Gael couldn't see a hand in front of him due to the infinite darkness he had fallen into. He had lost all sense of direction, unsure if he was upside down or right side up, and despite the continuous fall, the lion had yet to make itself known, at least up to that moment.

"Why are you falling?"

The lion's voice finally echoed in Gael's mind.

The boy found the question somewhat ridiculous, after all, he was falling because he was in an endless limbo.

"Don't find the question ridiculous."

Reprimanded the lion firmly.

"I didn't ask if the question was ridiculous. Just answer the question I asked you: why are you falling?"

"Because there's no ground, how am I supposed to stop falling if there's no solid ground?"

Gael asked, still confused by the question raised by the fiery animal.

"And who said there is no ground?"

The lion inquired.

"Just because you can't see it doesn't mean it's not there."

Gael pondered for a moment on the situation, finally understanding what the lion was trying to teach him.

"You're testing me!"

The boy exclaimed, realizing the message the animal wanted to convey.

"You're teaching me to trust you."

The lion remained silent, and the boy's mind began to work. He needed to find a way to interrupt his infinite fall. Gael realized that despair had taken hold of him, and that's why he wasn't breathing as Karumo had taught him. So, he closed his eyes and began to practice the exercise, breathing in through his nose and exhaling through his mouth.

Silva concluded that if he wanted to stop falling, he needed to anchor his legs to something. With controlled breathing, Gael felt the elemental energy flowing throughout his body. With this power, he understood that he was upside down and began to exert effort to rise until he succeeded.

The next step was to stop the fall. Gael flexed his knees about four times, positioning his legs as if he were taking a step, but failed. On the fifth and sixth attempts, he began to feel something resembling ground, but still had the sensation of breaking something when trying to step into the void and failed.

In the seventh, eighth, and ninth attempts, he felt even more the sensation of solid ground, but still continued to fail. Until, on the tenth attempt, with his body burning entirely, Gael exclaimed:

"IGNISSSSSSSSSSSS!!!"

A flash spread throughout the darkness, turning it white when Gael shouted the true name of fire. And the most surprising thing was that he stopped falling; the boy now floated in an extremely clear dimension, where white extended infinitely up and down.

"You did it."

Gael heard a voice coming from behind him.

It was the lion of fire, who had returned. At that moment, Gael realized that he had passed the trust test of the animal. But he did not expect the journey to end there.

"You learned to trust me, but now you need to know me."

Said the fire being, as several doors appeared in that entirely white room. There were so many doors, of various colors and types, that there was no way to count them.

The fire lion remained behind the boy, following with its instructions:

"Behind one of these doors, you will find my true name, the name that will continue to know me time after time."

Said the lion, while several doors remained before them.

"Is this from Bleach?"

The boy asked, realizing that he had mentioned the name of another anime he had watched.

The lion stepped out from behind him and began to walk around him, looking at the boy and asking:

"Bleach?"

"Yes."

The boy replied, a little embarrassed.

"It's an anime, the protagonist of this show has to discover the true form of his sword through thousands of chests that appear in a place similar to this, there Ichigo finds the true sword following a power line, do I have to do the same thing with my elemental energy?"

The lion was surprised by the boy's reasoning, realizing that maybe he was more prone to knowing than trusting. The animal sensed Gael's enormous potential.

"Basically, yes."

The lion replied and stepped away from the boy.

"Go ahead. You already know what to do."

Gael closed his eyes. His trust in the animal was great, and he decided to sit cross-legged where he was standing. Then, Silva focused again on his breathing, inhaling through his nose and exhaling through his mouth.

The room was entirely white, and anyone looking from below would see a red-haired boy floating amidst many doors. Gael kept his breathing under control and felt something different as he emanated his elemental energy throughout that space, as if he could feel all the doors.

He forced his breathing even more and realized that all the doors were connected to each other, forming a kind of network of invisible connections.

He focused on the strings that connected the doors and applied his elemental energy to one of them. In an instant, all the connections gained orange hues, reflecting Gael's impressive power. The transparent ties seemed to vibrate with the intensity of his energy.

The boy felt all the doors at once, one by one, trying to find which one was his, the one the lion had set aside for him. Finally, he found it and opened his eyes to point at it.

It was an ordinary door, simple and discreet, among many other impressive doors. Its lock and white color had nothing special. But the lion nodded approvingly, confirming that it was the right door.

"Go ahead, son of man."

Said the lion, using the same term that Miguel used to refer to Gael once again.

As if climbing invisible stairs, the boy headed toward the white door, passing through the thousands of other doors present in that dimension.

Upon reaching the door, he noticed that it had five unknown symbols on it:

He looked at the fiery lion and asked:

"What would this symbol on the door be?"

"When you cross the door, you'll know!"

Affirmed the fire beast, showing that behind it awaited many answers, much more than he could find if he stayed stuck in that place.

All the strings connecting the doors were still marked with the orange glow caused by Gael's elemental energy. However, the door he had chosen stood out from the others, with an even more intense binding, as if it were begging to be opened.

Silva positioned himself in front of the white door, turned the handle, and pulled it towards him. Before him, a space entirely engulfed in flames appeared, as he uttered his last words before entering.

"Proceed to know you."

The door closed automatically behind the boy, leaving him alone in that white environment. A voice echoed from outside, questioning:

"What did you think of him?"

The fire lion responded with gentle roars, echoing throughout the dimension:

"A boy with enormous potential."

"I think the readers won't like him very much."

Said the voice saying something strange, but as if the lion could understand what she was saying.

"That's because it's just the beginning of his journey."

"Do you think we should give Rick's diary to him and inform him who killed his predecessor?"

Said a third voice joining the conversation.

"No, we still need to get to know him better. Also, we shouldn't interfere in the matters of the guardians and the shadows, just offer our powers."

Concluded the lion before disappearing from that place.

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