trial 1
Chapter 7 — Reflections in the Hollow Labyrinth
The Labyrinth was alive.
Not in the way a beast lives or a spirit breathes. This place had been built with consciousness — an echo of something ancient, something that fed on memory, fear, and the deepest corners of the soul. Each step they took in the Hollow Labyrinth, the terrain shifted subtly, like a dream trying to pretend it was real.
Aorin stood still, yoyo spinning slowly in his left hand, the string glowing with faint cyan light. Sayuri walked just behind him, her flute already unfolded into its sword form, the wind humming as her spiritual aura danced along its blade. They were joined now by their trial teammates — four others, each one stranger than the next.
"Don't trust anything," the molten-eyed girl warned. Her voice sounded calm, but her fists were clenched. "Even the ground can lie to you."
The silver-skinned boy nodded. "Names. Faces. Memories. If you hold on too tight to what you know, this place will twist it."
Aorin's heart thudded louder. Not from fear, but familiarity.
He had been in a place like this once. Not this same labyrinth, no — but when he was a child, when his mother died in that spirit storm, he remembered the dreams that followed. Whispers. Blood on the ceiling that looked like her smile. Screams that sounded like lullabies. This place was that nightmare given body.
Sayuri took his hand.
It grounded him.
"Let's move."
---
The Labyrinth Moves
They passed walls of stone etched with glowing script — languages none of them recognized. At intervals, shadowy doorways led to unknown tunnels. And every so often, something would whisper.
But it never spoke aloud.
It whispered inside their heads.
> "You should have let her die."
> "She'll leave you. They all do."
> "Why didn't you save them, Aorin?"
His fingers twitched.
Sayuri noticed.
"Focus," she said gently. "I'm here."
Behind them, one of the cloaked teammates — a quiet boy named Varn — suddenly screamed. His hands tore at his own face.
"Don't look at me! It's not real! I killed him! I didn't mean—!"
Before they could stop him, Varn ran. Into a wall that didn't exist a moment ago.
Gone.
The labyrinth swallowed him.
The molten-eyed girl cursed. "We need to find a spirit anchor. Fast. This place is trying to split us up."
---
A Puzzle of Flame and Sound
A circular chamber opened before them — walls slick with obsidian. At the center stood a platform carved from crystal, floating above a pit of endless shadow. Hovering over the platform: a flute of ice, rotating silently.
Sayuri stepped forward. "This is mine."
Aorin hesitated. "Are you sure?"
She nodded. "Music is memory. And this place is trying to replace ours."
She stepped onto the platform and closed her eyes.
The flute of ice began to hum — and without warning, seven swords of light appeared, each aimed directly at her heart.
"Trial of Resonance," whispered the silver boy. "She must match its melody... or die."
The swords hovered, waiting.
Sayuri took a breath and raised her own flute.
A note escaped — clear, piercing, haunting.
Then another. Then a third.
Each time she played, one of the swords shivered and vanished.
Until only one remained.
This one didn't dissolve.
It moved.
Fast.
Too fast.
Aorin didn't think. He moved, string-whipping his yoyo in an arc that intercepted the blade mid-air. Sparks flew as steel clashed against spiritual force.
Sayuri's song shifted — from sorrow to fury.
And the last sword shattered into falling light.
She opened her eyes.
"I'm fine," she said quietly.
Aorin looked at his arm — a shallow cut ran down his sleeve.
"Barely," he murmured.
The floating flute melted into mist and flowed into Sayuri's own. It glowed — stronger, louder, more vivid than before.
"Trial one," said the silver boy, grinning faintly. "Passed."
---
Shifting Walls, Shifting Truths
The chamber behind them vanished the moment they left. The floor rippled beneath their feet like liquid stone, and the labyrinth changed shape again. New symbols. New scents. Different memories trying to rise.
Aorin stopped.
A shadow walked ahead of them.
It looked like him.
No.
It was him.
But older. Wiser. Broken. Eyes that had seen too much.
"I know what you're thinking," the doppelgänger said, voice like broken glass. "You think Sayuri will always stay with you. That love is enough. But what will you do... when she surpasses you? When she forgets you? What will you become?"
Sayuri moved to attack, but Aorin held up a hand.
"No," he said. "Let me face him."
The others stepped back.
Aorin approached himself.
"I'm not afraid of becoming you," he said.
The shadow smirked. "You should be. I gave up everything to protect her. Even myself."
Aorin didn't hesitate.
He spun his yoyo — not as a weapon, but as a seal — looping it through a spiritual symbol his father had once shown him.
A binding circle.
"I won't give up who I am," he said. "That's how I'll protect her."
And with a pulse of light, the shadow faded.
---
A Step Closer
When they regrouped, the silver-skinned boy whispered, "We're near the Labyrinth Heart. If we survive this... we make it to Round Two."
Sayuri's eyes met Aorin's.
They were tired. But alive.
And in the hollow dark, they walked together — hands entwined — toward a light only they could see.
Toward the center of the Trial.
Toward whatever truth lay in wait.