As he got closer to the door at the end of the newly discovered path, Rall could feel the air becoming colder. Tui remained silent, hidden within the boy, repaired from the chilling atmosphere outside. Rall's steps became more careful. His instincts were screaming danger behind that door.

It was not all, though. There was something beyond the dark metal gate, calling in something deep inside the boy. It was primal, dark, and enthralling. It lured him in, pulling onto strings that he did not know existed.

"Rall? Are you ok?" Asked Tui inside the boy's head.

He did not heed her words. Step after step, he walked closer to that call. Without noticing, his hand had already extended forward. The surface of the door was cold and humid, and Rall felt his fingertips freeze from mere seconds of contact. He pushed on the already open door and stepped inside. The air became damp and heavy, and it was almost hard to breathe as Rall entered a giant chamber.

Walls and pavement made of the same dark metal as the door, the ceiling instead decorated by tens of light particles. It was like someone had carved a piece of the night sky and planted it over the room. However, those white stars moved, dancing lazily through the limited space and basking the chamber with their pale brightness.

Still, the boy's eyes had yet to look up. In the middle of the room were a table and two chairs made of the same blackish metal. On the chair further from the door was a man. The man had a small frame and an unassuming expression, unnaturally pale skin, and his eyes felt like those of a doll - emotionless, apathetic, dead.

On his lap and around his neck was a serpent. It slithered with menacing slowness, its silver scales reflecting the white light from the ceiling in contrast over the blackish metal of the chamber's walls. It was unclear how long the serpent's body was, as Rall could not see its end. Not that he was searching for it. The boy's gaze was stuck on the reptile's eyes. They were purple with thin yellow slits as pupils, and they emitted wisdom way above that of anyone the boy had ever met.

The serpent called on Rall, and the young light mage wanted nothing more than to bow in front of it and worship it.

"RALL!" Tui's voice finally broke his trance. She had been screaming non-stop since he walked on the corridor, and finally, she succeeded by discharging a jolt of magical energy through the boy's body.

"Impressive..." mumbled a deeply disturbing voice. "Please, sit..."

Before he even registered those words, Rall already sat on the chair opposite the man and the snake. Neither moved their lips, but instincts told the boy that the silver reptile was the origin of the voice.

"Welcome, young Rall," hissed the snake. "I see the bonding was successful. I extend my greetings to you, Princess Tui Marama Hau Kaha."

"Is that my full name? It's a secret only the King of Skies knows and he never told me... How..." Rall heard Tui whisper in his mind.

"Your truename, Princess. You should hide it better as your companion does. Not even I can see his fully."

Rall's face morphed to a questioning expression.

"Oh, you are not doing it on purpose, are you? So much potential. It's fortunate you came here so early. The previous candidates were too old, already corrupted by your world's lack of understanding." A part of Rall felt like he should be confused about conversing with a serpent. But he wasn't. There was something hypnotically charismatic about its movements, its words.

As he felt like falling into a trance anew, he moved his hand to his right thigh and pinched as hard as he could. The jolt of pain was enough to clear his mind, a little trick thought in Theodore's notes.

"Who are you? What do you want from me?" His voice trembled, overwhelmed by the snake's presence. Still, those questions had been tormenting him since he had passed through the silver gate.

"My people have abandoned introductions thousands of years ago, but I suppose it is rude on your world. To those that do not know my truename, I am Ayol The Wise."

Rall felt the air tremble as the serpent pronounced its name. He could feel power resting within that word, and he knew that it was but a small part of something much more terrifying.

"As for what we want from you, that is why I am here. Well, at least part of me is."

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The man put his arm on the table, forming a bridge from his shoulder that the silver-scaled reptile could slither on. Once on the table, Ayol moved to the center. Then its head rose so that to level its gaze to Rall's.

"We are interested in your talents, young mage. You can be of use to our cause. But first, we need to test you. If you pass the trials, you will return to your world with a quest."

"W-which cause? What quest?" Finally, some answers. Rall could not wait anymore.

"We want you to dispel the magic your people call the Fog."

Rall's eyes opened as wide as they could, and he even heard Tui gasp in his mind. "That's impossible!"

"Oh, young mage. How would you know what is and isn't possible?" Ayol lowered his head on the table and slid closer to Rall.

Rall's body unconsciously moved backward, the air around the serpent colder and heavier. "S-so, how would I dispel it?"

"There is an entity, hidden inside an object of power. It thinks we have forgotten, but our memory is long. It has called itself a goddess and has built a cult around it to protect it. Destroy it, and the Fog will stop tormenting your world."

"Are you talking about the Church of Light?!" Asked Rall, astonished. He remembered the times when his father had taught him the prayers to the Goddess, and he would never forget his first and only meeting with the Inquisition. Those two instances gave him mixed feelings about the Church of Light. However, he had solved one mystery. Now he knew why those inquisitors were looking for him.

Still, why would the Church protect the Fog? Millions of people had died because of it, and tens of millions more lived in terrible conditions because of it. He still remembered how fearful the people of Korn were whenever the bell rang five times, even when they had the protection of his father.

