The Final Trial Approaches

The cavern walls pulsed faintly, as if the tree itself was breathing.

Argolaith stood in the hollow grove, the glowing leaf tucked inside his cloak, the weight of the second trial now behind him. The Trial of Sacrifice had tested his ability to let go, and he had passed.

But the tree was not finished.

Not yet.

The air shifted. The once-stable ground trembled beneath their feet, and the twisted roots lining the cavern walls began to move, shifting like slow, slumbering serpents.

Kaelred tensed. "Uh. Is this normal?"

Malakar watched silently as the path behind them sealed shut, the tangled roots closing like a door that had never existed.

Ahead, a new archway formed—a passage that had not been there before.

Thae'Zirak rumbled low. "The tree guides him now. There is no turning back."

Kaelred groaned. "Of course there isn't."

Argolaith didn't hesitate. He stepped forward, passing beneath the archway and into the unknown.