Reed stepped through the stone archway, the air thick with the scent of damp earth and the distant crackle of lightning. The chamber before him was unlike the others—a vast, open coliseum carved into the heart of the ruins, its walls lined with ancient carvings of warriors, battles, and something else… Healers.
Strength was not always about destruction. Sometimes, it was about endurance.
As Reed stepped forward, the voice of the temple resonated through the chamber.
"You who mend what is broken… can you stand when all else falls? When strength is not in the fist, but in the will? This is your trial."
Reed's body tensed as the ground beneath him shifted. From the far end of the arena, six figures emerged from the mist.
They were wounded.
A woman clutching her side, blood pooling between her fingers.
A young soldier barely standing, his arm limp and broken.
A child coughing violently, body shivering with fever.
Three others—each on the brink of death.
Reed's chest tightened.
They weren't illusions. They weren't spirits. They were real.
This wasn't a fight. This was a war against time.
The temple voice spoke once more.
"Six lives. You may only save three. Choose."
Reed froze.
"Choose?" His voice was barely above a whisper. His hands clenched, golden light flickering at his fingertips. "No. I'm not choosing."
He stepped forward. Golden energy pulsed from his hands.
He would save them all.
The Battle Against Death
Reed ran toward the first—the woman with the gut wound. Blood loss. If he didn't act fast, she'd be gone in minutes. He pressed a hand against her wound, golden light seeping into her skin. Tissue knit together, veins reconnected—but healing took time.
The temple didn't give him time.
A beast—a massive, stone-forged monstrosity—rose from the edge of the arena. It charged.
Reed barely managed to push the woman aside before the beast's claws raked the ground where she had been.
His heart pounded. They weren't just dying—they were being hunted.
He turned to the young soldier, whose breathing was getting shallower. Broken bones. Internal damage. His hands flashed, sending a wave of healing into the man's ribs, mending what he could. But as he did—
A second beast lunged.
Reed twisted, throwing up a golden barrier. The monster's claws shattered it instantly.
A streak of pain ran down Reed's side as the force sent him skidding across the stone. Blood stained his cloak.
He gasped, vision spinning. His own injuries weren't healing.
The voice echoed once more.
"The healer who cannot stand cannot heal."
Reed's breathing was ragged, but he forced himself up. Pain was nothing. Failure was worse.
The beasts came again.
Reed pushed forward.
Golden light spread across the battlefield. The woman's wound sealed. The soldier's ribs mended. He reached the child last, pressing his palm against their burning forehead. The fever fought back. It clawed at the child's body like a parasite.
Reed gritted his teeth and took it himself.
Agony flared through his veins as the sickness jumped from the child's body into his own. His head spun, his skin burned, his limbs weakened—but the child's breathing evened out.
Three saved.
But three still dying.
The beasts closed in.
Reed was out of time.
"Is this strength?" The voice of the temple whispered. "To break yourself for others?"
Reed's fists clenched. "Yes."
The golden glow in his hands shifted. The gentle warmth of healing turned searing hot. His domain expanded, golden light flashing into the sky—
And everything stopped.
The beasts froze mid-attack, their bodies locked in place.
The wounds on the remaining three survivors vanished instantly.
Reed stood at the center of it all, his body trembling, his vision darkening at the edges. He had given everything.
The temple was silent for a long moment. Then—
"You are worthy."
The beasts crumbled to dust. The survivors, fully healed, faded into golden light.
And in Reed's palm, a gift remained.
A single golden ring, pulsing with raw, untamed life.
It slipped onto his finger.
Strength was not just in battle. It was in refusing to let go.
The doors behind him opened.
The trial was over.
And Reed had won