CHAPTER XXIX
The golden light had barely faded when the shadow vanished — laughing, wild and eerie — dissolving into smoke as if it had never existed.
And just like that… everything fell into silence.
The kind of silence that wasn't peaceful.
It was too still.
Too… wrong.
Chiko and Flash had gone through the glowing mouth — and now, they were somewhere far beyond our reach.
I could still feel the warmth of their goodbye lingering on my skin.
But now, they were gone.
And we were left behind… again.
We stood there, frozen. Not in fear, but in uncertainty.
Until the fairy beside me — silent but ever steady — pointed ahead.
> "There," she said, her voice low but sure. "The door. We must move before time slips from our hands."
I looked up.
Yes — a door stood in the distance. Tall, silver-edged, glowing faintly like it pulsed with magic. It was the kind of door that looked like salvation — like the next step in a journey we had no choice but to finish.
I opened my mouth to speak — maybe to ask, maybe to warn.
But I didn't get the chance.
Because the moment she placed her foot forward — the very first step — the world beneath us groaned.
And then…
> It began to break.
The earth shuddered violently.
A sound — like bones cracking — echoed in the air as the ground beneath us started to split apart.
Stone walls erupted from the soil like jagged claws, twisting and curling into the sky.
The once-still door?
It didn't stay.
It jerked violently backward — sliding away as if dragged by some invisible force — vanishing into the distance before any of us could reach it.
> "No…" I gasped. "It's… running from us."
But it wasn't just the door.
The entire place had changed.
The soft light dimmed into shadows.
The calm air turned into choking smoke.
And from every crack in the ground, black vines — thorny and pulsing — began to rise, hissing softly like serpents awakened from slumber.
It was no longer just the Fourth House.
> It had become a trap.
A deadly, cursed place that shifted with every breath we took.
A maze that didn't wait to be solved — it moved before we could think.
And yet…
I turned to her — the fairy I still didn't dare to call by name.
And what I saw startled me more than the breaking world around us.
> Her face wasn't afraid.
Not a flicker of fear.
Instead, her eyes blazed — not with confusion, but with fury.
She wasn't shocked by this chaos — she was angry.
Not scared of the breaking ground — but furious at the walls that dared rise in front of her.
> "You knew," I whispered. "You knew it wouldn't be simple."
She didn't answer.
Didn't blink.
She just stared at the wall in front of us — one that had emerged straight from the earth, tall and endless — like it was the very thing that had stolen something from her long ago.
Her jaw clenched.
Her fists tightened.
And that calm, collected mask she always wore?
> It shattered.
This wasn't a trial to her.
This was personal.
And as I looked around, feeling the maze close in, I realized something terrible:
> Whatever this Fourth House was — it wasn't testing us anymore.
It was fighting us.
And somewhere deep within these walls…
> The truth was waiting to be found.
Or buried forever.
Just when we thought the ground couldn't twist further beneath our feet… it did.
A sudden darkness swept over us like a stormcloud descending from the sky.
It wasn't just dim — it was absolute. A pitch-black veil that drowned out every detail of the path ahead.
I couldn't see my own hands. Couldn't see the fairy beside me.
Just… endless, choking dark.
> "What's happening?" I whispered, my voice barely carrying in the silence.
Then — BOOM.
A sharp flash lit the darkness, followed by a trembling in the earth.
And out of the shadows emerged a creature so massive, the very ground shivered with each of its steps.
A giant.
His skin shimmered like rough stone under moonlight. His eyes glowed silver. And though his appearance was terrifying, there was no malice in his presence.
He wasn't here to harm.
He was here… as a guide.
> "Fairies of the Seven Lands," his voice thundered, deep and calm. "Your next trial begins now."
We stood in stunned silence as he slowly turned to the tall, stone wall that had risen before us earlier.
He raised one enormous hand and pointed toward it.
> "Each of you must place your hand upon this wall — together. Only when all seven fairies touch it as one… will seven secret doors appear."
> "These doors will open into the Labyrinth of Shadows — a vast, endless maze filled with darkness, riddles, and dangers that cannot be seen… only felt."
My heart skipped a beat.
A maze?
Darkness?
Dangers?
> "But how will we survive if we can't use magic?" Olivia asked, fear creeping into her voice.
The giant turned, his voice both gentle and unyielding.
> "There is one rule — and only one: You must not use your magic inside the maze."
We gasped in unison.
No magic?
We were fairies — our power lived within us.
But he wasn't done.
> "Because of the overwhelming darkness, I — Moon Bakar, the Keeper of Light — shall guide you. My glow will travel with you, illuminating only small paths at a time. You must rely on each other. On instinct. On trust."
We all nodded slowly, still trying to absorb the weight of his words.
But there was more.
> "You are not simply here to survive. You are here to find something. Something sacred."
We held our breaths.
He pointed toward the dark sky.
> "Somewhere in this maze lies a giant heart — glowing and ancient. A heart so large, it cannot be moved by one. It requires the strength of all seven fairies to turn it."
> "Only when you find it… only when all of you push it together… will the path forward reveal itself."
A heavy silence followed.
But he wasn't finished yet.
> "Before you can reach the great heart… you must first find seven small hearts. Each one is no bigger than your palm, and each matches the color of your homeland — the land from which your fairy magic was born."
> "You may only touch the heart that belongs to your fairyland."
I blinked.
> "And what if someone finds a heart that isn't theirs?" I asked, nervous.
His giant eyes softened.
> "You must not throw it away. That heart belongs to someone. And your task is to carry it to them — safely. For in this maze, it's not just your path that matters… it's each other."
My throat tightened.
It wasn't just a mission… it was a message.
Trust.
Unity.
Selflessness.
> "When all seven hearts have found their rightful owners — and the great heart has turned — the final door will open."
> "And beyond that… lies the road to Mother Fairy."
The air around us shifted — heavy with expectation.
Moon Bakar stepped back into the shadows, his body beginning to glow like the pale moon.
> "Let your journey begin," he said, and with that, the wall ahead shimmered.
We stepped forward — all seven fairies.
One by one, we placed our hands against the cold stone.
And as soon as the seventh hand touched the surface…
> The wall rippled like water.
Seven glowing doors appeared — each carved with runes, each unique in its glow.
One for each of us.
We shared a final glance.
This was it.
The real test.
In the deepest dark… with no magic… and only our hearts to guide us.
The maze awaited.
And whatever it held — we would face it.
Together.
To be continued….