Chapter 60 - First Trial

  Ariel moved first.

  She pushed herself up, legs shaking beneath her, Lilia’s hands clung desperately to her sleeve.

  “Ariel, what—”

  Ariel pulled free.

  "This is for all of us...." she said, voice trembling. “You have to understand.”

  She shook her head faster than she meant.

  “No… actually, you don’t.”

  Tears dry on her face.

  She wanted them all alive. And the trial was the only way. So she'd drag them into it if she had to. Because what other choice was there?

  "Trust me. Please."

  She never waited for a reply from Lilia

  She moved anyway.

  She knew how to start it… She’d known from the very beginning.

  All she had to do was reach the dais.

  Ariel had made her decision.

  She bolted forward—faster than any human should have been able to move.

  Because she wasn't human, and the aberrations could tell

  A wolf-shaped creature lunged immediately, its jaws unhinging far too wide, rows of teeth spiraling down its throat. Ryn’s blade flashed—clean and sharp—cutting through bone and shadow before the monster could reach them.

  It was clear these aberrations were far weaker than the one he had faced before.

  But still…

  There were too many.

  For every one he struck down, two more pushed in, their burning red, green, and gold eyes crowding the dark.

  “Ariel!” Ryn shouted, turning just in time to see her silhouette break into a sprint.

  Ariel was already moving.

  Not away.

  Toward.

  Another giant aberration burst through the broken wall in front of her, its swollen green skin glistening with an oily sheen. But Ariel didn’t slow.

  She leaped—high, impossibly high—vaulting over its hunched back as shards of stone and dust billowed beneath her feet. Her white dress snapped in the air behind her like a torn banner.

  Her right arm glowed as she moved, casting a thin trail of gold through the darkness—

  the only light in the swarm of shadows.

  She landed on the edge of a shattered white pillar, using it only for a heartbeat before pushing off again.

  Then she dove.

  The aberrations swarmed below her—twisting, reaching, snapping. Ariel twisted her body mid-air, slipping between clawed limbs and jagged mouths. She rolled upon hitting the ground, sliding beneath a creature with three jointed legs, then sprang up again, darting under the sweep of a taloned arm.

  She moved like a dance—

  weaving through their ranks,

  ducking beneath limbs,

  vaulting over spines,

  her feet barely touching the ground.

  Another shadow lunged. She twisted past it.

  A fox-shaped one snapped at her heel. She spun away.

  Two more blocked her path; she slid between them before their bodies could close around her.

  her arm burning brighter—and hotter—with each passing second.

  Every motion was desperation sharpened into instinct.

  And through the writhing nightmare of shapes and bodies, Ariel pushed forward—

  her glowing right arm lighting the path ahead—

  toward the dais at the center of the ruined temple.

  Lilia screamed.

  "Ariel, wait—!"

  Her voice cracked in half. She lurched forward, reaching out, but her legs buckled beneath her, and she collapsed onto the stone.

  Ryn tried to follow, but he wasn’t fast enough.

  Lilia’s voice rose again, hoarse with panic.

  Ryn shouted too.

  But Ariel didn’t hear them.

  Couldn’t.

  Her mind was locked on one thing—

  reach the dais before anything else.

  Another aberration lunged at her from the side. Ariel slid beneath its belly, her glowing arm carving upward as she passed. A streak of light tore through its torso, splitting it in two as it crashed behind her.

  She screamed in agony but kept moving.

  With no free hand to swing, Ryn clenched the sword between his teeth — awkward, heavy, the metal biting into his jaw — but it was the only way to keep Lilia from being torn apart.

  He hauled Lilia up with one arm and dragged her forward. Her legs barely responded, exhaustion making every step agony. She stumbled, nearly falling again—he caught her, practically carrying her as they pushed through the swarm.

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  They followed Ariel into the storm of monsters.

  A wolf-like aberration barreled toward them—Ryn shoved Lilia aside just in time, taking the brunt of the creature’s swipe. His blade punched upward using teeth, catching its throat before it could clamp down on him.

  But the creatures weren’t focused on him.

  They hardly noticed him at all.

  They wanted Ariel.

  A fox-shaped creature darted after her. Ariel vaulted over fallen stone, twisting mid-air, and its snapping jaws closed on nothing but dust. She hit the ground running

  "Ariel, stop!" Ryn roared. "You don't know what you're doing!"

  A spined beast lunged at Lilia—Ryn yanked her back, stumbling, nearly losing his footing as the monster skidded past them.

  Ariel cut through the swarm like a streak of white and gold

  Pain lanced through her arm, white-hot and spreading, but the dais was close. So close. She could endure this. She had to.