"Maybe they don't know?" Thought Rall.

"Or maybe they do know, but they prefer to keep the status quo," Tui answered. "The Fog is the main reason for the success of the Church of Light. They have enough influence to move an army of light mages, so smaller kingdoms have to send frequent 'donations' and gifts to garner their favor and protect their lands. But what would happen if the Fog disappeared?"

Rall gasped in realization. "The value of Lighthouse would fall, and with it would that of light mages."

"Exactly. Over the following decades, the Church of Light would slowly lose its influence on the Continent's politics. No more donations, no more crusades, no more authority," Tui completed his thoughts, her voice echoing in Rall's thoughts. However, the boy could feel a hint of hesitance in Tui's heart, and through their bond, he also understood the reason for it.

"What do you gain from this?" Rall asked the serpent. "Why do you want the Fog to disappear?"

Ayol's head rose back to the boy's eye-level. The serpent was closer, the air even colder. Rall's body trembled beneath the heavy coat he had been wearing since his last day on the Lady Veronica.

"My people, we are the Ones Who Were First. We are interested in your world, we have been for a long time. A thousand years ago, we sent our emissaries. Your people called them demons and refused their offers."

The air around the serpent shook again as his words took a more sinister tone. "Then that hateful entity created the Fog and robbed precious resources from your world. In a few weeks, arcane knowledge regressed by millennia. Even then, there was still potential in your world. So we laid in wait for the one who would free the Continent from the Fog's oppression."

"And what if I refuse to help you?"

There was a pause, short but long enough for every fiber in Rall's body to tense. The air became heavier still. The silent man behind the serpent shook violently, then dropped to the floor with a thump. His shaking stopped, his eyes turned completely white, purplish foam trickled down his slightly open lips.

Rall observed the horrific spectacle. Then his gaze returned to Ayol, who was now inches away from him. "You cannot refuse. You have signed a soul contract," hissed the snake.

"I-" for a moment, the boy wanted to deny those words. Then his mind returned to the ancient voice. The one who had spoken to him when the guardian was torturing Tui. The one who had promised to help when no one else could.

"Yesss, you remember young mage. You signed a contract with none other than my empress. The terms are non-negotiable. You will take part in the trials. And if you pass, you will attempt our quest."

"W-what happens if I refuse? And what if I fail?" Rall felt like he already had those answers, but he had to make sure. From his knowledge, a soul contract was something only demons could conjure, and none could break it.

The serpent's head rose to the ceiling. "Look up, young mage."

Rall did, and for the first time, he noticed the dancing white lights that illuminated the dark chamber. The boy recognized them instantly, and so did Tui. "Those are..."

"... Fairylights, as you call them. Hollow souls, vessels of power of forgotten origin. Not many can wield them, and even less can master their use. Those you see up there once were of the candidates that came before you. They are all white, the symbol of purity, a rare kind with the potential to go beyond the scope of mortality. That is the requirement to kill the entity."

"What happened to them?"

"Seventy-one failed their trials. Four acted against their contracts."

The serpent's gaze lowered again while Rall looked at the ceiling with a concerned look. "We are patient. Fail, and you will die. We will lose nothing. One century for you is but a blink of our eyes. In the end, one of our candidates will succeed."

Rall felt the weight behind those words. Ayol's people acted at an entirely different level. They were hard to fathom for a human boy. "What do you think?" He asked Tui without voicing his question.

"I do not trust that serpent's words. But it doesn't seem like we have a choice. Moreover, I can feel the thread tying your soul to the contract. I can feel its power. It is not something we can oppose right now." After giving her opinion, Tui's voice quieted in the boy's mind. Rall found it reassuring to have her close.

Rall faced the serpent once more. There were still fear and uncertainty in his eyes, but also a glint of confidence. Whatever he would do, he would not be alone. There were too many promises he had to keep, and he was determined to see them through. Or die trying.

"It seems you have chosen. Very well. The door behind me will take you to the Beyond, where you will face your trials, candidate Seventy-seven. Godspeed."

Rall blinked, and the room was now empty. No trace was left of the silver serpent, or the table, the chairs, and the dead man on the floor. The air lightened, as did the temperature. An unassuming door appeared in front of him, made of the same dark metal as the rest of the room. Inscriptions surrounded the door, geometrical forms that Rall recognized from the Ancient Code and the arcane circles used by sorcerers. Still, he could not decipher those symbols. Where they even older than the Code? At this point, anything was possible.

He took a deep breath and asked Tui. "Are you ready?"

The humanoid-shaped Fairylight appeared from his forehead and slowly floated free from her hiding. "No, but we probably never will."

"Yes, that's what I was thinking too," nodded Rall. He closed his eyes, and his mind's eye retraced back to his father's death. Since that happened, everything had moved so quickly. And now here he was, wherever 'here' was. He took another deep breath and extended a hand to the cold metal gate.

Years later, this moment would haunt his dreams. Was there really no other choice?