Gilded Ashes-Chapter 48: Midnight to Sunrise

Three days of classes had sanded the edges off their expectations and sharpened everything else. By the fourth night, the Academy had settled into its usual quiet - doors shut, lights low, footsteps rare.

That was when Kori sent eight messages with the same three words:

"East court, midnight."

No explanation. No warning. Just the location and the hour.

They met at the east court with sleep still written all over their faces and pure stubbornness keeping them upright. The electrical lamp posts were turned down, casting soft circles of warm light over stone. Banners hung high and barely moved. The sky sat in that deep grey between night and morning.

Crown Spine rose in the middle of the opening - thirty meters of dark stone and wood, handholds cut so thin you didn’t notice them until your fingers were on them. Really small and thin platforms were tucked along the climb, placed just often enough to tempt you into resting. Dew clung to everything. At the top, a small brass bell hung, as if it were ruling over the entire academy.

Kori sat on a low wall with a thermos in her hands, like calling your students to a tower in the middle of the night was the most casual thing you could do.

"Good evening" she said. "Or good morning. Depends on how much you hate yourselves."

Esen lifted a hand. "I hate myself a really small amount."

"I hate you even more" Lynea mumbled.

"Great" Kori said. She nodded toward the tower. "Up. Down. Climb and repeat until your body files a complaint you can’t take back."

She raised two fingers.

"Rule one - if you fall and the platform doesn’t catch you, you’re out. Rule two - if you climb down and can’t climb back up, you’re out. No skipping. Water when I say water. And don’t lie to me about your hands."

Esen tried again. "What’s the prize?"

Kori took a slow sip. "You’ll find out when someone earns it."

Hikari rolled her shoulders and stared up the holds like she was already moving. Raizen flexed his fingers, then shook them out. This was a pretty tall climb, and falling from the top would be either a guaranteed death or broken spine.

As if reading his mind, Kori chuckled, waving her hand like it was nothing. "Don’t worry, if you somehow fall, I’ll catch you!"

Arashi took off his jacket and folded it neatly. Keahi tightened her gloves. Lynea stood still, eyes sharp. Ichiro stood quietly in the back. Feris smiled at the bell like it was a promise.

Kori tilted her chin. "What are you waiting for? Go!"

They started together. Fingers found the first holds. The wood creaked softly as it held their weight. Dew made everything even more dangerous and difficult, like the climb was waiting for the first mistake.

Hikari reached the top first. Not because she rushed - because she didn’t pause at all. She touched the edge of the bell and started down immediately.

Halfway down, her right sole slid on dew.

She adjusted instantly - weight shifted, grip changed instantly - and still missed the next hold by a fraction.

She dropped three meters, hit a stud hard on her shoulder, and rolled onto a platform.

Hikari sat still for a beat, jaw clenched. She tested her wrist once and didn’t like the answer.

Kori didn’t move from the wall. "Whoop, that’s one already!"

Hikari climbed down with only one hand, stepped off the tower without a word, wrapped her wrist with cloth, and moved to the side, annoyed at herself more than anything else.

The rest of them kept climbing.

The first hour had its own small sounds - boots scraping, breath catching, fingers slipping and recovering. The platforms weren’t rest at first, they were just a place to reset your grip before you went at it again. Dew turned every hold into a question. Some were fine. Some could trick you.

Esen climbed like he was making friends with the tower. He sometimes pulled himself up, jumping a few studs. The sheer strength in his arms was kind of impressive. Arashi was very controlled, never wasting a movement. Keahi fought the holds with stubborn discipline, muttering under her breath every time her glove slid. Feris climbed with a bright calm that made it look much easier than it was. For her, the impressive part was her core strength. Swinging that huge mace around really showed its merits... Ichiro moved in complete silence.

And behind everyone, Raizen climbed last, steady and careful, not rushing anything.

"Water" Kori said after the first few long cycles, and they all obeyed without complaining. Even Esen, which is impressive all by itself.

When they finished, she waved her thermos at them like it was a weapon. "Again."

