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“Complete, you may move on to your next task,” the voice announces, and the ring around me glows again before fading into darkness.
Thanks robotic voice. A girl can’t even compose herself before you’re shuffling her off to the next task.
My brows furrow as I think of the nature of the questions. All three were about the infernal realm. But most of the course materials cover the ethereal realm. Not to mention they seemed to be meant directly for me.
But before I can dwell on that thought for too long, a click sounds just to my right. A small wooden door creaks open that definitely wasn’t there before.
I cautiously step forward, making my way to the door. My only option is to make it through these tasks, and I can’t very well do that just standing in the first room, despite my growing suspicions that something isn’t right.
As soon as I pass through the threshold, a rush of air gusts across my back, and the door slams shut behind me before disappearing from sight.
Unlike the first room, I’m not immediately plunged into darkness. Multiple orbs of light hover in sconces along the walls, illuminating the entire room. However, the brightness continues to increase until every shadow is eliminated from the room. I squeeze my eyes shut to save them from the onslaught of bright light assaulting them. No voice echoes through the room this time, giving me no direction as to what I’m supposed to do.
My thoughts race, and I draw in a calming breath in an attempt to control them. I won’t be able to escape this room if I can’t focus. I pull on the well of power inside me, but instead of directing it outwards, I direct it to my mind as Orrin taught me. My consciousness expands, giving my thoughts the clarity of the power of knowledge.
We read in their plans that the second task is about focus and harnessing the power of meditation. The steely glint of wisdom washes over me, eclipsing my panic. My brain filters out the unnecessary emotion, knowing I have to keep my sharp edge of focus to succeed.
I push my senses outwards, feeling the room around me now that my body has finally calmed. A tug at my center pushes me to turn, my awareness locking on to the pull of power to the right. My senses latch on to that feeling, and my feet move automatically. My strides are sure and confident, trusting that my focus and senses will lead me where I need to go.
My intuition tells me to lift my hands, so I do, my fingers brushing the wall before me. Smiling, I take comfort in the development of my senses and my willingness to trust myself despite how strange it is. I skim my fingers along the wall until I find the rough brush of stone against them. I go to push it, but just before my hand presses into the cool stone, a chill washes over my body, freezing my movements. I chew my lip nervously at the sensation. Although it is a button, my intuition screams that it’s not the right one.
I keep one hand on that one while my other hand searches the rest of the wall, lightly brushing my fingers over the surface and ensuring I don’t press anything by accident. Warmth emanates from my center as my finger finds another one of the rough stone buttons. But I pause a moment, making sure this feels right before I make another move.
The feeling doesn’t change, my chest feels warm and right with this decision. With that, I press my weight into the second button, feeling the stone move beneath my palm. I hold my breath, not daring to move as I wait for a sign, any sign, to show me that I made the right choice and I’m not going to have my retinas burned out. To my relief, a click sounds just to my left, and I chance prying my lids open, taking it as a good sign that I can no longer see the bright tinge of light through them. Thankfully, the light has returned to a normal level, the faint hum of the orbs light sounding through the room.
My blood turns to ice as I look to the other button, seeing its surface coated in red paint with a white skull emblazoned on it. And I decide I’m perfectly content not knowing what that button does as I walk through the now open door. I let go of my hold on the power, readying myself for whatever power I’ll need to use next. From the papers, I know this will be an attack, so it will require a mix of my combat skills and my powers to defeat my opponent.
I jerk as the door slams closed behind me, the loud thump echoing through the stone walled room. Well, it used to be a stone room. The walls quickly change, the room rearranging itself into … the history classroom?
My brows furrow as I glance around the familiar room, except it doesn’t look how it usually does—there are desks knocked on their sides, chairs are strewn across the floor. Papers and books lie scattered across the hardwood, seemingly abandoned as though a tornado had just ripped through the room, leaving everything in disarray. I glance to the door, or where the door should be. Instead, I find broken shards of wood scattered everywhere, the pieces as small as toothpicks. It looks just like … when the chaos demon attacked.
The moment that those words filter through my mind, he appears at the front of the room, his black beady eyes trained straight on me. Well, fuck, of course, I can’t just face some random opponent. It has to be the fucking chaos demons that almost captured me, fabulous.
