The countdown ticked to one hour remaining before the Trial of Courage began.
The breakfast hall was chaos incarnate. Fresh fruit flying. Bacon being used as weapons. Someone had enchanted a biscuit to play the lute. Rhiannan was already on her third cinnamon roll and threatening Kaleb with a fork if he touched her syrup again.
"You licked the damn spoon!"
"It was clean!"
"You are literally a wolf shifter...nothing on you is clean!"
Mo launched a faejelly danish across the table and hit Sable square in the cheek. "Headshot, bitch."
Laughter echoed around the hall, nerves hidden under waffles and wine.
Reyna sat beside Torvax, eyes darting to every newcomer walking in. Her stomach flipped like an anxious gymnast. "I can't do this again," she whispered, picking at her toast. "I just got used to one mate. He's huge. I need a breather."
Torvax smirked. "I am the breather, little flame."
Then…
A scent hit them both like a tidal wave.
Saltwater. Sand. Sunlight. Sea glass and the fucking deep.
They turned in unison, chairs scraping back, eyes wide.
A tiny woman stood at the entrance.
She was no taller than 5'1", but built like a damn sea tank thick thighs, wide hips, a tight waist, and shoulders that said she could bench press a kraken.
Hair like crashing waves, a brilliant, ever..shifting blue that shimmered with hints of seafoam and starlight. Eyes like deepwater pearls, glowing with ancient power. She wore a silver scaled cloak over bare bronze shoulders, tattoos like coral reefs swirling down both arms.
She saw them.
They saw her.
No hesitation.
Reyna gasped. "Oh… my goddess."
Torvax grinned like a drunk lion. "I scored the fucking jackpot, y'all."
💧 Meet Nahlia Mare
Species: Water Elemental–Selkie Hybrid
Age: 219
Powers:
Hydrokinesis (advanced, includes solidification into ice blades)
Ocean communication
Emotional echo (can feel and soothe strong emotions)
Backstory:
Once the High Tide Guardian of the southern reef clans, Nahlia was banished for refusing to flood a rebel village. She's wandered land and sea ever since, rescuing sea creatures, wrecking illegal fishers, and body-slamming misogynists with tidal waves.
Reyna met her halfway. They crashed into each other like fate and foam, hands clutching tight.
Nahlia blinked, expression soft and unshakable. "I've been looking for you… both of you."
Torvax moved behind them, his massive arms wrapping around his two mates. "You're home now."
No questions. No doubts.
Just an instant click. The bond sealed.
The room went silent for a heartbeat.
Then Mo screamed, "YES BITCH! GET IT!"
📲 Faenet Live Reactions
🗨️ @TorvaxForKing: "THEY'RE POLY MATED AND BEAUTIFUL, MY HEART."
🗨️ @RhiannanFanClub4Eva: "Can we have breakfast mate reveals every day please?"
🗨️ @ReefRiderNahlia: "I'd let her drown me. Happily."
🗨️ @FlamingSeaDaddy: "Torvax out here collecting mates like infinity stones."
🗨️ @TrialOnlookersUnite: "Trial of Courage better be as hot as this poly triad reveal.
The castle courtyard trembled with noise as the sun rose over the maze. Sixty eight contestants stood shoulder to shoulder before the towering Gates of Trial, the air thick with anticipation and magical tension. The sky pulsed with energy from the double moons above, swirling purple and gold across the heavens.
Behind a floating rune stage, Rhiannan stepped forward in a deep forest green cloak, her presence radiant. Her five mates flanked her, magic flickering in their palms. Reyna sat beside her, chewing her lip raw, her eyes locked on her mates...Torvax and Nahlia...both about to enter the trial.
"I trust them," she whispered. "But I still want to wrap them in bubble wrap and lock them in a room with snacks." She whispered softly, wringing her hands together with worry.
Rhiannan grinned, squeezing her shoulder. "You and me both, baby. But fate doesn't give bubble wrap."
With a snap of her fingers, the gates rumbled open, revealing a hellscape of burning bridges, illusions, mirror traps, and shifting terrain.
"Your courage will be tested," her voice echoed across Faenet, amplified by Sasha. "Your fears will be summoned. Your soul will be stripped bare." "Only the unshakable will pass."
Faenet Live Stats:
👥 Viewers: 12.8 million
🔥 Trending Hashtags: #TrialOfCourage #HolyShit #RebelRising #I'dCryOnTheBridge
🔥 POV 1: Veena Sahl — The Blight Ember
"Courage is easy when you've already burned to death once."
Veena stepped into the maze like it owed her money.
Flames coiled around her boots, licking the path as she entered a corridor made of enchanted mirrors. Each one reflected a different version of herself, weak, dying, alone. One showed her screaming in the pyre again.
She clenched her jaw.
"Not today."
With a snap of her fingers, hellfire erupted...cursing flames designed to sear lies and illusions. The glass melted, revealing the real exit hidden behind a false wall. She didn't flinch when the illusions reached for her...she burned them to ash.
"Fuck your trauma trial. I've got rage."
🌊 POV 2: Nahlia Mare — The Waveblade
The walls closed in...dry, dusty, suffocating. Nahlia stumbled forward, her water magic sputtering in the heat trap.
"No water… they're starving me," she hissed.
Whispers echoed through the tunnel:
"You're just a pretty face. Nothing without your ocean."
She dropped to her knees, sweat slick on her thighs, lips cracked. The whispers crawled under her skin. But deep in her gut, a pulse awakened. A ripple of power long buried.
"I am the ocean. You don't starve the ocean, bitch."
She clenched her fists and pulled power from her own blood...a forgotten selkie technique. A single drop fell to the floor…
And then the entire corridor flooded, crashing forward in a wave so violent it shattered the stone.
She walked through it naked and unbothered.
❄️ POV 3: Torvax Korr — The Cryo Tyrant
The bridge was so narrow it could slice a toe, hanging over an illusion of eternal darkness.
Torvax paused. The challenge was obvious: face the bridge with no safety net. But that wasn't what stopped him.
A memory hit. His father. The throne room. Being told, "You feel too much. That will be your death."
He took one step.
The darkness below hissed and formed a spectral version of his father, towering and cruel.
"You are not strong enough to love, boy."
Torvax exhaled. His breath iced over.
"I love two, motherfucker."
He stepped forward. As the apparition lunged, Torvax exploded in cryo-force, his body encased in thick, glowing armor of ice. He shattered the figure with one punch and crossed the bridge.
🦄 POV: Rhiannan Watching
Rhiannan's hands were clenched so tight her knuckles were bone white. She watched all of it through Sasha's projections.
She exhaled shakily. "They're fucking incredible."
Reyna, beside her, had already sobbed into a croissant, then screamed, then high fived a rebel general.
"If either of them dies," she said through gritted teeth, "I'm burning this maze to the ground."
💬 Faenet Comments
🗨️ @ElementalLust: "Nahlia flooding the corridor? My girl said hydrate or die-drate."
🗨️ @FaeDaddyFan: "Torvax punching his trauma?? ICON."
🗨️ @FireWithFire: "Veena Sahl burned through trauma like it was breakfast. And I would let her ruin me."
🗨️ @ImNotCryingYouAre: "I've never believed in love until I saw that poly triad destroy their inner demons."