CHAPTER XXX
We stood at the edge of the labyrinth — seven doors glowing before us, each carved with runes that pulsed faintly under Moon Bakar's light. Each door was waiting to be opened. Each path… ready to test our soul.
We were about to split.
Each of us would step into a different chamber of the maze, alone.
But before I stepped through mine, I turned.
My eyes found her.
The fairy with black wings — or what was left of them.
Her body bore the cruel marks of battle.
Blood still oozed from an old wound near her side. Her once-mighty wings were nothing more than scorched feathers and torn membrane. Her lips were dry, and her eyes — oh, her eyes — they weren't soft like before. They burned with something fierce. Something ancient.
> Anger.
Grief.
Power.
Fire.
But beneath all of that — was purpose.
I stared at her, frozen in the moment, realizing something I hadn't dared admit until now:
> She wasn't walking this path to become a Queen.
She was walking it to reclaim her life.
To rewrite her fate.
To take back everything that was unjustly stolen from her.
She wasn't doing this for glory.
She was doing it for justice.
I swallowed the lump in my throat. My heart beat loud in my ears. There was something hauntingly beautiful about her in that moment — in the way she stood tall despite the pain… despite the scars.
> She wasn't just surviving.
She was rising.
And I knew, in that very moment, that no throne could ever define her — because she was born from something deeper than royalty.
She was fire reborn from ash.
---
As I turned to face my own door, I noticed the warnings etched upon the frames of the others — delicate but firm, glowing softly in red light.
Each door bore a different message.
Each one a warning.
> "You have not crossed all three houses. You have been brought here early.
Danger awaits you inside."
My breath caught.
I wasn't the only one to see it.
Ivory read hers aloud with a grin, eyes sparkling with excitement.
> "Ooh! Danger? Finally!"
Typical.
Olivia, ever composed, didn't react. She simply brushed her hand over the warning and nodded once. Calm, as always.
But Caeli…
And Aurelia…
They froze.
Their eyes widened. Nervous glances darted between the rest of us.
Their fingers curled at their sides.
They hadn't seen what we had.
They hadn't crossed the first three houses.
They didn't know how dark it could get.
> "What does it mean?" Aurelia whispered. "What kind of danger…?"
Caeli's voice shook.
> "Are we not ready?"
Before I could answer — before anyone could offer comfort — the black-winged fairy turned.
Her voice, sharp and steady, cut through the air like lightning.
> "If fear grips you now," she said, "how will you ever wear a crown?"
The silence that followed was immediate.
Even the wind held still.
Caeli and Aurelia stared at her, stunned.
And so did the rest of us.
She stood there, bathed in the cold moonlight.
Her wounds glistened.
Her eyes blazed.
And yet… she looked the most powerful of us all.
Unlike the rest of us, her dress wasn't adorned with jewels or bright silks.
It was simple.
Dark.
Torn in places.
Stained by blood and memory.
But when she moved — there was a radiance that no royal robe could match.
She was not polished.
She was forged.
Without a word, she stepped toward her door.
Her fingers, stained and steady, pushed it open.
And as the door creaked forward, a flood of silver light spilled from within — dancing on her skin like recognition.
And then…
She walked inside.
No hesitation.
No fear.
And without even looking back — the door closed behind her.
---
I looked at my own door.
I had no idea what was waiting for me on the other side.
But after seeing her walk through hers…
> I no longer feared the dark.
Because I now believed… we could survive anything.
Even fate.
I took a deep breath…
And stepped through the door.
The moment my foot touched the floor beyond it, a cold shiver ran through my entire body — like a silver thread of frost weaving down my spine. It wasn't fear.
It was the air itself.
Chilled. Ancient. Whispering.
The maze wasn't just a place — it was alive.
And it knew I had arrived.
The path ahead stretched long and winding — carved stone floors beneath me, cracked and worn by time. The walls towered high, covered in dark ivy that pulsed faintly with an eerie glow, and above me, there was no ceiling… just an endless darkness swallowing the sky.
A faint silver light bathed everything — soft and ghostly, as though moonlight had been bottled and spilled across the stones.
There was no sound.
No wind.
No echo of my steps.
Just… silence.
And yet, despite the stillness, I didn't stop.
I couldn't.
> This maze wasn't built to welcome.
It was built to test.
And something inside me — something that had grown stronger with every curse house I'd passed — urged me forward.
The further I walked, the narrower the path became.
Twisting left, then right, only to double back again.
Like the maze wanted to confuse me…
Or lose me.
Still, I kept moving.
> "One step. And then another," I whispered to myself.
There was no clear direction.
No map.
No clues.
Just the cold, silver air… and the weight of knowing that no one else could walk this path for me.
Then came the trees.
Twisted and ancient, they emerged from cracks in the walls — roots slithering across the ground like serpents. Their branches hung low and heavy, leaves sharp as blades, swaying without wind.
I paused in front of the first one.
Its bark shimmered — not like wood, but like metal. Silver. Cold.
A tree of steel.
Something about it made my skin crawl.
> Was it watching me?
I took a step closer — and that's when I saw it.
Its trunk… was breathing.
Not visibly. Not dramatically.
But with every few seconds, a faint rise and fall pulsed through its surface — like a slow, sleeping heartbeat.
> "What are you?" I whispered.
The tree didn't answer.
But the silence thickened.
This wasn't just a dangerous place — it was a living trap.
Designed to confuse.
To lure.
To break.
And yet…
I walked past it. Slowly. Carefully. My eyes never leaving its surface.
There were no signs, no voices to guide me, no hints of which path to take next. Just instinct… and that quiet pull in my chest that said:
> "Keep going."
Because this wasn't about where I would end up.
It was about proving that I could.
That I wouldn't turn back — even when the light dimmed, and the walls whispered doubt.
This was only the beginning of the maze.
And already…
It was trying to take me apart.
But I would not be undone.
I would not let it win.
Because somewhere in this shifting, endless darkness…
> A heart waited.
My destiny waited.
And I… would find it.
To be continued…