Aiden stood in the village square, staring at the notice board in disbelief, his mouth hanging open. He reread the poster over and over, as if its words would change.

  ------ Ascendancy Trials: Strength, Agility, Intelligence ------

  How? The last trials were only seven months ago.

  The Ascendancy Trials, the only path forward for the people of the Outskirts. To gain their first Power Stone and take a step toward the Citadel, the ivory tower at the center of the Grand City.

  Aiden glanced at the Citadel, just visible over Orner’s Wall. The inhabitants of the Outskirts couldn’t say how tall the tower was. But for it to be visible over the giant, metal wall dividing the Outskirts from the Commons, they knew it must be quite the sight from the other side.

  “AIDEN!” a voice shouted, snapping Aiden back to reality. “Aiden, c’mon!”

  Aiden turned to see his brother, Rook, staring back at him in frustration. A common sight. Rook was a head taller than most, with broad shoulders and arms thicker than Aiden’s head. The guy every girl swooned over in their small town of Barton. The only thing the brothers had in common was their olive complexion and short brown hair. Aiden always believed he could have a body like Rook’s if he had been a carpenter instead of a village runner. That was, if he wasn’t so bad at carpentry.

  “How?” Aiden finally asked, snapping out of it. “How could another trial be so soon?”

  “It doesn’t matter how,” Rook replied. “It’ll be here in two days. We have to tell Dad.”

  It was early morning in the small forest village of Barton. The pleasant sound of horseshoes hitting cobblestone filled the air. Shopkeepers were hustling about the village square, setting up their market stalls and taking deliveries from horse-drawn wagons. Everyone was going about their day as normal, meaning this news had hit the village days ago. How had he missed it? If Aiden’s last delivery to Corban had taken any longer, he would have missed the trials altogether.

  Each village in the Outskirts was ten miles apart from its neighbor. They required runners to share messages between them. Aiden was the best runner in Barton, although that wasn’t saying much, as most runners moved to more valued trades in their late teens. Twelve villages made up the Outskirts and the entire outer ring of the Grand City. The outer ring was all that most people in the Outskirts would ever see. To even dream of getting to the Commons, one ring in, you needed to pass an Ascendancy Trial. Further into the city was the Elevated and finally at the city’s center stood the Citadel, looming over all.

  Barton, as a logging town, provided wood and craft goods to its neighbors. Aiden had only ever visited the two villages on each side of Barton. Logan, two towns west, was the northernmost village of the Outskirts’ ring. It was primarily a farming community due to how much sun it received that wasn’t blocked by the towering Outer Wall that caged the Outskirts. Kaden was to Barton’s west and Logan’s east. It also focused on farming, but mostly cattle. To Barton’s south was Corban, a mining community. South of Corban was Ashton. Similar to Barton, Ashton was surrounded by forest, making it the biggest rival to Barton’s trade of wood, crafts, and game. Aiden hadn’t been further west than Logan or further south than Ashton. But his dreams were bigger than the outer ring. He wanted to see the entire city. Past Orner’s Wall and past the Commons. His dream was to reach the Citadel.

  Aiden and his brother set a quick pace home, leaving Barton’s cobblestone streets for the soft path of the woods. The red autumn leaves crunched under their feet as oak trees towered above them. Their cottage was a two-hour trek toward the Outer Wall. A long run, but both were happy to have the bustle of Barton behind them.

  Aiden and Rook jogged the first mile in silence as they fantasized about what their futures might hold. But after passing a few homesteads, Aiden was the first to speak.

  “You’ll win the Strength Trial, seeing as how you came in second last time,” Aiden remarked, still holding a strong gait and a steady breath.

  “A lot can happen in seven months,” Rook replied, breathing heavily through his words. “I hear Isra has been training nonstop since I beat him last time.” Rook stopped running, trying hard to catch his breath. “I thought I had more time. The last one was a year and a half after its previous.” Aiden jogged in place, staring at his brother, but his mind was elsewhere. Rook gently grabbed Aiden’s shoulders, forcing him to stop. “Listen, I know this will be your first trial. You’re fifteen. You’ve got a great shot at the Agility Trial, but you also have many more years until you age out.”

  “Is that what you’re worried about?” Aiden shook free of his brother’s grasp. “You’ve got two more years until you’re twenty-one. And you kicked Isra’s ass last time. It wasn’t even a competition.” Aiden’s eyes darted around as he tried to fight against his next thought. “What am I going to do when you’re gone?” Tears formed in Aiden’s eyes. He never liked thinking of this moment but knew it would come.

  Rook pulled his brother in and held him close. Both of them fighting back tears. “You’re gonna do what you’ve always done. Run around the villages like an ass stirring up trouble.” Rook chuckled as Aiden rolled his eyes. “At least now you’ll be old enough to get yourself out of it.” Rook took a deep breath, turned back to the path, and restarted his jog. “Let’s go tell Dad.”

  It took them another hour to reach home, a log cabin nestled against the thick outer forest. It would be serene if it wasn’t for the giant, metal Outer Wall a mile behind it. The Outer Wall stood even taller than Orner’s Wall. It was easily understood that neither could be scaled. Both walls were flat metal with no grips or visible plates. No one in the Outskirts had been alive to see them constructed, but they knew some sort of magic must have been involved.

  Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  As Aiden reached the porch, he couldn’t help but smirk at his brother’s labored breathing. He’d take every victory he could get. They both heard cursing coming from the large shed by the house. Their father, Eddard, was working to fix their horse-drawn wagon. They hadn’t owned a horse in years.

  “Dad, we’ve got news!” Rook called out as they entered the cabin.

  A couple loud bangs and a few curse words meant their father was just about wrapping up and would meet them inside. The small cabin had three rooms: two bedrooms and one large room for everything else. A stone well was dug into the front yard, while an outhouse could be found out back. They had always been seen as one of the poorer households in Barton, but they made it work.

