The guardian's steps echoed like thunder in a tomb. Its armor, an iridescent blend of obsidian and crystal, pulsed faintly with every movement—like it, too, bore light within.
Anara stood firm, heart pounding. The shard inside her palm blazed like sunrise through fog. For a moment, time bent: colors shimmered in the air, the chamber pulsed with recognition.
Then came a voice—not from the guardian, but from within the walls themselves. Low, layered, ancient.
"Trial of Light. Bearer, reveal thy intent."
The guardian halted mid-stride. Its visor flickered, projecting an image into the air: a battlefield from centuries past, where ten figures wielding light faced a great maw of shadow. The image crackled, and now it showed Anara—standing beneath the old tree, holding the first shard.
Anara's breath caught.
"I don't want power," she whispered. "I want the world to remember the sun."
As if in response, the second shard behind the guardian pulsed—like it had heard her. But the trial wasn't over.
The guardian raised its hand. The floor cracked, and the room shifted. Crystal platforms began spinning slowly around Anara and Cael, each bearing a memory—
some hers, some not. A chorus of voices spoke:
"To carry the light, you must carry its burden. Do you accept the pain that shaped it?"
Flashes struck her mind—lives lost when the sun blinked out, cities buried in frost, children born never knowing warmth. It wasn't just brightness she was claiming; it was legacy. And grief.
Cael reached for her, but stopped. "Only you can answer," he said softly.
Anara stepped forward. Her feet landed on the glowing core, and the voices faded.
"I don't carry this for myself," she said. "I carry it for all who forgot how to hope."
The guardian bowed.
The second shard lifted from its cage, gliding into her hand. As it touched her skin, the two shards pulsed—then merged.
A beam of golden light streaked upward, piercing the tower and sky above. For a moment, even in the twilight world, a sliver of dawn returned.
The guardian vanished.
Anara turned to Cael. "One trial down," she said, breathless.
Cael smiled faintly. "And the road only gets stranger."
Would you like to follow them into Chapter 6—maybe to the city of Mirrorsong, or even into Cael's shadowed backstory? Light has many hues yet to unv