The heavy iron gates of the Lunar Edge Sect loomed between two jagged granite cliffs like the jaws of a dormant beast, casting long, dark shadows across the hundreds of candidates pressing into the outer courtyard.
Caleb Conway tightened the straps of his travel pack as he stepped out from the cool canopy of the pine forest, his boots coated in gray dust from hours of rapid marching along the northern highway. The morning mist had long since burned off under the noon sun, leaving the wide dirt clearing sweltering with body heat, nervous sweat, and the sharp scent of unrefined spirit medicine.
Every year, thousands of hopeful youths traveled from provincial capitals, mining settlements, and merchant towns across the eastern territory, all seeking a single chance to test their spiritual ro
