The thought scared him so much that for a moment, he considered turning back. Retreating into the safety of the version of himself he knew, figuring out some other way—any other way—to move forward.
Leaving his armor behind meant leaving behind the parts of himself that he understood. Forging ahead undefended and unarmed.
Naked.
Vulnerable.
He hated it.
But the trial demanded truth, and truth could no longer hide behind steel.
Clad in only his arming doublet, breeches, and boots, Cedric placed his sword and dagger next to Elyria’s weapons, which he’d already propped neatly against the wall next to his armor. He tucked his mana token beneath the collar of his doublet, shuddering at the thought of that being taken from him too.
He tried to ignore the way the voice in his head once again radiated approval as he faced his reflection in the gilded mirror.
“Now, we see you,”whispered the voice, curling through his mind like smoke.“Now, you are ready.”
The gold shimmered—beckoning him. With a steadying breath, Cedric pressed his palm against the wall once more. This time, the liquid gold flowed out, lacing over his hand, his wrist, roaming up his arm.
Cold as ice. Burning, on fire. Wet and dripping. Dry and rough. Cedric’s nerves lit up with an onslaught of conflicting sensations. Thenhe plunged into a disorienting void.
It was dark.So dark. And for a moment, Cedric feared he would be trapped in this abyss, without light, without warmth, forever. But then the darkness lifted, and blue-green light filtered over the world around him.
He was on a bridge. A narrow wooden bridge, strung together with rope, suspended over...nothing. A bolt of terror raced through Cedric. Like a reflex, he pressed his palm to his chest, feeling the hard edges of his token dig into his skin. It eased his worry infinitesimally.
Above him, the aurora blazed, the faintest rivulets of blue, green, and purple carving through the sunlit sky. But below him? That void, that darkness he’d crossed through? He swayed over it now—a grim pit of swirling nothingness.
It stretched out around him, not just under the bridge, but to his left and to his right—an infinity of nonexistence. This was a thousand times worse than crossing the Chasm. What a fool he’d been for being nervous then. What he wouldn’t give for the firm stone and brick, the security of the wagon, rather than standing alone amidst rotting planks and fraying rope.
And he was alone.
The voice in his head had gone quiet—disappeared. Elyria was nowhere to be seen. Where was she? Where washe? What was this?
Sweat gathered on Cedric’s forehead as he took a single, tentative step forward. The wood groaned under his weight. He immediately grabbed the rope on either side of him, holding on with a white-knuckled grip. The coarse edges of the rope bit into his palms.
A sound caught his attention. He squinted ahead—some fifty, sixty feet in front of him, there was...something. Some...one? The figure waved their arms wildly, jumping up and down on a platform of rock and dirt that materialized before Cedric’s eyes.
“Help!” the figure called. A woman, the desperation in her voice clear as day. Frantic. “Help us, please!”
Cedric swallowed hard and tried to slow his rapid intake of breath.Someone was in trouble. Someone needed help. And regardless of whatever this trial thought it was testing—his ability to overcome his irrational fear of heights, it would seem—he knew he had to move.
So, without looking down, without looking anywhere but at the lone, waving woman on the platform ahead of him, Cedric took his first step.
It felt like an eternity had passed before his feet finally touched solid ground, but touch it, they did.
“Thank Aurelia!” cried the woman, her weathered face visibly relieved as Cedric approached. She tucked a strand of loose gray hair back into the bun sitting at the nape of her neck before motioning for Cedric to follow her. “Come quickly, please! I don’t know how much longer they have.”
“Who?” he asked, though he did not hesitate to fall in step with the old woman.
“Just hurry,” she said. Trees seemed to sprout in the corners of Cedric’s vision as they rushed forward—what he’d thought was a small platform connected to that stars-forsaken bridge was rocky land that stretched for miles, as real as what had been in the arena during the first trial.
Real. Was this real? It felt real. It felt...important. Like he was headed toward something crucial.
“My name is Cedric, ma’am,” he said to the woman, breathing heavily. They had already been pushing forward at a hard pace for some time.
She gave him an odd look but did not slow her stride. “Alouette,” she replied between gulps of air. A pretty name. He thought it might be familiar, though he couldn’t place it. The trees grew thicker, denser. Worry began to crease Cedric’s brow. Where was she taking him? He heard nothing, saw nothing, other than the landscape around him, seemingly becoming more detailed, more lush as they walked.
The path they were on forked suddenly. “This way,” Alouette said, her voice a harsh whisper. “We must be quiet now. We’re very nearly there.”
