"The first phase is now complete!"
The announcer, Dean Oryll's voice boomed across the Colosseum like thunder, met with a rising wave of cheers, disbelief, and frantically updating betting ledgers.
ElderGlow had done what some would refer to as the impossible.
Four students had entered the Maze of Wills.
Four had returned.
No fractures. No losses. No magic circle collapses.
Other teams had limped back half-broken. Thornevale emerged with three. Wyrmere returned with two, one of whom needed to be carried.
Crowgarth's exit had ended in a collapse — their final member emerging unconscious and vomiting black-tinted essence, an immediate disqualification due to overdraw.
But ElderGlow?
Stable. Balanced. Intact.
As the crowd swelled with excitement, the floating glyph displays began updating.
(Trial One Results – Maze of Wills)
ElderGlow: 4/4
Thornevale: 3/4
Crowgarth: 1/4
Wyrmere: 2/4
The numbers were impossible to ignore.