They went back up. Midnight kept passing without changing the sky much. Sweat replaced the chill. Hands reddened. Breathing got louder.

Half an hour later, Ichiro came down, stepped onto the stone, and didn’t turn back. He rested his hands on a hold for a moment, bowed his head once towards the tower, and stepped aside.

No excuses. No announcement. Just a quiet decision.

He sat next to Hikari without a word. He had relatively long black hair, almost covering his eyes completely.

Kori’s eyes flicked to him - small approval for knowing his limits before the tower had to teach it.

Another hour later, Feris reached the bell again, laughed softly, and climbed down slower than before. When her boots hit the ground, she bent forward with her hands on her knees and breathed like she was forcing air back into a body that didn’t want to cooperate.

Then she straightened, smiled anyway, and walked over to Hikari.

"Uhh... I’ll cheer" Feris said, bright and sincere, and sat beside her like it was her job now.

Hikari didn’t look away from the tower. "You’re quitting?"

"I’m choosing to be useful in other ways" Feris said, and gave her a quick bump with her shoulder. "Also my hands are mad at me."

Hikari shrugged once, then winced when her wrist complained.

After another hour, Esen hit the bell for the fourth time with wrists buzzing and calves shaking. He flicked the bell with one finger, then started going back down. When he reached the ledge, he just hung there, gripping the edge with his hands, now a warmer shade of red.

Sweat slicked his ginger hair, making it look like a cow licked him.

He climbed down, and decided to jump the last two meters. He hit the ground, stared at his hands, then laughed.

"I’m in a committed relationship with my hands" he announced, "and I think we both need to be able to see other days."

He also stretched his legs like he was negotiating with them. Then he stepped aside, pride set down carefully.

Kori pointed at him without looking impressed. "You’re not dead. Stop acting like a hero."

"Yes ma’am" Esen said, and immediately started cheering the moment someone reached the halfway mark.

Arashi lasted longer, still controlled. He climbed like he refused to let exhaustion make him sloppy. Then, somewhere past another half an hour, he paused around two-thirds up, studied the next section, and chose to come down.

When he reached the bottom, he didn’t look angry. He looked satisfied that he’d made the decision before the tower made it for him.

"I’ll leave some beauty for the morning" he said, and drank a full bottle of water like it was the smartest thing he’d done all night.

Keahi lasted just a tiny bit more, refusing to negotiate. She didn’t look up, she didn’t look down. She counted breaths and used that count to place her hands. When her arms shook, she tightened her grip and forced them steady.

Near the end she slipped two meters, caught herself hard, held, breathed, then climbed down under half control.

At the bottom she looked up, eyes fierce, breathing through her teeth.

"Next time" she told the tower. "I’m not losing that hold again."

An hour and something later, by the time the clock crawled near 5:30, Lynea’s hands were trembling in a way she couldn’t hide. She reached the top, gave the bell three counted taps, then climbed down.

When her boots hit stone, she stood for one long moment, breathing hard, refusing to sway. She wanted to climb again, one more. But she stepped back, sighed at herself and watched, arms folded, expression sharp like she just brutally disappointed herself.

By then the court had grown an audience. At first it was a handful of insomniac first-years who heard there was "a thing" happening and wandered over. Then it was two professors who definitely weren’t just passing by. Then it was more uniforms drifting in from early study, drawn by the sight of the tower being climbed.

People filled the railings and the edges, voices kept low like they didn’t want to jinx the last climber.

"Royal Scholars?"

"I heard they started at midnight" someone corrected.

"At midnight?"

"...Ends when there’s no one left."

"Who’s left?"

"That guy"

At around seven-thirty, Crown Spine belonged to one person and one person only.

Raizen’s world had shrunk to the next hold and the bell above. His forearms burned. His calves pulsed on a painful rhythm. His lungs counted time for him. He didn’t go fast, he just kept going.

But Raizen’s mind was blank.

He couldn’t hear the world below anymore. His whole focus abandoned him, and it felt like he was on autopilot. From time to time, when he reached the top or touched the bottom, he was out of his daydream for a few second, just to enter flow state again.