He starts forward, but I don’t let him take a step, drawing upon the power within me and drawing it out to my palm. A ball of flames sparks there, casting a warm glow over my arm. After the first challenge, I may have felt a tinge of fear facing this demon, but after focusing and connecting to my intuition, I know I have the power to defeat him. Hell, I went up against him with no powers just to hold off his torture of my classmates. And it isn’t even the same demon, that one is gone, disintegrated into a pile of dust at Maximus’ power.
The demon doesn’t seem deterred in the least, though, his lips curling into a malevolent grin, showcasing his razor-sharp yellow teeth as a vile green liquid rolls down his chin. His clawed fingers click together as though they itch to rip my throat out.
I don’t waste another moment, launching into motion and lobbing the ball of fire at his head. But it narrowly misses him as he dodges to the side at the last moment. He hisses out a high-pitched laugh, gripping a chair between his claws to launch at me. I throw up a barrier, and the moment it clatters to the floor, I’m throwing another ball of fire aiming straight for his scaly head. I grit my teeth as he dodged the attack again, cackling gleefully as though this is the most amusing game he’s ever played.
That’s it, I’ve had enough of this. I pull on the power within me, my hand stretching out before me in his direction. He readies himself for the next ball of fire but cackles as he sees my palm empty. He doubles over, chuckling gleefully, clearly thinking he’s bested me. Well, he has another thing coming.
He jolts in shock as the first ripple of power slams into him, as I pull on the destructive power Maximus taught me how to master. His scaled skin dries, cracks running through it. He looks back at me, blinking in disbelief before his body crumbles around him. Pieces slough off, cascading in a pile of dust on the projected classroom floor.
I pause a moment, letting the ashes settle on the floor before I release my breath of relief.
“You have successfully completed all three tasks. Please exit.” The robotic voice sounds around the room, and the room fades back into the concrete one I first walked into. A door appears on the far wall, the glow of daylight filtering in through the other side of it.
“I’m done. I passed.”I project in a relieved rush as I jog to the exit. I place my hand on the door, but that same wave of cold washes over me as it had with the wrong button. My intuition screams at me not to walk through that door. Bile rises in my throat at the force of the sensation, every muscle in my body seizing.
“There was never any doubt in my mind that you would, little mate.”Mateo’s voice sounds in my mind. I wish I could take more comfort in his declaration but—
“I—I have a bad feeling, like something is waiting for me on the other side of that door. But I don’t have any other choice … it’s the only way out.”I tell them, willing them to realize why I’m hesitating, why I’m not rushing out into their open arms.
“We’ve spread out along every exterior wall, princess. The door will appear to us as soon as you step out. One of us will be there with you.”Maximus’ gruff voice sounds in my mind, his words strong and sure. I can hear the note of understanding in his words. He especially would understand since he regularly has visions.
I inhale a deep breath and pull my power around me, gritting my teeth against the sensation twisting my stomach. There’s only one way out, so I’ll need to leave sooner or later, and no one else can enter as long as I’m in here, so no one can even escort me out.
I push the door open, blinking in the bright daylight as my eyes acclimate to the sudden brightness. But when I look around, I don’t see any of my guys, nor do I see the familiar grass field or the stands that should be lining each side of the structure. I look behind me at dense brush instead of the towering concrete building that should be there.
I pull my power about to dissipate back to the field when a familiar power washes over me—wards crash down around me, blocking my ability to dissipate. I whip my head back in the other direction as I glance around the narrow clearing, small trees and brush surround me on every side.
“Olivia, where are you?”Adrian’s voice sounds in my mind, but I can’t answer him. Partially because I have no idea where I am, and partially because I need to keep my focus trained around me. Someone caused those wards to come down around us, and I’m ninety-nine percent sure I know who it was.
A rustle of leaves draws my focus, and I stare at exactly who I feared it would be. He stalks from the bushes and brushes off the stray twigs that latched onto his sleek black suit. His dark brown hair remains unruffled despite his hiding place. A smug smirk stretches across his face and his eyes gleam with triumph.
Titus.
