirit has been successfully untethered from your body.

I was in two places simultaneously. One part of me—spirit—stood erect, while the other part—unanimated flesh—fell to the ground.

I glanced downwards.

Only one of my two forms responded, the one that was a ghostly shape of white light. It—or rather I—was unclothed spirit. My discarded body was heaped on the floor, unmoving and still.

“Well done, wolfkin,” Sulan said. “Now step into the second portal and enter the trial.”

“How will I get back?” I asked, only now thinking to ask this vital-seeming question.

“Should you complete the trial, the way back for your spirit will automatically open,” she replied. “Good luck, Michael.”

I stepped forward, and my spirit form responded as my body would have. Standing in front of the second portal, I took a second to gather myself.

This is it. Time to write your destiny, Michael.

I took the next step.

Entering the second spirit portal gate. Astral transfer initiated...

…

…

Leaving sector 12,560. Entering the first Wolf trial.