The maze yawned like a sleeping god's mouth, gaping and ominous beneath the double moon's icy glow. Inside waited the final survival trial...deadlier than any before.
Over 1,700 remained. But only the most brutal, the most cunning, and the most stubborn would walk out.
🔥 Veena Sahl — The Blight Ember
Veena's boots clicked through the entry path, flames flickering around her shoulders like a pissed off halo. Her cursefire hissed across the walls as she advanced, incinerating vine traps and arcane glyphs with little more than a snarl.
"Let the fucking maze try me."
She walked into a beast's den like she owned it. By the time it noticed, it was already ash.
Veena's magic throbbed with righteous vengeance. But for the first time in years, her rage flickered with something… warmer. Hope, maybe. A dangerous thing. But she clung to it like a matchstick in a storm.
🧊 Torvax Korr — The Cryo Tyrant
Frost coiled around Torvax's hulking form as he stepped through the threshold. Each movement sent waves of cold across the ground, freezing roots and traps in place.
He didn't speak.
He didn't need to.
He was rage and sorrow encased in glacial armor. With a swipe of his colossal arm, he leveled a wall of the maze, smashing through it rather than navigating.
His mind was still partially in the gardens....Reyna's taste on his lips, her voice echoing in his skull. For the first time in his long, brutal life, he had something to fight for that wasn't just survival.
Now? He had something worth dying for.
🌫️ Nyxar Veyne — The Vortex Widow
Whispers. Shadows. Nyxar didn't walk the maze...she bled into it.
One moment visible, the next gone entirely, she mirror walked through impossible walls and left a string of half dead enemies behind her.
She didn't kill them outright. No, no. She wanted witnesses.
A hedge maze turned into a graveyard of whispers as she sliced, maimed, and vanished before her victims even screamed.
She paused once, breathing hard. A ripple of pain flashed in her chest. Old trauma. Old memories. But she pressed forward, seeking something more than blood.
Maybe meaning. Maybe redemption. Maybe just a crown of bones and flame.
Rhiannan stood with her five, Reyna at her side, as they watched the god tier warriors destroy obstacle after obstacle on Sasha's holoscreens.
"Holy fuck," Reyna whispered. "Torvax just turned an entire section of the maze into a glacier."
Sable snarled with approval. "Now that's a man."
Rhiannan grinned and looped her arm through Reyna's. "Think your frosty daddy is gonna win?"
Reyna turned redder than Veena's hair.
Kaleb laughed as Arwen elbowed Liam, who still looked half haunted. His visions had gotten worse, but Reyna promised to help him.
"I'm gonna go patrol," Sable muttered, tension rippling across his back.
Elisha followed without a word, both males prowling off like wolves itching for blood.
The two alphas hadn't gone far before the air curdled with a sulfuric hiss.
A swarm of shadow beasts erupted from the trees...snarling, mutating horrors stitched together by spite and dark magic.
Elisha shifted, his twin cocks disappearing into molten dragon form as fire burst from his jaws.
Sable laughed. "Finally."
Their battle was carnage incarnate. Flame and steel. Shadow and light.
Sable ripped monsters apart with claw and magic, his body a blur of crimson rage. Elisha scorched entire clearings. But it wasn't easy.
These creatures were smarter, faster.
They weren't sent by the Entity. Not directly.
Someone else was playing a long, sick game.
Sasha tallied the results.
Only 68 remained.
Faenet exploded. Hashtags trended like wildfire:
#BlightEmberFTW 🔥
#FrostDaddySupreme ❄️
#VortexWidowKills 👠🗡️
#RebelStrong
#FinalTrialTomorrow
Rhiannan stood at the balcony that night, her voice amplified across Faenet and the castle.
"One more trial," she whispered. "Then you face the gods. Rest well. You'll need it."
The air in the grand feasting hall still shimmered with the magic of the trials, yet a heavy silence hung over the remaining 68 contestants. Rhiannan stood at the head of the room, regal and glowing beneath the magical chandeliers, her voice thick with emotion.
"One hundred and two souls perished in the final survival trial," she said, her voice projecting with goddess level power and sorrow. "And I will not let their sacrifice fade to dust."
With a sweep of her hand, a radiant burst of magic soared toward the skies above the castle. Outside, in a newly formed clearing, 102 ethereal statues rose from the earth...beautiful, glowing, and inscribed with the names of the fallen. Protected by divine enchantment, these sacred memorials would never decay. Families across the realm watching on Faenet wept and prayed.
"To the families of the fallen," Rhiannan continued, "your pain is ours. We mourn with you. And we promise you...these deaths were not in vain."
Then she turned her gaze to the survivors, her expression sharpening.
"To those of you who remain...you are the strongest. But strength alone will not be enough. You will now face the Trials of the Three Fires, as told to me by the goddess herself. These trials will push you beyond your limits...mentally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually. If you choose not to continue, no one will judge you. But there can only be three."
She clapped her hands once, and magically projected itineraries for the next stages appeared before each survivor's plate. A low murmur rippled through the crowd as everyone digested what was coming.
Then the feasting began.
Laughter and conversation replaced the earlier tension. The food was divine...roast hydra tail, glowing faefruit, and candied phoenix feathers. Rhiannan and her five mates were stuffing their faces like hungry wolves, laughter bubbling between bites.
That was until Elisha, cheeks full of venison, suddenly spoke, "We need to talk about those shadow beasts we shredded today. That was no random attack. They were targeting the maze. Someone sent them."
The entire table went still.
Before anyone could respond, Veena Sahl, the Blight Ember, sat bolt upright, her chair scraping loudly against the marble. Her head whipped toward the crowd of survivors, eyes glowing like embers.
Across the room, a fae shifter woman...tall, moonlit skin, obsidian curls cascading down her back...froze mid drink. Her plate clattered to the ground as her golden eyes locked with Veena's. They both sniffed the air.
"No fucking way," Veena whispered, voice cracking. "I find my mate here? At this feast?!"
Gasps rang out.
Rhiannan nearly choked on her drink, then clapped wildly. "ANOTHER MATE?! Are you kidding?! This is the BEST NIGHT EVER!"
The room exploded with excitement.
The fae shifter stepped forward slowly. Her name was Caelira Thornshade. A former assassin for the rebel cause, she was known for her power to control plant life..even carnivorous, magical ones...and for her ability to vanish into any forest or shadow. She had been captured and imprisoned for ten years before escaping and joining the survival trial.
Her reputation? Fearsome. Her power? Untamed. And now… fated mate to a phoenix born goddess of fire and revenge.
Veena stalked forward and cupped Caelira's jaw. "You're mine now, forest witch."
Caelira smirked. "Only if you can handle me."
Everyone hollered.
Rhiannan wiped tears from her face, overwhelmed. "We need to have massive feasts like this more often," she laughed through the emotion. "I swear, everyone's finding their fated mates! Maybe it's the buffet. Maybe it's fate. Either way....this is sacred."
The crowd raised their goblets in celebration as the pair embraced. Magic rippled in the air like the promise of a new era. And Faenet? Already exploding with posts, hashtags, and blurry, zoomed in screenshots of the newly bonded pair.
#MateBondMadness #FireAndThorn #BlessedByTheGoddess