  Ryn dodged where she dodged—

  ducking under lunges,

  jumping over shattered debris,

  Pulling Lilia with him

  forcing their way through the gaps Ariel carved open.

  Each second brought them closer to the dais.

  There were many reasons Ryn was against the idea of going through with the trial.

  He didn’t have time to list them.

  A claw carved through the air beside his face — he twisted away, but the motion threw his balance off.

  With only one arm, every dodge felt a fraction too slow, every block a little too heavy.

  His center of gravity was wrong, constantly tilting.

  Another aberration lunged.

  He caught its foot with his blade, but the force sent pain shooting up his shoulder.

  He gritted his teeth and forced it down, boots scraping across stone slick with dust and blood.

  Ariel had been right: trials meant power.

  A chance to live, maybe.

  A chance to fight back, probably.

  But trials were made by gods.

  And like all divine things—

  There was a cost.

  An aberration with too many legs skittered across the ceiling, dropping down inches from lilia.

  Ryn lunged sideways, snatching the sword from his mouth at the last moment and swinging upward. Dark ichor splattered as the creature’s head split open.

  He missed having his right arm.

  Trials aren’t power, Eldric had slurred once, bottle dangling from his fingertips. They’re graves. Fancy ones.

  Another creature lunged — Ryn tried to twist away, but his gait was uneven.

  Claws grazed his ribs. Pain flared hot, sharp.

  He forced himself upright.

  More shapes advanced — insect-like shadows with glowing spines, fox-creatures with spiralled jaws, long-limbed horrors scraping across the walls.

  Their eyes locked onto Ariel like predators scenting blood.

  Ryn grit his teeth and pushed forward, cutting a path through the swarm.

  Slower than he used to.

  Weaker than he should be.

  But still fighting.

  Ahead, Ariel reached the raised dais.

  The air around her trembled—humming with a pressure so sharp it made the hair along Ryn’s arm rise. Every instinct in him screamed.

  “Ariel—!” Lilia shouted, her voice splitting under the strain.

  Ariel lifted her hand—

  —and hesitated.

  For a single beat, her palm hovered over the stone.

  Her fingers shook.

  Her breath caught.

  This is the only way, she told herself.

  She closed her eyes.

  Everything slowed.

  Ryn’s horrified realization stretched thin inside his chest.

  Ariel’s hand pressed down.

  For one heartbeat, nothing.

  Then the dais erupted.

  The pain was blinding, like her arm was being torn apart from the inside—but she held it, teeth clenched until she tasted blood.

  A group went in, Eldric’s voice whispered over the screeching. Fourteen of ’em.

  Light exploded outward, blinding, overwhelming, ancient symbols flaring alive across the temple floor. The air itself seemed to scream, a shrill ringing that drilled into their skulls.

  And then came the pull.

  Not a push—

  a pull.

  Inescapable.

  Ryn felt it seize him, an invisible force yanking him forward with impossible strength. His boots scraped against the stone as he tried to dig in, tried to anchor himself.

  Useless.

  The force dragged him like he weighed nothing at all.

  Lilia screamed beside him, her body sliding helplessly toward the dais, fingers clawing at the floor that offered no grip.

  Aberrations shrieked, lunging after them—

  But the light burned them back.

  Any monster that touched it recoiled violently, its skin hissing.

  Within seconds, Ryn and Lilia slammed onto the dais on either side of Ariel.

  All three of them.

  Together.

  Ryn tried to stand— but the sigils beneath them pulsed, bright and blinding, locking their legs in place.

  His head snapped toward Ariel.

  “Why!?”

  His voice ripped out of him—sharp, uncharacteristic.

  “I had to—” she choked.

  “You were going to d—”

  “I told you it was insane!” Ryn shouted, the words tearing through the light and noise.

  Lilia’s hands found both of theirs, gripping tight, so tight her fingers shook violently.

  Ariel couldn’t answer.

  A group went in, Eldric’s voice repeated, quieter now. Fourteen.

  The ground split open with a deafening crack.

  Light poured through—gold, white, merciless—too bright to look at, too hot to breathe.

  The dais began to sink, dragging them down into an impossible depth.

  Only one came out.

  Lilia clung to both of them.

  Ryn tightened his grip on his sword,

  Above them, the aberrations’ screams dwindled.

  The walls dissolved into light.

  Stone became nothing.

  The light pulled them under.

  None of them had agreed to this.

  Not truly.

  Ariel had chosen.

  Ryn wondered—

  Out of the three of them?

  How many would come out of this one?

  If any at all.