Chapter 7 The Trial Of Shadows

The murmurs of the gathered council echoed in Rene's ears. She stood in the heart of Nocturna, the city she had once called home, but the stares that met her weren't warm. They were wary. Distrusting.

The tall, gray-haired councilor, who Nyra had yet to name, stepped forward, his expression sharp. "You should not have returned."

Nyra squared her shoulders, stepping protectively beside Rene. "She's not our enemy."

"Not yet," the man countered. "But the last time she stood in this city, she turned against it. We cannot risk trusting her again without proof of her loyalty."

Rene exhaled slowly, forcing herself to stay calm. "Then tell me what I need to do."

The councilor studied her, then spoke in a voice that carried through the streets.

"You must face the Trial of Shadows."

The crowd stilled. Even Nyra's hand twitched at her side, as if she wanted to grab Rene and run.

Rene lifted her chin. "Fine. What does it involve?"

The councilor's gaze darkened. "You will enter the Abyssal Vault. There, you will face the shadows that linger from your past. If you emerge uncorrupted, Nocturna will accept you again."

A test of her loyalty. A test of her soul.

Nyra immediately turned to the councilor, anger flashing in her silver eyes. "That trial is ancient. Outdated. No one has been sent into the Vault for over a century—"

"And no one has betrayed Nocturna like she has."

The words hit harder than Rene expected.

Nyra's grip on her wrist tightened. "You don't have to do this," she murmured.

But Rene shook her head. "Yes, I do."

Because deep down, she knew she wasn't just proving herself to Nocturna.

She was proving herself to herself.

(The Abyssal Vault)

That night, beneath the pale glow of Nocturna's twin moons, Rene stood at the entrance of the Vault.

A massive obsidian doorway loomed before her, its surface etched with runes that pulsed with faint silver light. A cold mist curled from the cracks in the stone, whispering secrets only the brave—or the foolish—would dare to hear.

Nyra stood beside her, jaw tight. "This is a mistake."

"I don't have a choice."

Nyra hesitated, then reached into her cloak, pulling out a silver pendant shaped like a crescent moon. "Take this," she said, pressing it into Rene's palm. "It was ours when we were children."

A flicker of warmth spread through Rene's chest. She curled her fingers around the pendant, gripping it like an anchor.

Then she stepped forward.

The doors groaned open.

And the darkness swallowed her whole.

(The Trial)

The air inside the Vault was thick—too heavy, too still. Rene's footsteps echoed, but there was no floor beneath her, no walls around her. Just an endless void.

Then, a voice spoke.

"Do you truly believe you belong here?"

A chill ran down her spine. She turned sharply, searching for the source, but there was nothing. Only shadows.

Then, they moved.

Shapes formed in the darkness—figures, half-real, half-memory. The streets of Nocturna flickered into existence, but twisted, broken.

And there—at the heart of it all—stood her.

Or rather, the version of herself she had once been.

Draped in black, her past self smirked at her, golden energy crackling at her fingertips. "You think you can erase what you've done?" the shadow of her sneered. "You think they'll ever truly trust you again?"

Rene clenched her fists. "I don't need them to trust me. I just need to be better than I was."

The shadow laughed. "Then prove it."

Dark energy lashed out.

Rene barely dodged the attack before she retaliated, summoning her own power. Black energy surged from her hands, but this time, it wasn't tainted. It pulsed with streaks of silver, a fusion of light and darkness.

She wasn't the girl she had been before.

She wasn't the villain of this story.

She wasn't Kael.

With a sharp cry, she thrust her power forward. Light and shadow collided, a burst of energy shaking the Vault.

And when the dust settled—

Her past self was gone.

The shadows receded. The mist lifted. And for the first time since stepping into Nocturna, Rene felt whole.

(The Return)

The Vault doors groaned open. Rene stepped out, breathless but standing tall.

The gathered crowd gasped. The councilor, who had sent her into the trial, studied her with newfound respect.

Nyra was the first to move. She crossed the space between them in an instant, wrapping Rene in a tight embrace.

"You did it," she whispered.

Rene exhaled, pressing the silver pendant against her chest.

She had passed the trial.

But something inside her whispered—this was only the beginning.

To Be Continued…...