Page 110 of The Shattered Rite
In her mind, Vaeronth stirred.Steady, Eliryn. Not all traps are meant to be walked into. Some wait for trust.
“Very vaguely put,” she muttered. “But thanks.”
And with that, she walked into the dark.
The door closed behind her.
The corridor she entered was dark at first, then flooded with a soft amber glow. The walls curved like bone, warm to the touch. The scent of heated stone and ash curled in her lungs.
She descended a short ramp and found herself in a chamber unlike any other she had seen since the trials began—an arena.
She stepped into the arena, and the world changed.
No walls. No roof. Just a sky of colorless clouds and jagged light, and below it—
It was a living thing. A labyrinth of blood-slick platforms and fractured terrain, part machine, part nightmare. Barbs jutted from stone. Chasms breathed smoke. Obsidian spikes curled like claws. Nothing was still. The entire structure moved, constantly shifting- plates grinding, ledges retracting, new horrors unfolding with each second. A gruesome obstacle course meant to cull.
Eliryn didn’t move right away.
She waited and listened.
The floor beneath her pulsed faintly, like breath drawn through stone.
Far ahead, a platform dropped into a pit, then reemerged on the opposite side with a grinding groan. Spears clattered into place above distant ridges, suspended in nothing.
She took a single step forward.
Her boot crunched down on something hard—then gave way with a sharp crack.
Glass.
She hissed, pulling her foot back slightly.
Shards glittered across the floor like frost, jagged and fresh. Some were stained with blood, none of it dry. The only way forward was through.
You’ve bled before,she reminded herself, jaw tight.
She crouched low, shifting her weight to move light and fast.
The first real step sliced through the outer sole. She felt it bite. Then the next, and the next—sharp edges pushing up through soft leather, deeper than they should. The boots her mother had crafted, once her comfort, were losing their protection.
“Vaeronth,” she breathed.
I will be your eyes,he answered, warm and steady in her mind.Three steps. Ledge. Far drop. Wind will try to take you. Crouch at the edge.
She obeyed.
Her vision blurred violently; shapes melting, light blooming in unnatural ways. Shadows twitched like living things. Even the color of the stone seemed to bleed.
She nearly stepped off a ledge she couldn’t see.
STOP.Vaeronth’s roar cut through her skull.
She froze—her foot hanging over open air. The wind howled below, teeth bared.
Gasping, she dropped to a crouch. Her heart hammered in her throat.
“Too close,” she muttered.
