The ground beneath them trembled.


    The moment the bridge collapsed into the abyss behind them, the world shifted.


    No sound. No transition. One second, they stood on solid ground—the next, walls had risen around them.


    Monolithic, obsidian-black walls loomed high, stretching endlessly in all directions. But they weren''t still. They moved—shifting, breathing, pulsing like the heartbeat of some colossal, unseen beast.


    Zoren''s instincts screamed.


    This was no ordinary maze. It was alive.


    Then, Ryan''s voice returned, smooth and unreadable.


    "Trial Three: The Labyrinth of Shifting Walls."


    "Find the exit—if you can."


    And just like that, the labyrinth responded.


    BOOM.


    The walls convulsed. With a deep, grinding roar, they twisted apart—corridors splitting, paths stretching, entire sections shifting in impossible ways.


    In mere seconds, the world had rearranged itself.


    Elizabeth narrowed her eyes. "It''s designed to split us up."


    Aiden clicked his tongue. "Then we don''t let it."


    They started forward—quickly, cautiously.


    But the labyrinth had no rules.


    Not even three steps in, the first strike came.


    A blur of movement.


    Zoren turned just in time to see the wall to his right swallow Ivar whole.


    No scream. No struggle.


    One second, Ivar was there—the next, he was simply gone.


    "Shit," Franklin muttered. "It''s taking us one by—"


    Then the walls lunged again.


    This time, Zoren felt it.


    A force—pulling him away.


    He reached for his sword—too late.


    The wall slammed shut between him and the others.


    Darkness. Silence.


    He was alone.


    Zoren''s Trial


    A deep breath. His hands clenched into fists.


    He kept moving.


    The labyrinth twisted ahead of him, corridors stretching, shifting as he walked. Sometimes the walls loomed close, suffocatingly tight—sometimes they opened into vast, impossible halls filled with eerie white light.


    It felt like a dream. A nightmare.


    Then, the whispers began.


    "You left them behind."


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "You will fail them."


    "You are alone."


    Zoren''s fingers twitched.


    The voices weren''t coming from nowhere.


    He looked down.


    The shadows beneath him had faces.


    Twisted reflections of himself—grinning, mocking, smirking with empty eyes.


    One of them spoke.


    "You think they need you?"


    It lunged.


    Zoren moved on instinct—a blur of motion. His sword flashed—the shadow shattered.


    But the whispers did not stop.


    More figures formed in the darkness.


    Aiden.


    Elizabeth.


    Elyria.


    Not them. Distorted versions.


    "You will fall."


    "They will leave you behind."


    "You are not worthy."


    Zoren exhaled sharply.


    "I''ve heard worse."


    He walked straight through them.


    The illusions vanished.


    Aiden sprinted through the maze, his instincts screaming.


    The air burned.


    Not normal heat—his fire.


    Flames licked at the walls, but they didn''t consume. They waited.


    Then, ahead—a figure stepped forward.


    Not an enemy.


    Not a stranger.


    His father.


    Burned. Scarred. Twisted with anger.


    "You still hesitate."


    Aiden''s jaw clenched.


    "Still weak."


    The flames surged, roaring to life.


    Aiden walked straight through them.


    The illusion shattered.


    Elizabeth''s Trial


    She did not freeze.


    She did not hesitate.


    But her mind faltered.


    The labyrinth had shifted into something she knew.


    Not walls.


    A battlefield.


    Bodies littered the ground.


    Not just any bodies—Veilborn bodies.


    And at the center—


    Herself.


    Younger. Covered in their blood.


    The whispers rose.


    "You killed them."


    "You never hesitated."


    "Do you even regret it?"


    Elizabeth exhaled sharply.


    She reached out.


    Her fingers touched the illusion.


    It crumbled.


    "Try harder."


    ---


    One by one, they endured.


    One by one, they reached the light ahead.


    And as they stepped forward—


    The labyrinth collapsed.


    The walls vanished.


    And they stood once again—together.


    Ryan''s voice returned, pleased.


    "Trial Three—complete."


    No time to breathe. No time to rest.


    Because the ground beneath them vanished.


    The next trial had begun.


    ---


    A sudden drop.


    The air tore past them. Weightlessness. Silence.


    Then—impact.


    Zoren hit the ground hard, rolling into a crouch, his instincts screaming. Around him, the others landed—Aiden,Ivar, Elyria, Franklin—all winded but alive.


    A deep rumble filled the space.