Voices became a blur. The only real sounds were his own breathing, the scrape of his boots, and the soft creak of the ledges again and again.

His hands were raw. The skin at the base of his fingers felt rough. Every time he climbed down, his arms wanted to open and let go. Every time he touched the ground, his legs begged him to stay there.

He didn’t.

Up. Down. Again.

He remembered the first time when Kori taught him this. It was late in the Rust Room, and Kori was still in the dueling bay, exercising moves. The way she did it, though, was slow, almost creepy. But she kept going, not seeming to ever become tired. It was like she unplugged her brain from her body, stuck in the same movement loop.

For him, it took a long time to actually succeed. Weeks, maybe. He kept being distracted: a small wheeze when Hikari was hit with a bar on the highest difficulty, maybe Kori shouting something at him...

But once he managed to do it, his mind felt completely blank. It was a nice feeling, somehow, like he didn’t have a care in the world.

He glanced once toward the side and saw Hikari standing with her wrist wrapped tight, eyes locked on him like she could drag him upward with sheer will. Feris sat beside her, elbows on her knees, murmuring something under her breath. Raizen looked back to the tower before his mind could get any other ideas.

The dew never went away. The holds never got nicer. The bell didn’t feel closer, no matter how many times he reached it. It was just there, waiting for the moment his hands finally failed.

Suddenly, he slipped.

Two-thirds up, his hand landed on a slick patch and his center tipped. His other hand skated off a hold. His body dropped before he could think.

The crowd inhaled as one.

Kori’s hand froze around her thermos. She took a step on instinct, useless and automatic.

Raizen caught a lower hold by feel. Fingers clamped hard. Pain snapped through his shoulder so sharp his vision flashed sideways for a second.

He hung there for a second, legs dangling in empty air, then he forced them still. He reset his feet, rebuilt his grip, and kept climbing like he hadn’t fallen at all.

Raizen pressed his forehead against the wood for one brief moment, eyes closed.

"Come on!" Esen called, hands cupped around his mouth. His voice cracked. "Come on!"

Others joined, not as a chant, just as a push. The railings filled tighter. Even the professors stopped pretending to be casual.

The sky lightened slowly. Dark clouds bled toward gray. The first hints of gold light appeared at the horizon and reached up the cliffs.

Kori got off the wall and stood. She just watched, completely still.

Raizen climbed the last section without bargaining. The top looked close enough to rush you into mistakes. He didn’t rush.

He hauled himself over the lip and stood in the thin morning light, shaking with exhaustion.

The brass bell hung in front of him.

He placed his palm against it. The time was almost right, wasn’t it? The bell always rang at sunrise.

He raised his fist, and hit the bell as hard as he could.

The deep sound carried across the court and into the Academy. It echoed off tall towers and large halls.

Raizen started descending, even slower now, body running on the last scraps. His hands slipped more. His arms shook more. He breathed hard at each step.

When his boots finally hit the ground, he laughed once, short and breathless.

Then his legs buckled. He leaned forward without wanting to, misjudging what standing meant after hours of climbing.

Arashi was there before gravity made Raizen kiss the ground. He caught Raizen neatly.

"Careful." Arashi said. Then, just to be annoying, he added "I bet you’d rather climb than walk now"

Raizen blinked, exhausted, and forced the only word that still fit.

"Nah, I’d walk."

The court finally broke into noise - not polite Academy applause, just real cheers and relief. Hikari stood very still, wrist wrapped, eyes locked on Raizen like she wanted to move and refused. Feris clapped so hard she almost hurt herself.

Kori stepped forward, hand swinging once at her side.

"Alright, alright. Let’s not turn this into a circus" she said, voice bright. "That was both really stupid and excellent. Don’t chase that kind of stupid daily."

Then, she muttered "Even if this should become routine for you..."

Esen pointed at her, grinning. "Prize. What did I miss?"

Kori’s smile sharpened.

"Private training session" she said. "With me. One on one. No witnesses."

Raizen lifted his head, still breathing hard.

Kori tilted her chin. "You pick the day" she said. "I pick what to ruin."