Echoes of their footsteps rang out in the Hall of Trials. Despite his exhaustion, Kar’s first instinct was to gawk at the vaulted ceiling and intricate stonework—the tiled mosaics underfoot.

  He’d trained a few hundred paces outside the doors to this hall—for nearly two months—and yet, this was the first time he’d been inside. Memory of their passage through the fortress to get here, however, subdued any wonder Kar felt.

  Melisdra had left them, just inside the gates of the fortress. She’d taken her fighters with her to the walls to reinforce the defenders holding out against the Shadowcryst there. Kar had wondered if he’d ever see her again.

  Then Erio had led them here.

  They’d passed thousands of refugees from Darby on the parade and training guards outside. Seeing them, displaced from their homes, grieving and in shock—many wounded and suffering—was agonizing for Kar.

  He’d put them here. Whether it was entirely his fault no longer mattered. The idea of just running away and abandoning these people seemed wrong. And yet, that’s what Melisdra and the other Valorcryst demanded of him.

  “Kar?” Lore’s voice broke through to him. She was sitting against the wall on the left-hand side of the hall, just before a raised platform with a throne-like set of semicircular seats arrayed on it.

  She saw Derek and Aldwin then too, and jumped to her feet, crying out. Her hands folded across her mouth.

  On seeing her there, Kar was forced to fight back tears of his own. He wanted to run to her, to hold and comfort her. But he held himself back. After a brief hesitation, Derek was the one who ran forward to embrace her. Kar followed along behind Aldwin.

  Lore wasn’t alone. Kiya was there, next to her. The woman was bloodied, and simmered with barely contained rage. She stood, fists clenched. “Where’s Morrow?”

  Her question felt like a punch to the gut. Kar cringed inwardly, and inhaled sharply through his nose.

  “He didn’t make it.” Aldwin answered somberly.

  Kar was surprised to see tears welling up in the fierce woman’s eyes. They’d had a strange camaraderie, she and Morrow, but he didn’t realize she’d cared so much about him.

  “What about Jon and the others?” Aldwin asked in turn.

  “Jon’s dead. Cyse too. Rowan went to the wall with Tharn.”

  Kiya’s stare turned on Kar, and her face contorted. “You stupid dun-shard.” She spat.

  Kar clenched his jaw. What could he say?

  “Kiya!” Lore shouted at her sister, reaching out to place a hand on her arm.

  Kiya brushed it off, and stormed toward Kar. He didn’t flinch when she raised her hand, nor try to dodge when she took her swing. She cuffed him hard across his left ear, then raised her other arm and Focused a ball of flame.

  The others moved to intervene, but Kar had already reached out with his Voidcryst hand. Her Focusing cut off abruptly in its presence.

  Kiya stumbled back, deflated, and Lore wrapped her arms tightly around her big sister.

  “Time is of the essence.” Erio interjected softly. He wore his armor and had his weapons ready; a lance and full quiver of short-spears. “We must press on to the last trial.”

  Lore looked at the Valorcryst with a confused expression. “But what about the Causeway?”

  “Lady Melisdra has a plan to deal with it, but she has ordered us to leave. Immediately.”

  Kiya scoffed, and glared at Kar. “I wonder why.”

  He tried his best to ignore the remark, but couldn’t keep his face from reddening.

  “She said there would be supplies ready?” Aldwin asked.

  Lore stepped aside, and motioned to a set of packs stacked against the steps there. “Couriers dropped these off not long ago.”

  “Then let us make ready,” said Erio.

  While they prepared, Erio waited for them, at the end of the hall. A familiar, circular stone door stood there. The entrance to the Basin chamber of this fourth trial. Beyond it, would be another door just like it, that led to the fifth and final trial chamber.

  Kar stepped over to join Erio, a pouch of charged shards at his side, his personal reserves replenished for the first time in months. “What’s the fifth trial?”

  The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

  The Valorcryst side-eyed him. “I’m not supposed to say.”

  Kar waited expectantly.

  “Under the circumstances, though, it hardly matters. In the last trial you will find a shadowcryst. An elder one. It’s been imprisoned there. Once you enter, the Source should speak with you, and then you’ll face it.”

  Kar nodded, in some ways relieved. A single shadowcryst—no matter how old—didn’t seem like such a threat after all those he’d just fought.

  “You have tools and capabilities other Marked do not.” Erio continued, “So I do not expect this to be as great a challenge for you as it was for me.”

  Kar tried to contain his surprise. “So you faced this same trial?”

  Erio nodded, and a rare smile appeared on his hard face.

  “We told you to assault the fortress because that was how we did it. I didn’t know Melisdra would have just accepted an open challenge from you instead.”

  “And here I thought you were a reliable guide.” Kar responded with a wry smile.

  “Beggars can’t be choosers.” Erio replied, garnering a laugh from Kar.

  “It’s best not to underestimate anything, though.” Erio added, turning serious.

  Kar was painfully aware of the truth in that. Something else he had wondered about occurred to him then. “Outside the fortress, when you and the others fought those shadowcryst. How did you kill them with a single strike?”

