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Chapter 5 : A Feast for the Living

The mess hall stank of smoke, blood, and boiled grain.

It wasn’t really a hall at all—just a cavern carved into the cliffs, lined with rough-hewn tables. The survivors shuffled inside like shadows, clothes torn, skin slick with sweat and soot. The air was too quiet. Out of two hundred, only one hundred sixteen dragged themselves into the light of the braziers.

The emptiness at the tables showed the price.

Elianna sank onto a bench, her hands still raw and blistered from the Crucible’s chains. The stew in the bowl before her steamed, but the smell made her stomach turn. She hadn’t eaten since dawn, but the image of a boy’s face disappearing into fire burned hotter than hunger.

Across the hall, Dominic dropped onto a bench with his usual swagger. He was flanked by Xavier—grinning even through the ash—and Ivy, who twirled her spoon like she was bored of the world. Dominic looked maddeningly untouched, like the Crucible had been nothing more than a stroll through the market. His scar tugged as he smirked at something Xavier said.

Elianna looked away, jaw tightening.

The bench beside her creaked. Liora slumped down, shoving his bowl toward her. “Eat,” he said, voice rough but still annoyingly bright. “If you don’t, you’ll faint, and I’m not carrying you back to the barracks.”

“I wasn’t going to faint,” Elianna muttered.

“You were dangling like a fish on a hook ten minutes ago.” He gave her a grin, all teeth and no mercy. “Ugly faces, remember?”

Her spoon clattered against the table as she shoved it back. “You’re both insufferable.”

“Both?” He followed her glare across the hall, where Dominic leaned back on the bench, one arm slung lazily over the backrest as he finally—of course—noticed her watching. His smirk curved higher, deliberate, like he knew exactly how much space he took up in the room.

“Ah,” Elias said, amusement sparking in his amber eyes. “That kind of insufferable.”

Before Elianna could snap, a tray slammed onto the table. Raven—Xavier’s younger sister, green eyes sharp beneath her wolf-cut bangs—dropped into the seat across from them. She didn’t say a word, just tore into her bread like it had personally offended her. Lumina’s distant cry echoed faintly through the stone walls above.

Raven didn’t look up. “My brother’s an i***t,” she said flatly, crumbs scattering. “But he’s still alive. That’s more than half of them can say.”

Her voice cracked just slightly at the end, and Elianna’s chest tightened.

Further down the table, arguments sparked. A recruit slammed his cup down, shouting about someone who’d pushed his sister on the spinning discs. Another girl burst into tears mid-bite, sobbing that her dragon hadn’t stopped screaming since the bond tore.

It wasn’t victory in that hall. It was survival, painted in ash.

The High Keeper’s voice carried over the din, sudden and sharp. “Eat well. The first trial is only a taste of what waits for you. Those who think today was mercy—leave now. The gates will not open again.”

No one moved.

Dominic’s laugh cut through the silence that followed—low, infuriating, curling around Elianna’s spine. “Guess freckles decided to stay.”

Her spoon froze in her hand. Slowly, she lifted her head to meet his mismatched eyes.

“Guess you’ll be stuck with me a little longer,” she said, voice cool but tight.

His smirk deepened, dangerous and amused all at once. “Oh, I’m counting on it.”

And gods help her, the way he said it sounded less like a threat… and more like a promise