    They weren''t in the labyrinth anymore.


    They had fallen into something else.


    ---


    The chamber was massive. A cavern stretching into eternity, divided into four colossal sections, each one alive with an elemental force.


    Fire. Ice. Earth. Lightning.


    Four worlds within a single space.


    To the far left—a blazing inferno. Lava rivers churned, flames rose high, and the air itself burned, searing even from a distance.


    To the right—a frozen wasteland. Ice stretched endlessly, bitter winds howling, the temperature dropping so low that breath turned to frost in an instant.


    Ahead—a land of upheaval. Towering cliffs and jagged stone, the earth shaking violently, cracks forming and closing within seconds.


    And above—the storm. A sky filled with roaring thunder, bolts of lightning striking randomly, illuminating the void with electric rage.


    A trial for the body. A trial for the mind.


    And a trial for the soul.


    ---


    Most of the candidates were breathing hard. The labyrinth had drained them, not just physically but mentally.


    But one person stood tall.


    Elizabeth.


    No exhaustion. No hesitation.


    She gazed across the chamber with a clarity that the others did not have.


    It was Franklin who noticed first.


    "She''s not tired," he muttered, wiping sweat from his brow. "How the hell—"


    Then it hit him.


    The reward.


    Elizabeth had been the first to clear the Trial of Truth. And her prize?


    Clarity.


    The reward wasn''t just knowledge. It was awareness. Mental fortitude. Absolute perception.


    Where they saw chaos, she saw patterns.


    Where they struggled to focus, she remained sharp.


    Elizabeth turned to them, eyes unreadable. "We don''t have time to rest."


    She was already analyzing.


    ---


    Before anyone could respond, the chamber shook.


    A deep, inhuman voice rumbled through the space.


    Not Ryan''s.


    Something older.


    Something waiting.


    "Four elements. Four trials."


    "Survive—and earn the right to face me."


    Lightning flashed.


    The guardians had awakened.


    ---


    From each section, something moved.


    The Fire Titan rose from the lava, its body a living inferno, molten veins pulsing with heat that warped the air around it.


    The Ice Titan emerged from the frozen wasteland, sculpted from frost and glacier, its eyes glowing with an unnatural cold.


    The Earth Titan broke through the stone, a towering mass of living rock, each step shaking the chamber like a quake.


    And from the storm—


    The Lightning Titan descended.


    A being of pure electricity, its body shifting between form and formlessness, its presence alone causing the air to hum with power.


    Each one radiated immense strength.


    And they were not merciful.


    ---


    Elizabeth took a step forward.


    "The chamber is designed to divide us."


    She gestured—at the shifting terrain, at the elemental barriers forming between the sections.


    "If we separate, we''ll be isolated, forced to fight on the terms of the Titans."


    Aiden cracked his knuckles, eyes on the Fire Titan. "Then we don''t separate."


    "Easier said than done." Franklin frowned. "Look at the ground."


    They did.


    And immediately, the trial began.


    The land beneath them moved.


    ---


    One step too far—and the world flipped.


    Zoren felt it before he understood it—his body being pulled sideways.


    The chamber''s gravity shifted randomly.


    The Fire section suddenly tilted upward, becoming a vertical wall of flame.


    The Ice section stretched sideways, a frozen cliff.


    The Earth section rolled like an ocean wave, terrain twisting, warping.


    And the Lightning section?


    It broke apart. Floating islands of storm and thunder, each one moving independently.


    This wasn''t just a battlefield.


    It was a puzzle.


    ---


    The Titans didn''t wait.


    The Fire Titan attacked first.


    It didn''t charge. It erupted.


    A wall of flame, surging forward.


    Zoren barely had time to react before—


    FWOOOOSH!


    Elizabeth moved.


    Not away. Forward.


    A step into the flame—and she twisted.


    A path.


    She had seen the one part of the fire that wasn''t real. An illusion mixed with the reality—a trap for the untrained mind.


    But her clarity let her see through it.


    And she walked through fire unburned.


    A test for the mind.


    A test she had already won.


    ---


    Around them, the others chose their paths.


    Aiden leapt toward the Fire Titan. The flames meant nothing to him. He was fire itself.


    Franklin and Elyria braced against the Earth Titan. A battle of power—a mountain against its own landslide.


    Zoren looked up.


    The Lightning Titan watched him.


    Waiting.


    Then—


    A single bolt.


    The storm struck.


    And the real trial began.


    ---


    To be continued.