  “Every cryst has a shard-heart. Pierce or break that, and you can kill it outright.”

  Something clicked in Kar’s memory. So that’s how he was supposed to have used those stilettos he’d lost. Such knowledge would have eased many of his struggles last night.

  “I’m sorry, for what’s happened.” He told Erio.

  The Valorcryst placed a crystal hand on Kar’s shoulder. “We cannot stop the storms that come our way. Some trials can only be weathered. Let this strengthen your resolve. You are meant to become a Guardian, Kar. This,” Erio paused to gesture towards the outside walls, “is what you must defend the rest of Valor from. It is a harsh lesson, and I wish you had learned it another way. But do not shy away from it.”

  The Valorcryst clenched a fist and pounded it stiffly against Kar’s chest. “Always accept responsibility. Never stop trying to make it right.”

  Kar felt hot tears trickle down his face. He sniffed, and reached up to wipe them away. Those words felt like a lifeline. Not absolution. But a way for him to channel the shame and guilt that threatened to consume him.

  “I will.” He said, with a passion greater than he intended.

  Erio smiled reassuringly, “Then hold your head high. And move forward. The last trial awaits.”

  Kar repositioned the pack on his back, and turned to check on the other members of the party.

  Lore was waiting for him. Kar hesitated, and she came to him. Erio nodded to them both, then stepped away.

  “Feels like you’re avoiding me.” Lore said quietly.

  Kar stiffened.

  She reached out a hand and laid it on his forearm. “What’s happened is terrible.”

  Kar tried to pull back, not trusting himself to be near her. She made it hard for him to concentrate, and all it took was a moment of letting his guard down for everything to fall apart.

  She didn’t let him go, snagging hold of his arm tightly. “Don’t. Do that.” She said, her frustration apparent. “Don’t act like some monster who’s going to hurt me. I know you, Kar. And you. Are not. A monster.” Her face softened then, became vulnerable.

  All Kar saw was the face of the old man he’d killed to save her.

  “I can’t—trust myself. With you.” Kar whispered.

  She nodded, then stepped forward to stand just inches from him, looking up into his eyes. “Well, I do trust you. With my life. You’ve proven I can, again and again.”

  Kar shook his head, conflicted. “It’s not just about that. I don’t trust myself, to do the right thing when you’re involved. The thought of you… being hurt, scares me, more than anything. And you don’t know what that can make me do…”

  “You’re supposed to feel scared. When you care about someone.” Her words hung heavy between them.

  Kar swallowed, both his hands now held tightly in hers. When had that happened?

  “I’m not sure, if those words sufficiently describe what I feel for you—Lore…”

  She nodded slowly. Tightening her grip. “I understand, what you mean.”

  His heart was pounding in his chest. He couldn’t deny it. “I’m scared, and confused.” he admitted.

  Lore smiled, and whispered, “me too.” Then stood on her toes, laced her fingers in his hair, and pulled him in for a kiss.

  It felt right. Too right. Kar started to relax into it. Then his Voidcryst arm began shaking, and in a panic, he pushed her away.

  She looked wounded.

  “It’s not you.” Kar growled, grabbing hold of his right forearm with his left hand. “I was losing control.”

  She nodded, relieved, of all things. “We’ll figure it out,” she said, smiling at him with that impish grin of hers.

  Kar laughed in bewilderment. That was her response, to all of this? “You can’t, want to be a part of this.” He said, holding up his Voidcryst arm for emphasis. “I mess everything up!”

  She chuckled, “Yeah, you break things. And then you break yourself trying to fix them. That’s part of why I want to be with you.”

  He shook his head incredulously. A newfound resolve settled over him. Perhaps it was the confirmation of her feelings for him, despite everything. Or just the last thing Lore had said.

  If he left here now, abandoned Dagenar to press on to the next Trial, he wouldn’t be trying to fix things. Kar didn’t want to be someone who ran away. He wanted to be the person Lore believed he was.

  He thought, too, of the way Kiya had looked at him earlier—the disdain in her eyes—and a fire lit within him.

  “Thank you,” he said to Lore softly.

  She leaned her head to the side, confused. “For what?”

  “For believing in me.”

  Then he stepped away, his left hand still grasping her arm gently. “I still have unfinished business here, though.”

  “What do you mean by that?”

  “First, I’m going to take the essence that’s behind this door.” He answered.

  “That’s not what I meant, Kar.”

  He wasn’t paying attention. He’d stepped up to the well-worn area on the door frame, and placed his hand against it. With a low grinding, the door began to roll aside.

  No lights flared along the frame.

  Suddenly, that door ground to a halt, only halfway opened. No light shone from the basin chamber beyond, either.

  Something was wrong…

  “Get away from there!” Erio yelled.

  Kar had dropped his pack and stepped up to the threshold. A small, Focused flame ignited above the ring on his left hand. The light illuminated the empty basin within—as well as the torn apart and broken door leading to the fifth trial chamber.

  Within the darkness beyond, something darker still stirred. Then, a haunting, echoing screech sounded from inside, and a creature of void and shadow surged toward the light.