  Rook took a seat at the dining table while Aiden poured three glasses of water from a clay pitcher.

  “Still trying to fix that wagon?” Rook called out as their father reached the front door.

  “If I can fix it, then I can sell it,” their father replied. Eddard was as tall as Rook but rugged with age and a life of hard labor. He took a seat at the table with his two sons. “You’re both back early. And by the looks on your faces, something big must have happened in town.”

  “The next trials were posted,” Rook responded, wasting no time. His tone was serious. A tone that told a father his oldest son was leaving. “It’s in two days.”

  A long silence filled the cabin as their father looked down at the table. He released a deep breath, then looked up at Aiden. “And?”

  Aiden couldn’t meet his father’s eyes. His voice was nervous as he spoke, “The Agility Trial is available… and I want to sign up,” Aiden spared a quick glance at his father but quickly looked back down.

  “Well, you’re fifteen, so I guess it’s time we had the talk.”

  “We already had that talk…” Aiden responded.

  “No,” his father and brother chuckled. “We haven’t had this talk.” Eddard took a breath and sighed. “Rook and I had it before he went to his first trial at sixteen, and now it’s your turn.” He paused until Aiden looked up. “What are the trials to you?”

  Aiden rarely saw his father so serious. He looked to his brother for support, but Rook simply looked back, awaiting his answer. Aiden met his father’s eyes. “The start.”

  “The start of what?”

  “The start of a journey. I’m going to make my way to the tower. I’m going to change things.” Aiden heard his brother huff at his practiced speech but didn’t break from his father’s gaze. “Everything is drawing me there. I know if I can reach it, I can make things different. I can bring help back to the Outskirts.”

  “That’s a child’s dream,” Rook scoffed.

  “It was Mother’s dream!” Aiden shot back. “And what’s yours, Rook? To seek adventure and leave us all behind? To go beyond the Outer Wall? You want to leave? Then leave! I want to stay and make things better.”

  “I want to serve!” Rook shouted back, pressing his finger against the table with determination. “I want to protect this city and everyone in it. And yes, I want to see what’s beyond the walls. But at least the life of a soldier is attainable. It’s one ring away.”

  Their father put a hand in the air and the room fell into silence. There was a long pause before Eddard spoke. “That’s a noble goal, son,” he responded to Aiden. “Both of you have noble goals.” He leaned back into his chair and looked at the water pitcher on the table, wildflowers carved into it. “Mine was to start a family with your mother. She never wanted to leave the Outskirts, and I never wanted to be without her.” A smile crossed his face. “Many years ago, when we were teenagers, she came to me crying. She was upset that her brother Grom was entering the Wisdom Trial.”

  Aiden’s eyes went wide hearing a name he hadn’t heard in at least ten years.

  Their father continued. “I told her it was Grom’s choice. As you can imagine, that was not the response she wanted to hear. She gave me one of her looks, so I finally backed down and told her I’d speak to him. What she didn’t know was that I’d been secretly helping Grom prepare for the trials. Grom was a smart man and a great friend. I knew of his intentions to become a healer and make his way to the Elevated Ring, but he was not a strategist. The Wisdom Trial is almost always games related to logic, strategy, and outmaneuvering your opponent. So, to help him win we played Chausson every other night for months. But when I saw him that night, he knew I was there to stop him.”

  “What did you do?” Aiden interrupted. Rook stayed quiet, having heard the story before.

  “I challenged him to one last match. If he won, I would get out of his way with my blessing. If he lost, he would stay.”

  “So, I have to beat you in a game of Chausson for your blessing?” Aiden responded.

  Aiden’s father put his hand out again as a way of asking for no more interruptions. “Even though I was training Grom, I was also keeping moves from him. Knowing that if he didn’t know them, he most likely wouldn’t win. I used those moves in this final match. I didn’t hide them, I didn’t dance around it, I beat him easily. Grom bowed his head, shook my hand, and then said something that changed my viewpoint forever.” Eddard went silent again, but Aiden knew better than to interrupt this time. “Grom said, ‘It’s probably best that I don’t go anyway. There’s a reason you’re not allowed back into the Outskirts, that you can’t send letters or talk to anyone here ever again.’”

  Aiden couldn’t hold back his response. “It’s so the secrets of magic don’t fall into the wrong hands. That’s why they have the trials. So, you can prove you’re worthy of that knowledge.”

  Eddard simply smiled back at Aiden, worry showing in his eyes that Aiden was not ready. “The next day,” he continued, “Grom entered the competition and won with the moves I’d shown him the previous night. Your mother was heartbroken. After seeing Grom accept the Healer Stone and leave the Outskirts, she cried for weeks. I was torn. It was hard seeing her in that state, but I was also proud of my oldest friend.”

  Aiden waited, expecting there to be more. When nothing came, he finally spoke up. “But what was the point of the game you played? He lied to you. Why were you proud?”

  Aiden’s father leaned forward and placed his hand on Aiden’s. “The point, my son, is that I will always be there for you. I will always help you to achieve your goals, even when you don’t think I am.” Aiden’s father squeezed his hand and stood up from the table. “Now, let’s start thinking about lunch.” Eddard left the room and went outside.

  “He doesn’t think you’re ready,” Rook said, holding up his hand to stop Aiden before he could respond. “I don’t think you’re ready. The other point to that story is that no one here knows what goes on beyond that wall. If you think you know, then you’re wrong. You must question every assumption. Everything you have been told has reached you because the tower wanted it to.”

  “But then why would Grom still go?” Aiden asked.

  “If you can’t answer that, then you’re definitely not ready.” Rook got up and went outside to help their father collect firewood.