A sea of crimson and gold banners rippled in the hot midday wind above the Sixth Spire’s inner courtyard on Day 27.
Three thousand alchemists, elders, and apprentices packed the tiered stone bleachers. The scent of burning sandalwood incense mingled with sulfur and roasted pine nuts.
In the center of the flagstone court stood the testing platform.
Upon a raised marble dais rested the pride of the Sixth Tower: the Grand Spirit-Testing Scale.
The apparatus stood eight feet tall. It was cast from celestial brass and polished river crystal. Suspended from an intricate iron balance arm hung a broad silver dish and a glowing crystal refraction sphere.
High above the courtyard, tucked into the shadow of a wooden maintenance balcony, Kaelen Vance leaned against a broom handle.
He was wearing his rough, oversized furnace smock and a black linen blindfold over his eyes. His straw hat was resting against the balcony railing beside a small wooden tackle box.
To the thousands of shouting disciples below, he was merely an exhausted, blindfolded furnace boy dozing off between sweeping duties.
