Chapter 11: Trial Beneath Stone

The stars had faded when Eryndor led Carsious to the edge of a massive crevice in the forgotten side of the sanctuary.

The chasm exhaled a cold mist — it didn't smell of air or stone, but of something old. Something watching.

"This is where your next lesson begins," the Guardian said, his tone unreadable.

Carsious stood beside him, arms folded. His eyes, now sharper than most swords, narrowed at the dark.

"You're sending me into a pit," he said. "To die?"

"To survive," Eryndor replied. "And if you fail — yes, you may die."

Carsious didn't flinch.

"You've trained with blade and breath. You've sharpened your reflexes. But you've never been truly alone."

"Not until now."

Eryndor handed him a short sword — forged from silver starlight, humming faintly.

"This blade remembers those who held it. Let it teach you, if I no longer can."

Carsious took it.

"Any other cryptic warnings before I jump in?"

"Only this: If you hear a voice that is not your own... do not answer."

Carsious grinned despite himself, turned, and dove into the abyss.

✦ The Descent

Wind screamed past his ears as he fell. The world grew cold, then colder, then silent.

And then—

A thud. A landing. Stone cracked beneath his feet.

He stood in a vast underground chamber.

Pillars of broken obsidian jutted upward like shattered fangs. Strange fungi glowed dimly in violet hues, casting shifting shadows. The air tasted metallic, like something had bled here long ago and never stopped.

Carsious exhaled and took his first step.

✦ The First Kill

The first monster came quietly.

A lizard-like creature with ten legs and a face split open like a blooming flower of teeth.

Carsious barely dodged the first strike — a leaping, screeching blur of muscle and claws.

"Fast," he muttered, sidestepping. "But not smarter."

He parried the second charge, rolled under its tail-swipe, and drove his sword up through its throat. It gurgled, convulsed, and died — its blood hissing as it touched the stone.

Carsious stood over it, breathing heavily.

"One down."

But the shadows were not still.

Three more emerged.

✦ The Dance of Blades

They came from all sides — claws, jaws, screaming breath. Carsious ducked, struck, twisted.

His movements were fast, fluid — not perfect, but trained. One creature lost a leg. Another, an eye.

"You're not the worst teacher after all, Eryndor," he said between strikes.

He kicked off a wall, flipped midair, and landed on the back of the largest, driving his blade deep.

It shrieked and fell. The others scattered.

Blood ran from a gash on his forearm, but he smiled through it.

"Still standing."

✦ Whispers in the Dark

Deeper now.

The silence here was unnatural.

The kind that presses against your ears.

Then a voice — barely audible.

"Child…"

Carsious froze. The sword in his hand pulsed.

"Do not answer," he whispered to himself.

The whisper returned — softer, closer.

"Child of ash… forgotten flame… come deeper…"

He gritted his teeth and pressed forward.

✦ The Final Chamber

He came to a wide stone hall. Its walls were cracked with runes long eroded.

Something waited there — something massive.

At first, it looked like a statue.

Then it moved.

It stood as tall as four men, hunched and bristling with bony spines. Its body was plated like a beetle, its limbs thick like tree trunks. Its face — if it had one — was a mass of shifting mouths and a single green eye, watching.

Carsious raised his sword.

"You're no lizard."

The monster moved.

Faster than it should've.

Its fist slammed down where Carsious had been — stone exploded beneath the strike. He barely rolled away, swinging upward to catch its arm.

The blade bounced off.

"What—?"

Another blow. Carsious flew backward, smashing into a wall.

He coughed blood.

The thing did not pause.

It charged.

He dodged again — but slower now — and struck its leg. The sword cracked.

The monster lifted him with one clawed hand and slammed him to the ground.

Hard.

✦ Defeat

His vision blurred.

He reached for the sword.

It was broken.

The monster loomed above him, chest glowing with some inner heat, like magma beneath skin.

"Move," Carsious whispered.

But his body did not listen.

And then — the whisper returned.

Not from the monster.

"Unseal me…"

His eyes widened.

It came from inside him.

"Let me burn…"

"No," he whispered.

The monster raised its arm.

A killing blow.

"I said no!"

He screamed — but not from fear.

From rage.

And then—nothing.

✦ Fade to Black

He didn't see the blow land.

He didn't see the monster pause, sniff the air, and slowly retreat — as if something greater than itself had stirred.

He didn't hear the quiet hum of a glyph glowing faintly on his chest — the Seal beginning to tremble.

He just slept, face-down on the stone floor, his breath shallow but present.

Somewhere far above, Eryndor's eyes snapped open.

"It begins."