CHAPTER TWENTY

Lowenstein shrugs. “It’s a spiritual test. You have to tend to the fire for a week, cleanse your heart, and only then, do you step into the fire once you are ready.”

“A week?!”

“Time passes slowly in the cave where the fire is kept,” he explains. “Two hours equals one day. It should take you less than a day. But you cannot take any food and water inside with you. You are to go by yourself.”

“What is this fire testing?” I ask slowly.

“Resilience.” Lowenstein watches me. “Inner strength. Patience, maybe? I don’t know. It’s a spiritual test. Nobody knows exactly how you pass it. But you will know. Everybody who has passed this test, well, only two individuals, they always said they knew when it was time.”

“Time for what?”

“To step into the fire,” he explains. “You have to tend to the fire for a week ‘till it grows and then on the seventh day, you step inside. If you pass, it will break the manacles of magic around you.”

“This is really vague,” I feel hesitant. “It doesn’t really ma